Build lean: Why good projects must get built
With viable schemes increasingly struggling to reach site, design teams must focus on what they can control: challenging costly assumptions, revisiting early decisions and making viability a shared responsibility, says Oliver Milton
Self-promotion in construction: The dangers and delights of being seen and heard at work
Good work does not always speak for itself. Penny Haslam explains why greater visibility matters in construction and offers three practical ways to raise your profile without feeling like a show-off
Budget 2026: No extra hope for today, less breathing space in the future?
The expansive phase of public investment is ending. Government is now betting on leveraging private finance to keep construction’s projects pipeline moving, says Simon Rawlinson of Arcadis
Public housing is back at the top of British architecture
Council homes won both the Stirling Prize and the Neave Brown Award this year. Satish Jassal, whose practice won the latter, says it is heartening
Beyond retentions: can the Commercial Payments Bill help transform construction's business model?
Calls for change are nothing new in our industry, but now we really do have the tools and the need to make it happen, says RLB’s Paul Beeston
Slash-and-burn deregulation is no fix for the viability crisis
The Conservative Party’s bonfire-of-regulations pitch makes some fair points about development viability – but the crude politics of scrapping the Future Homes Standard obscures what smarter reform could actually look like
Why the devolution agenda presents a genuine opportunity for construction
The skills shortage in construction is not just about numbers - it’s about having the right people, in the right places, with the right competence. Tim Balcon argues that devolution offers a chance to build a system that matches training to demand
Councils can build homes again, but funding alone won’t drive delivery
Local authorities will need to be efficient and have the necessary capacity to translate Burnham’s ambitions into outcomes, writes Caroline Compton-James
Why London is right to cap upfront embodied carbon
The draft London Plan’s decision to cap upfront embodied carbon rather than set a single whole life limit has divided opinion. Will Arnold argues the GLA has the logic exactly right
The negotiation skills construction forgot to teach
Former chief construction adviser Paul Morrell reflects on HS2’s contract renegotiations and argues they expose a deeper, systemic failure in government procurement capability - and a neglected gap in built environment education
London wants whole-life carbon reductions. So why are its proposed limits focused on upfront emissions?
The proposed London Plan rightly sets out to reduce embodied carbon. But setting limits on upfront emissions is tackling the problem the wrong way round, writes Andrea Charlson
What if Britain’s next construction boom is driven from the regions?
For devolution to fulfill its potential, five things need to happen, writes RLB chief executive Andrew Reynolds
The Lion Green Road Stirling win signals RIBA’s support for council housing
Mary Duggan Architects and RUFFARCHITECTS’ Lion Green Road has taken the Stirling Prize, but the win carries political weight far beyond its architectural merits - arriving at a pivotal moment for council housing in Britain, says Ben Flatman
This month’s construction industry gossip: Cutting edge
The latest chatter around the industry
Construction needs a practical route to growth
After 21 consecutive months of contraction, the construction industry needs more than warm words from the chancellor - it needs viable conditions to invest, hire and build
The adjudicator can ignore your arguments and look to the materials
An adjudicator plumped for a position advocated by a document in the case bundle but disavowed by both disputing parties
The new right to work regime: what you need to know
Construction firms may find their liability now reaches right down the supply chain
A retentions ban is too simplistic
Retentions pose a complex problem that requires a careful answer rather than the outright ban government intends, argues Francis Ho
Are construction contracts ready for a hotter future?
Sheena Sood explains the delivery, performance and commercial risks of increased heat, how different contracts allocate them, and what may need to change
Whose side are you on? A look at new RICS guidance for expert witnesses
Tony Bingham ponders upon the “musts” and “must nots” of the latest RICS guidance to surveyors acting as expert witnesses
How insolvency affects dispute resolution
When a dispute involves an insolvent party, the challenge is not so much obtaining a ruling as enforcing it
