All Building articles in 2004 issue 25
View all stories from this issue.
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Comment
Tom's tower
Tom Barker (11 June, page 34) asks us to believe that the building industry is not catching up with the technological ideas that were proposed back in the early 1960s and then sets out to "explode a few myths".
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FeaturesSkilled solution
ConstructionSkills is launching a drive to tackle the skills crisis. The initiative – Action for Skills – aims to kick-start a debate among employers on training. In the first of five monthly articles, Building, in association with ConstructionSkills, looks at what's gone wrong and how it can be fixed.
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FeaturesThe short straw
Changes to the way in which the government funds research and development means that construction now has to compete with the rest of UK industry for the DTI's money. The prospects are not good …
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Comment
On the safe side
I believe the construction industry is destined to fail in its quest to improve safety unless it begins to place a higher value on human relationships and interaction.
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Comment
There's the rub
Regarding Dennis Lenard's comments on being "stuck in the 1980s", as a founder member of Product Innovation in Architecture, I am finding it virtually impossible to get anything other than lip-service paid to innovation. Everybody wants it but nobody will pay for it. The catch-22 scenario is that you would ...
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CommentReturn to sender
Attention all clients! If an adviser turns itself into a limited liability partnership and writes to ask you to change your contracts accordingly, don't. This is why …
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NewsRavishing Radisson
Architect and designer Virgile and Stone has launched its design for the main public areas of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Berlin. The development includes a 25 m aquarium towering above the bar in the lobby area. The long curving bar can accommodate 90 people. A variety of eateries has ...
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Comment
A servant may have but one master
The Construction Industry Council's new novation form rejects the idea that a consultant can work for a client and a contractor – and be liable to both
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CommentMarketwatch: office special
It was billed as 'The Big Comeback' – London's office developers were going to wow us with a spending extravaganza. But as we report, in reality market recovery has been more of a slow burn
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Features
Lead times
Lead times are staying level in most sectors, but there is still a lot of worry over steel demand, according to Mace's Rob Darrow. Over the page, Gavin Murgatroyd of Gardiner & Theobald shines the spotlight on roofing
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Comment
You be the judge
In our third session, after we posed a tricky hypothetical case back in April, a reader dons a wig and passes judgment – and our question-setter offers his view. Plus another contentious issue to get your teeth into …
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News
Watchdog 'too quick to judge' Tube PPPs
A report assessing whether the London Underground PPP deals will work has been criticised for being written too early.
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News
RICS in talks over insurance
The RICS is seeking an alternative to a proposed move by the Financial Services Authority to regulate firms arranging insurance services in the property sector.
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FeaturesHow’s this for reality?
Find one badly rundown mining town; set up a team of regeneration agencies, architects and council; ask the straight-talking locals what they want to happen. Then stick a TV camera in front of the lot … and watch.
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News
Public rejects high-density living
The government's policy of promoting high-density urban living has been hit by research that reveals that 80% of the public would prefer not to live in apartments
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News
Workers are happier and richer than last year
The construction industry has improved the way it treats workers in four areas this year, according to the 2004 key performance indicators.
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CommentA reader writes: Why the Tricorn had to go
Contrary to what Owen Luder wrote last month, his Portsmouth shopping centre was ripe for demolition, simply because it failed in so many ways
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CommentIt's a gas, gas, gas
Welcome to the crazy mixed-up world of utilities, where you never know who's selling what or who's going to install it – and neither does anybody else!