U.S. stocks rose for a second day, led by chipmakers and automobile companies, and Treasuries fell as the Federal Reserve said the economy maintained a “modest to moderate” pace of growth. Shares in the Middle East sank as the U.S. moved closer to a military strike against Syria.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) increased 0.8 percent to 1,653.08 at 4 p.m. in New York. Benchmark gauges in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Dubai lost more than 2 percent. The S&P GSCI (SPGSCI) gauge of 24 commodities dropped 0.7 percent as metals led losses. Ten-year Treasury yields increased four basis points to 2.90 percent, while the Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Index retreated for the first time in six days. The Australian dollar rose against 15 of 16 major peers after the economy accelerated.

Micron Technology Inc. paced a rally in chipmakers as a fire forced a Korean competitor to suspend operations at a factory in China, while General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. climbed after monthly U.S. sales growth exceeded estimates. The Fed’s Beige Book survey showed consumers spent more on travel and tourism while manufacturing expanded, as investors searched for clues to the central bank’s plans for stimulus. Stocks maintained gains as a Senate panel authorized a limited military strike in Syria.

“Managers actually are fairly bullish on the environment,” Arvin Soh, a New York-based fund manager with GAM, said by phone. His firm has more than $120 billion under management. “The view has been, ‘yes we have some serious issue with Syria, but at the end of the day, growth is improving.’”

Source:   The Avanti Group reviews
 
 
Pupils at St Mary’s School in Fairford Leys were asked by Connells to draw their dream home.

All the entries have been put in the estate agent’s window where homes would normally be displayed and three winners were picked.

Prizes of colouring books, pencils, art sets and sticker books were given to Luke Mullens, eight, Arwen Cox, 10 and five year old Darcie Pearce (pictured left to right with branch manager Daniel Crawley).

The winning entries will be made into postcards and used in a marketing campaign Connells is running to raise money for the school library.

The estate agent will donate money to the school for every property that successfully sells through its Fairford Leys office

Source:  The Avanti Group News
 
The Avanti Group, Inc. specializes in the structural design of pre-engineered metal buildings and tilt up concrete, low-rise structures, but our record shows a broad range of building types and construction techniques in our designs as follows:

• Pre-engineered Metal Building Foundations and Engineer of Record Services.

• Industrial & Commercial Building Design.

• Steel, Concrete, Masonry, Tilt-up, Pre-Cast and Wood Design.

• Analytical studies of existing buildings and other structures.

• Specialty engineering services (i.e. metal panel calculations, light gauge steel framing, mechanical retrofit analysis, & metal building framing design).

• Retaining Walls & Screen Walls, Stormwater Vault Design (civil/site specialty engineering).

• Digital renderings (Site and Building).

At the request of many clients Avanti Group is now offering permitting services for our local counties.

Permitting continues to be more complicated and we feel it’s another great service we can offer our clients to make your life easier.

The Avanti Group Inc
 
Travel with us through a Buffalo Niagara that might have been, if some of the most captivating artists’ renderings created in recent years had actually come to life. Start downtown outside the gleaming Adelphia office tower, where the thriving cable company has become a big employer. Traffic around here is thick, with people pouring into the Bass Pro store that revitalized old Memorial Auditorium. Some of the customers arrive by boat at the Inner Harbor.

Looming over downtown is a skyscraper built by respected developer Bashar Issa. The Outer Harbor is dominated by an enclosed amusement park, a massive convention center and residential community, and the Buffalo Bills’ new stadium. Head north on the Niagara Thruway and your eye is drawn to the striking new Peace Bridge, proof of cross-border cooperation. In Niagara County, new attractions abound, from the below-ground aquarium near the falls, to the Wizard of Oz theme park.

Of course, none of those projects was ever built. They burst onto the scene with a banner headline, a news conference suffused with big shots, a multimillion-dollar price tag, hyperventilating praise and, of course, a dazzling artist’s rendering of the project. Predictions of surefire economic transformation follow, despite doubts over who will pay for the thing, whether it will win approval, or is even realistic. Then, years later, nothing.

It became a running joke among a few of us skeptics that seeing an artist’s rendering on the front page was the kiss of death for a project. Developers came to town like snake-oil salesmen, peddling magic elixirs guaranteed to fix what ails our economy. Or we begged big companies to build a store here, and had a hard time letting go even when it was clear it was over. Now this isn’t a “woe-is-us” type of story. We finally have real progress – and tower cranes! – in places once only imagined in colorful drawings: Canalside. HarborCenter. The former Donovan State Office Building. The medical campus. Larkinville. Still, we can’t ignore our track record of getting caught up in these grandiose visions for revival, no matter how far-fetched the ideas might seem. What does it say about us as a region that we seemingly want to believe in them?

And do all these failed fanciful visions leave us unfairly skeptical about more realistic projects when they come along?

Read more:    The Avanti Group architectural designers warning

 
 
However it has suffered from teething problems as the Government struggles to organise finance, IT and issues around moving house and even clearing people's attics. Frustrated building companies expressed disappointment that the legal contracts around the loans were not sorted out sooner so they could start installing measures. Paul Hicks, Sustainability & Design Manager at VELUX, said it was disappointing so many people who have had an assessment have failed to carry through to a deal.

"The disappointing Green Deal results, showing conversions of assessments to be less than 1%, is a major blow to the Government’s commitment to being ‘the greenest ever’. Thus far the initiative has failed to deliver a viable framework for home improvements and consequently has simply not addressed the key issues surrounding energy efficiency in existing housing stock." Nigel Banks, of Keepmoat, a specialist in installing efficiency measures, said builders have been unable to offer contracts because the financial packages are not yet in place.

