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New log book
shines a spotlight on hidden horrors at home!
HOUSEHOLDERS and those
looking to sell, buy or rent a property, can find out exactly what
horrors it may be hiding, thanks to a pioneering new service.
The Institute of Specialist Surveyors and Engineers (ISSE) Home Log
Book is set to revolutionise the property industry by providing the
most in-depth, detailed examination of a property ever available.
People planning to improve their home, buyers wishing to purchase a
property and tenants preparing to sign a lease will all benefit from
the scheme, which uncovers hidden, internal as well as external,
problems, such as toxic mould, not covered in standard surveyors’
reports.
For an agreed fee, ISSE trained and certificated surveyors carry out
a thorough examination of a property to establish if hazardous
decorative or structural materials have been used, determine the
adequacy of ventilation, identify security features and examine the
likelihood of external environmental impact, such as flooding.
The ISSE then issues the client with a full breakdown and report on
the interior and exterior of the property, identifies what remedial
work is required and can even provide quotes from professional
tradesmen for the cost of carrying it out.
The ISSE Home Log book is then stored on a cloud-based system, along
with supporting documents and guarantees, providing an
easy-to-access paper trail showing what work has been carried out,
when and by whom.
William Kidd, Chairman and Fellow of the ISSE – which aims to
improve standards and training within the industry - said:-
"House buyers will be able to see at a glance what needs doing to a
property and gain immediate access to documents and guarantees in
relation to historical repairs and improvements.
This will speed up property transactions because, for the first
time, everyone involved in the sale or purchase will have access to
accurate and updated information. In addition the Home Log can
be used by tenants to prove there are no underlying issues with the
property, such as damp. It will also give householders a reputable
breakdown of any home improvements they wish to carry out with
quotes from reputable tradesmen, meaning they are no longer at the
mercy of cowboy builders."
Further information about the ISSE and the Home Log Book, which is
operating as a pilot scheme at present prior to being rolled out
across the UK, can be obtained by calling the ISSE on:- 0800 136779
or visiting its
website.
New Art Month For Liverpool!
THE Visual Art is set to
dominate the city this May as ‘The Liverpool Art Month’
is officially launched. The Liverpool Art Month is a new
initiative aimed at showcasing the city’s artists during the
Liverpool Art Prize exhibition.
Metal, the organisers behind the Liverpool Art Prize, have formed a
new partnership with Liverpool John Moores University’s School of
Art and Design and some of the city’s leading independent arts
organisations, studio groups and artists’ networks including: Arena
studios and gallery, the Bluecoat’s studio artists, the Bridewell
studios, dot-art, Redwire artst’s studios, The Royal Standard, The
Gallery Liverpool, Wolstenholme Creative Space, and POST female
artists network.
Liverpool Art Month will bring the city’s artists together in a new
series of events and exhibitions that will be spread across a number
of exciting and undiscovered locations. The network of artists and
gallery spaces is hoping to attract the region’s art lovers to
Liverpool city centre to see the Liverpool Art Prize exhibition
alongside the creative emerging talent found in the city’s exciting
making spaces.
As part of Liverpool Art Month, the inaugural Liverpool Art Show
will be unveiled at Camp and Furnace on Thursday, 3 May 2012. Taking
place until Sunday, 6 May 2012, the Liverpool Art Show is presented
by Merseyside art consultants, dot-art and Matt Ford. Combining live
performance and music with fine art exhibition, The Art Show will
feature four breakthrough artists from Liverpool shortlisted for
their experimental perceptions of the local cityscape. Sponsored by
venue Camp and Furnace, there will be live performances from The
Sense of Sound Singers and DJ sets from 'Cant Mix, Wont Mix,
Shdnt Mix, Don't Mix'.
On Friday, 4 May 2012, Arena Studios and Gallery will present their
10th annual art auction with artwork available to bid on including
work by each of the five shortlisted Liverpool Art Prize artists.
This is an opportunity to buy contemporary artwork by some of
Liverpool’s rising stars, viewings of the work from 6pm auction
starts at 7pm.
A series of exhibitions and installations will be presented on
Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout May by Red Wire Artists Studios
and arts organisation Wolstenholme Creative Space. This includes the
exhibition, DIRT, from 9 May to 12 May that presents video, drawing,
sculpture and sounds around the perception of dirt by four artists.
