Spec Finish

An oak tree can absorb more than one tonne of CO ² in its lifetime so interior acoustics treatment specialist, Muffle, has launched a tree planting scheme to help offset the carbon emitted when their products are manufactured and delivered. For a £5 donation at order checkout they will plant an oak tree on a customer’s behalf in their Scottish woodland. www.muffle.co.uk/plant_a_tree Muffle’s woodland NEWS Invoice payment within 30 days The Prompt Payment Code has been toughened-up with signatories now obliged to pay small firms within 30 days. Despite almost 3,000 companies signing the Code, poor payment practices are still rife, with many payments delayed well beyond the current 60-day target required for 95% of invoices. Small Business Minister, Paul Scully, said: “We are relieving some of the pressure on small business owners by introducing significant reforms to the UK payments regime – pushing big businesses to pay their suppliers on time.” The changes to the Code are: • requiring a company’s CEO or finance director (or the business owner where it is a small business) to personally sign the Code to ensure responsibility for payment practices is taken at the highest level of an organisation; • introducing a new logo for signatories to use in external communications to show their commitment to the Code, making it more damaging to a company’s reputation to breach it; • acknowledgement as a condition of signing the Code that suppliers can charge interest on late invoices; and • enabling administrators of the Code to investigate breaches based on third-party information. The new requirement for signatories to pay 95% of invoices from small businesses (those with less than 50 employees) within 30 days will be effective from 1 July 2021. www.promptpaymentcode.org.uk Worrying construction tax shake up Komfort Partitioning’s new RIBA CPD Through video demonstrations, diagrams and real-life examples, the Komfort RIBA CPD seminar, ‘Fire Rated Systems and Safety for a Commercial Space’ will help designers and specifiers design with fire safety in mind for a commercial setting. This introduces fire terminology, regulations, classifications, the testing process and more. The seminar includes: • key terms, ratings and classifications for fire safety; • specifying fire rated products, including fire rated partitioning, fire screens and fire rated doors (glazed and timber); • key design considerations for fire safety best practice in a commercial setting; and • the limitations and importance of test evidence for fire rated systems. All Komfort CPD seminars are available remotely via Microsoft Teams or similar. Register your interest at specifiersupport@komfort.co.uk www.komfort.com Workspace Show launches for the commercial interiors community The inaugural Workspace Show will take place from 4-5 November 2021 at London’s Business Design Centre. With a theme of ‘re-designing tomorrow’s commercial interiors together’ the show aims to bring architects, designers, developers, contractors, facilities managers and procurement managers to one place to explore the latest product launches, a comprehensive talks programme and networking opportunities. Free to attend for for trade visitors, the showwill present over 100 exhibitors andmore than 70 product launches across the office, education and healthcare sectors from the world’s leading brands. This includes fit-out, furniture, lighting and surfaces as well as the ‘Sustainability Zone’, focusing on the importance of sustainable products in the office environment. There will be a special feature dedicated to co-working spaces, reflecting the transformation they are undergoing in the post-pandemic world. www.workspaceshow.co.uk 6 www.thefis.org The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has raised its concerns over a huge construction tax shake up. The Government is set on stamping out tax fraud in construction and has three measures coming into force, firstly the introduction to the Domestic Reverse Charge VAT from 1 March 2021 (which, despite protests from industry, Government has advised will go ahead) and then from April 2021 changes to the Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) and amendment to the IR35 off-payroll rules. Further information on tax changes are provided by FIS in the Business and Taxation Toolkit at www.thefis.org/knowledge-hub/business-management

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