All Building articles in 1999 Issue 04
View all stories from this issue.
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Comment
Thinking the unthinkable
Insured? Of course you are. Any sane contractor must be. But what happens if your insurer goes into liquidation. How are you fixed then?
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News
Specialists squeezed by tender push
Last-minute invitations to tender give subcontractors increasingly tough time constraints in race towards millennium deadline.
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Features
The man on the tube
QS Rafudin Bacchus played a feckless loafer in Channel 4's post-pub sitcom Tottenham 2, but now he's back on the job with London Underground. So, where does his heart really belong?
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Features
Made to measure
Mace's Activity Based Planning isn't the only system being developed by contractors and consultants keen to start monitoring their Egan demonstration projects.
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News
Legionnaires outbreak
Health officials in South Wales are trying to trace the source of three cases of Legionnaires' Disease before it claims another victim. An infected building cooling tower or rogue water system may have caused the outbreak, which has killed a woman of 59 and a man of 36 since 11 ...
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News
Treasury set to introduce VAT purge
The government may use the construction sector as a guinea pig for an attack on VAT avoidance. Paymaster-general Dawn Primarolo last week floated the idea of introducing legislation to stamp out VAT avoidance in the supply of construction services. If successful, it would be introduced in other industries. The scheme ...
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Comment
Law inaction
In the past a lot of disputes were allowed to grow because the parties particularly the clients' advisers were lazy. So, new adjudication should work because it brings time pressure to bear shouldn't it?
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News
Police launch inquiry into opera house vandalism
CID reports "extreme criminal damage to auditorium" on site plagued by industrial action.
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News
Site hazard victory
Hundreds of workers in the construction industry could soon be in line for £60 000 payouts for white finger , an industrial injury caused by operating vibrating machinery. Transport and General Workers Union construction secretary Bob Blackman congratulated the government on its landmark decision to offer coal miners ...
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Comment
Shaky ground
When was the last time somebody saved you from an almighty clanger? It happens in business too, but don't rely on it. If watching your back is not spelled out in the contract you can come a cropper.
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News
Small firms uniting to win work
Bidding consortia comprising small and medium-sized construction firms will soon be springing up around the country, following a successful pilot project in Hampshire. Key Consortia, a limited company set up by local contractors and architects, has paved the way by winning a share of a £180m regeneration scheme in ...
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News
Farcical war of words over London Mayor's HQ
Farcical war of words over London Mayor's HQ Developer pulls out, then changes its mind, while Lord Fawsley and Sir Jocelyn indulge in cut and thrust.
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Features
Detailed planning improves productivity
The project to build the seventh baggage reclaim extension at Heathrow Terminal 4 was completed for £225 000 less than the original cost plan. When agreed client variations are added, this represents a saving of 9.7%. The project was also completed in 30 weeks six weeks ahead of ...
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News
QS courts mystery partner
Top 20 quantity surveyor McBains Cooper is understood to be in talks over a possible merger with a mystery partner. A McBains spokeswoman confirmed that a deal was in the offing but added that the company was keeping the lid on the details for the moment. It's early days ...
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Features
Culture counts
In the first of a two-part series, the Institute of Personnel and Development's Angela Baron tells Nancy Cavill about the effects of company cultures.
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Features
Remote control
With infrared ports connecting hardware instead of cables, and a radio-wave system called Bluetooth about to let your palmtop ask your fridge what's for dinner, communication is coming of age.
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Comment
Clash points
Stakeholder clauses, which require money paid as a result of an adjudicator's decision to be held by a third party, are legal and offer protection to parties nervous about new adjudication.