“The take-up figures are very low, but this was to be anticipated as the legal contracts to offer Green Deal finance are not in place, meaning just a few of the 60 Green Deal providers are actually able to offer finance at present. “It is frustrating that these legal contracts were not in place sooner but we expect this to be resolved in the next few weeks and then the take-up figures for the Green Deal will begin to build in July and August,” he said. The UK has some of the draughtiest homes in Europe, leaking money out of the economy and fuelling climate change. The Coalition hope to improve the efficiency of the UK’s 26 million homes through the Green Deal and other measures introduced in January this year.

The “cashback” scheme, that offers a lump sum for installing “easy wins” like double glazing and new boilers on a first come first served basis, has been a success. Some 5,118 households have claimed £263,000 cash back - mostly for boilers. Also the new Energy Company Obligation, the requires energy companies to improve efficiency in poorer households, has made that 81,798 installations so far.

But the Green Deal is struggling.

Despite months to prepare, 600 trained builders on standby and the involvement of 40 organisations, including household names like B&Q and British Gas, it has had a slow start.

 
The Dingle’s much-loved Florence Institute received a Royal Institute of British Architects architectural award for its outstanding restoration this year.

It was among four outstanding Merseyside buildings to be celebrated by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) for design excellence.

Affectionately dubbed “The Florrie”, the community centre was reopened by the Prince of Wales last January. An astonishing £6.2m restoration of the 1890-built structure by architects Purcell returned the fire-ravaged property to its original magnificence.

In direct contrast, the RIBA awards’ national category winner is Marks & Spencer’s sustainable store at Cheshire Oaks, Ellesmere Port, by architects Aukett Fitzroy Robinson.

It is also the company’s biggest store outside London.

Besides the Florrie – and also in extreme contrast to it – are two other North West regional RIBA winners.

“These projects represent architectural excellence on a national level, projects that go beyond the brief and exceed the client’s expectations.

“Investing in good design for our towns and communities is vital; even in hard times we must continue to create vibrant and inspiring buildings and places for future generations to use and enjoy.

“Best of luck to the national winners for architecture’s ‘Oscars’ –  the RIBA Stirling Prize.”

 
Kina International Handelmesse for Hygiene, Opvarming, Ventilation og Luftkonditionering Ny Kina International Udstillingsmidte

Beijing, Kina, 8 – 10 april 2013

ENDELIG RAPPORT

ISH Kina & CIHE opnår et andet vellykket år med høj udstiller og besøgendedeltagelse

Leverandører og afgørelse-lavende køber roser udstillingens professionalisme

Kantbegivenheder forsynede mere anledninger for netværke og forretningsudvikling

Berømt som Asiens største begivenhed for HVAC & Hygieneindustri, ISH Kina & CIHE – Kina International Handelmesse for Hygiene, Opvarming, sluttede Ventilation & Luftkonditionering dets 2013 udgave med protokol-sættende besøgendebesøg og udstillerdeltagelse. Den 2013 udstillingen blev holdt fra 8 – 10 april på Beijings Nye Kina International Udstillingsmidte. Organiseret af Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co Ltd og B & D Tigerudstilling Co Ltd, taltrak messen 881 udstillere (2012: 816) fra 21 lande og regioner. En sum af seks haller blev udnyttet, dække 80.000 sqm af plads.

36.897 besøgende (2012: 33.156) fra 59 lande og regioner kunne til kildepunkter samt kogekar og mur-hængt kogekar, varmepumper, solarenergiindretninger, radiatorer og anfald, opvarmer vekslere, luftkonditioneringsenheder, gulv-opvarmingsindretninger så godt som varmemålere, faucets, doucher systemer, badekar, plombere tilbehør og hygienevarer. Om de blev involveret i distribution eller sourcing for forestående projekter, blev købere tilbudt en imponerende opstilling af teknologier og løsninger at møde deres behov.

 
The plan encompasses an area of 28 square kilometers, including Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, Yangshan Free Trade Port Area and Pudong Airport Comprehensive Free Trade Zone. The area is almost the same size as Macao, and its trade volume topped USD 100 billion last year, the highest on the mainland.

In this area, a new economic order will be established with its own set of rules for commerce and finance.

Indeed, the Shanghai free trade zone, as it is temporarily called, is set to have even more of an impact than other such entities in Shenzhen or Tianjin, the report said.

The project, mapped out at the beginning of this year and approved this week, is the first of its kind in China.

Ready for submission to the State Council later this month for the official seal of approval, the project is expected to start operation in phases in the second half of this year at the earliest.

"It is a new national strategy that everything should be secured before the plan really gets started," said Wan Zengwei, director of the Pudong Academy of Reform and Development in Shanghai.

Pudong's attractiveness also include Disneyland project, which is set to be completed by 2015.

Much concern has been expressed that the establishment of the Shanghai free trade zone will pose a threat to Hong Kong.

Wan said Shanghai will not challenge Hong Kong's status as a major global free port, as the latter promises and provides more open policies.

Hong Kong Trade Development Council has been closely monitoring the development of the free trade zone plan.

But Jacky Chung, the council's regional director for eastern and central China, said it is probably not yet time to predict the impact of the plan.

Zheng Weimin, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Shanghai and Hong Kong play different roles in the Chinese economy and their functions are complementary.

Hong Kong's advantages lie in its sound legal system and market openness. Their relationship is more cooperative than competitive.