Spectrum, at Wolstenholme Creative Space from 10 May to 17 May,
features 15 solo exhibitions with five Liverpool-based artists, duos
and collectives exhibiting each week.
On 25 May to 1 June 2012, there will also be the opportunity to see
the LJMU School of Art and Design final degree show at the Art and
Design Academy (ADA), on Duckinfield Street (next to the Catholic
Cathedral). The School’s degree show is always a key event in the
city’s cultural calendar. This year’s event runs over the weekend so
there’s no reason not to pop in to the ADA for a look around and a
chat with the students and staff.
The final weekend in May will feature the inaugural Liverpool Art
Fair, oganised by dot-art, an
exciting new open submission selling event over five days, designed
to connect local artists with new art buyers on a large scale, break
down barriers, and make affordable art accessible to all. It will
take place across 2 large exhibition spaces in the newly rejuvenated
Camp and Furnace (previously the A-Foundation) in Liverpool's Baltic
Triangle; launching on the evening of Thursday, 31 May 2012, and
open to the public from 11am to 6pm from Friday, 1 June to Monday, 4
June 2012.
Also look out for the many events happening across Liverpool’s Light
Night on Friday, 18 May 2012.
The Liverpool Art Month is currently accepting donations from
individuals and organisations who want to see the event get even
bigger and better, both this year and for the future. To achieve
this, they have created a ‘Crowdfunding’ site, where
donations can be made easily. In return, there are numerous tokens
on offer including the opportunity for a Liverpool Art Prize Nominee
to lead a workshop at your workplace or venue. There is
also a
video on the site explaining a
little more about the art month.
This announcement is in addition to Metal’s 2 fantastic new award
prizes that will be up for grabs as part of this year’s Liverpool
Art Month. The prizes join the 5th annual Liverpool Art Prize and
are announced as a year long studio residency at Metal and a
month-long international residency in Shanghai, China.
The 2 new Residency prizes exist alongside the main Art Prize with a
separate nominations and judging process, which is now open. For the
first time, artists based outside of the Merseyside area are
eligible to apply. Full details of who can apply and downloadable
application forms can be found
online.
The Liverpool Art Prize is a competition of contemporary art, which
was inspired by the Turner Prize and began in 2008. It is open to
all professional artists based or born in the Liverpool City Region
or in the surrounding boroughs of Liverpool, Wirral, St Helens,
Knowsley, Halton and Sefton.
More information can also be found
at:-
liverpoolartprize.com. You can
also find out more via taking a look at:-
metalculture.com and
liverpoolmuseums.org.uk.
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Review of
intellectual property must protect small businesses stung by
licensing bodies
THE Forum of Private
Business are calling for legal reforms to reflect the dramatic
change in the way music is consumed in the workplace and to protect
small firms from being stung by licence enforcement bodies.
Responding to a consultation on copyright issues from the
Intellectual Property Office, the Forum is arguing that the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 should be reformed to take
into account the explosion of new digital technologies and online
consumption since the late 1980s.
The Forum believes that the concept of employees being considered an
‘audience’ should be reviewed; and that firms should
not pay for a licence unless they are playing music to customers. At
the very least, small business owners should not be forced to pay
both the Performing Rights Society (PRS) and Phonographic
Performance Limited (PPL) for two separate licences.
Instead, the not-for-profit employer organisation is suggesting a
fairer, more co-ordinated approach with monies split between the
collecting societies.
"Entrepreneurs are the UK's real innovators and it is essential that
they can better protect their ideas and avoid falling foul of
intellectual property and copyright laws.” said the Forum’s
Senior Policy Adviser, Alex Jackman, who last year gave evidence at
a Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee inquiry
following the Forum’s response to the Hargreaves Review of
intellectual property.
“A central issue is how workplace music licences operate and are
enforced. We believe existing laws do not reflect the realities of
how people; including employees; consume music today, and should be
reformed to take into account the internet and the explosion of
digital technologies. Ideally, a licence should only be required if
customers can hear the music being played; at the very least, firms
should only have to pay once, for a single licence. Our members
continue to report that they do not understand the complex tariffs,
rules and regulations, that not enough guidance is available and
that, while licensing bodies are using underhand tactics to unfairly
exploit this situation, there is little information about how to
complain about mistreatment. This is not the direction we should be
heading in to help small businesses and the economy.” the
Forum added.
