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The new budget revealed yesterday by Chancellor George Osborne includes plans for interest-free loans and guarantees to support £130bn worth of new mortgages from 2014. Targeting mostly that category of employees who can't afford putting up the large deposits currently required by lenders, the Help to Buy program will grant applicants a 20% interest-free loan from the government, as long as they put down a 5% deposit and buy a newly-built property. Moreover, the government also launched a £12bn guarantee scheme, starting in January 2014, that will support anyone buying a home up to the value of £600,000. Given these positive circumstances, the construction market is set to boom over the next couple of years, with multiple new housing developments likely to appear all over the UK. This translates into a serious increase in the level of demand for secure access solutions, one of Tensor plc's main areas of expertise. Our gates and barriers can provide secure access to any new building site or finished residential development and they also fully integrate with our smart card and biometric access control systems giving customers full jurisdiction over movement and access in and around the site. The gates and barriers are set to prevent unauthorised access, allowing for rapid communication when any delay occurs, such as when unauthorised personnel attempt to access a restricted area. Additionally, our access restriction solutions can stop vehicles or personnel at the relevant barrier and prevent entry or exit until they identify themselves via their smart card and/or biometric fingerprint.  

Forty fire-fighters have tackled a massive blaze at a tyre recycling plant in Maybridge, South Armagh, that started at around 3.30pm on the 21'st of March. Several crews who were sent to the scene discovered that the fire had engulfed more than 1,000 tyres, a news report reveals. Group commander Edward Carroll said: "It was quite a significant fire and we were somewhat hampered by strong winds which were fanning the flames." A spokesman for the Department of the Environment also commented on the incident, revealing that the "NI Environment Agency has been on site and is co-ordinating with the Fire Service in order to reduce the risk of pollution.” A Fire Roll Call system is a must for any industrial factory, especially one that deals with a lot of hazardous materials, such as the one in Maybridge. The Tensor access control and security products can be easily integrated with fire roll call software, capable of automatically generating a report in case of a fire or some other type of emergency and providing precise information on exactly who's on site at any given moment. What makes the Tensor solution different from most of the other available on the market is the fact that the Fire Roll Call feature is executed directly from the clocking stations and does not rely on the controlling PC or computer infrastructure. This makes it a lot safer, since the aforementioned IT systems might also be severely affected in case of an emergency. After the fire or emergency alarm has started, the employees who assemble at their fire roll call points can either use their smart cards or key fobs to record their presence or, if they have not brought them along, they can be checked off manually using the generated reports.

In today's fast-paced world, speed and ease of access to any workspace are extremely important and the Tensor Smart Card-based systems are the fastest, most reliable and secure, as well as cost effective solutions for the job. The smart cards are based on the reliable RF (Radio Frequency) reading technology, which grants them a very good read range, unaffected by most external conditions. Moreover, all of the cards are extremely thin (roughly the size of a credit card), which means that you can easily store one in your wallet. Tensor Smart Cards employ an advanced technology, that makes them equally fast and secure. Our Smart Card readers emit a 125 KHz frequency field (the electromagnetic field) that is received by the tiny aerial built in each smart card. This leads to the activation of the smart card microchip, a passive device that holds the smart card's unique factory encoded ID number. The Smart Card's ID Numbers are extremely secure, given the fact that up to 34 billion different combinations are available. Plus, Tensor can also provide smart card software, which gives you an easy way to professionally produce your own ID cards, assign specific access rights, and much more. If you want to find out more about our affordable, ultra-fast Smart Cards, our dedicated product team is eagerly waiting for any query you might have.  

The Government's Channel anti-radicalisation scheme has seen more than 500 would-be terrorists supported, according to a new report. The multi-agency programme identifies people at risk of being drawn into terrorism, and, between January 2007 and December 2012, it saw 2,500 British residents referred. More than half of the respective potential terror suspects were referred between January 2011 and December 2012 (1,274), with more than 500 residents receiving support that would deter them from joining terrorist organizations. Without a doubt, the Government's Channel anti-radicalisation scheme also relies heavily on the CCTV surveillance of suspected terrorists. And surveillance is one of Tensor's main areas of expertise, as we offer a very comprehensive set of solutions capable of meeting even the most demanding requirements. Our systems include not only latest-generation digital cameras, capable of providing the highest picture quality and video performance, but can also be be fully integrated with any previously installed Tensor access control or visitor monitoring equipment. All digital CCTV systems supplied by Tensor PLC are fully compliant with the UK Police Requirements and are accompanied by state of the art video monitoring software, as well as a full range of digital video recorders (DVRs), for securely storing the footage. If you want to find out more about the Tensor Digital CCTV solutions, our dedicated product team is waiting for your questions.

Family-owned Lunn Engineering, based in Atherstone, Warwickshire, has some pretty impressive development plans set out for the future, after investing £250,000 on new machinery with funding from Yorkshire Bank, a news report reveals.

There are currently about 200,000 workers in the UK employed on “zero hours” contracts, without any guarantee of regular hours or pay, a new report by the ONS reveals.

The government has approved the opening of two new University Technology Colleges (UTCs) in the South West area, a news report reveals. The future UTC for South Devon will be set in Newton Abbott, will focus on engineering, water and the environment and is estimated to cost around £9.7m to open. The second UTC, for South Wiltshire, whose estimated costs are set at around £40m, will focus on science and engineering and will be set in Salisbury.

Members of the National Union of Journalists within the BBC and Bectu, representing technical staff, have just begun a 12-hour strike, following a row over job cuts, workload and claims of bullying, a news report reveals. The corporation is cutting about 2,000 jobs over five years as part of its Delivering Quality First (DQF) programme. Most of the jobs targeted by the budget cuts were eliminated through voluntary redundancies, but an estimated 110 members of staff were made compulsorily redundant.

The UK Business Minister, Edwina Hart, has publicly expressed her support for the building of a new super prison in North Wales, a new report reveals. The prison is set to be built in Wrexham, and will apparently house up to 2,000 prisoners. Moreover, it will most likely bring some serious social and economic benefits for the region, boosting employment and revenues.

The global market for smart card-based access control solutions is set to reach a staggering $8.6 billion (£5.7 billion) by 2018, a new report by Global Industry Analysts reveals. The estimated growth for this specific market segment is related to increased security concerns backed by government and regulatory mandates, as well as higher security-dedicated budgets, the report says.

Berkshire-based HMV will be acquired by restructuring firm Hilco, in a move likely to save around 2,500 jobs, a news report reveals.

After going into administration back in March, the 258 year-old Axminster Carpets has been saved by a group of local business people, a