The Forum is welcoming the decision to provide protection via an
ombudsman, a move originally announced in 2009, and the Government’s
decision to publish minimum standards for voluntary codes of
practice.
Despite indications that complaints have declined since the PRS
introduced its voluntary Music Code of Conduct in 2011, there
remains a high level several of complaints, with business owners
expressing dismay and anger at the activities of both organisations.
Criticisms include complex, multiple price tariffs and licence
requirements; a lack of information to help firms make sense of
them; and even that PRS and PPL representatives appear to have an
agenda to catch firms out, often posing as researchers in order to
ask questions about music being played in the workplace.
Forum member Tony Wade owns the Otley-based Trade Labels Ltd, which
supplies to the printing industry. After receiving a call from PRS
telling him he must pay for a licence, he investigated and found he
does not have to pay.
"Apparently, because only one person can hear the radio, we don't
have to pay, but I can't explain why. The system is completely
confusing. When they initially called there was the assumption that
we would have to pay. I can only presume they are geared towards
getting the maximum amount of money they can. I knew nothing about
an ombudsman. I had never heard this was available, nor did any
other business I've discussed the PRS with." said Mr Wade.
Coinciding with the new government "Get it Right – First Time"
initiative to help business owners protect their intellectual
property, the Forum is focusing on small firms’ IP rights more
broadly as part of its consultation response.
In particular, while supporting the principle of general copyright
notices from the Intellectual Property Office, the Forum asserts
that members need the IPO to provide better, more accessible and
affordable support.
The idiosyncratic nature of the copyright problems often faced by
small business owners means that general, overarching notices
relating to court cases are of little value. Better help, including
personal, more bespoke support where necessary, would be of more
use.
Further, clearer guidelines regarding the use of "orphan
works", which are non-attributed works, including the impact
of any future Digital Copyright Exchange (DCE) on searches, would be
welcome.
"Orphan works" is a major issue for all involved in art and
the media as well, and the NUJ and other media and art bodies are
warning that changes might destroy the industry!
As a single access point for all copyrighted materials, the DCE
would have the full backing of the Forum if it allowed small
businesses to access what they need more quickly and efficiently,
with a clear idea of what fees are involved.
However, the Forum believes that any DCE should be free at the point
of use and, ideally, be run by the Government or the IPO rather than
a private sector provider.
While authorising bodies should be allowed to offer a search
function, this should be not be at the expense of creating a more
transparent system allowing small businesses to do it more easily,
and should be embraced primarily in the interests of these firms.
Finally, the Forum also sees merit in the proposal to publish an
awaiting claim list on a central public database that may remove
altogether the need for a search facility. Further, an exploration
of cost sharing between businesses which pay for diligent searches
of orphan works and those which benefit from those searches through
reduced costs for using the same works would be valuable.
For more information about the PRS, PPL and the music at work
licensing requirements, click
here.
Merseyside Red Squirrel Champion
Honoured!
THE work of one of
Merseyside’s hard working volunteers has been honoured by national
conservation charity, the Red Squirrel Survival Trust (RSST).
Launched last year (2011), the awards, which are supported by HRH
The Prince of Wales, are designed to reward the vast army of
volunteers working around the country to preserve our native red
squirrels. A member of Red Alert (now Red Squirrels
Northern England) on Merseyside since its inception in 1993, Gillian
Hill, not only runs their trap loan scheme in and around Southport
where she lives, but also works closely with householders in the
area, especially at times of crisis such as during a recent squirrel
pox outbreak. All this she does cheerfully, and with a smile,
alongside running her own business and acting as a volunteer at the
local fire station. In this year’s awards, she is named as one the
red squirrel conservation movement’s Unsung Heroes. "We
are delighted to be able to recognise the hard work of our
volunteers with these awards. There are an estimated 3,000
volunteers involved in red squirrel conservation throughout the UK,
but the north of England is where the biggest battle is being
fought. This work could not be achieved without the tireless work of
our volunteers. Highlighting their contribution to red squirrel
conservation is long overdue." said Miles Barne, RSST
Chairman. The awards will be presented by His Grace the Duke
of Northumberland at a special event to be held at Alnwick Castle in
Northumberland on 27 June 2012. |
