QS Focus
Life after Davis Langdon
Building profiles the many new start-ups launched by former Davis Langdon partners
Interview: Philip Youell, EC Harris
EC Harris tied the knot with Arcadis a year ago and since then its chief executive has used their combined strength to win work worth £40m. Philip Youell tells Iain Withers the secrets to a successful takeover and where he intends to pitch for work in the future
Consultants in the regions: Two-speed Britain
Can consultants afford to keep their regional offices open?
Contractor salary survey 2012: Signs of life
Find out the winners and losers in this year’s salary survey with our interactive tables and full analysis
Ann Bentley: Stepping up
It would be understandable if Rider Levett Bucknall UK’s new chair felt intimidated by her predecessor’s legacy. But,as Building reports, Ann Bentley is ready to fill the role in her own way
Market forecast: Further to fall
With the economic outlook worsening, construction activity is expected to keep slowing until the end of 2013, with prices rising slightly
Costly legal disputes: Everyone's a loser
The amount spent on legal disputes has jumped by a third in the UK over the past year. Why are construction firms still so keen to spend on litigation?
The state of play 02: Consultancy
In the second of our sector-by-sector reports, Ian Withers looks at the strategies consultants are adopting to meet the challenges of uncertain times
Hays International Salary Survey 2012: Rich in oil
Engineers, QSs and contractors can expect huge pay rises of up to £100k in the gas, oil and mineral mining sectors of the southern hemisphere and Canada. Emily Wright reports on the the multibillion-pound sectors fuelling construction as Hays International Salary Survey drills down into the data.
Lead times: January-March 2012
Lead times remain extremely low across all trades, with any bottlenecks being absorbed by the pre-construction programmes of contractors eager to win work. Brian Moone of Mace reports
My working day: RLF surveyor James Fozzard
The building surveyor’s work is fun and varied, and includes treasure hunts around Covent Garden
Infrastructure: Biomass energy
The biomass sector is gaining momentum and should prove easier for construction firms to break into than either off-shore wind or nuclear energy. Simon Rawlinson of EC Harris and John Busby of Arcadis examine this emerging market
Mott Macdonald's Keith Howells: 'It's a bit like star wars'
How should the UK’s largest independent consultant respond to the ‘evil Empire’ of consolidated corporations taking over the market? Mott MacDonald chairman Keith Howells tells Building about the company’s plans to strike back. Tom Campbell photography
Market forecast: That sinking feeling
Construction output looks set to fall by 5% in 2012 as new work dries up and the UK, like the rest of Europe, slips back into recession. Peter Fordham of Davis Langdon, an AECOM company, reports
Country focus: The Balkans
The republics of the former Yugoslavia were hit hard by the global recession in 2009, and now the EU debt crisis is threatening their recovery. Sasa Trajkovic from EC Harris reports
Jason Prior: The big picture man
Aecom’s head of buildings and places, Jason Prior, maps out where the company is headed
Sean Tompkins: Chartering new territory
With the RICS’ overseas membership up to 35,000, chief executive Sean Tompkins isn’t about to be blown off course by parochial critics back home
Whole-life carbon: New-build schools
Through the careful specification of timber it is possible to reduce the whole-life carbon footprint of a school by over 15%
The Tracker: A light ahead
Awful weather and difficult finances combine to keep construction in negative territory, according to Experian Economics. But at least some firms now have more than six months’ work ahead of them
Scots on the rocks: Construction in Scotland
Construction activity north of the border is expected to fall 7% this year, but does the Scottish government have better plans than Westminster for digging itself out of trouble?
BIM: The inside story one year on
Building caught up with the team on the Manchester library refurb project to see if BIM was everything they hoped it would be
My working day: Faithful+Gould consultant Alison Wring
The head of the Cambridge office spends her working day visiting clients all over East Anglia and London
BIM: Nine experts on what they've learnt
To mark this week’s BIM Live event, nine experts tell Emily Wright what they have learnt over the past 12 months
Market forecast: Spring hasn’t sprung
Fears over the eurozone crisis may be subsiding, but construction is still in for a miserable year, with £5.4bn less work than 2011
The 2012 consultants' salary survey: The measure of things
The Building/Hays Construction salary survey shows that infrastructure work has provided one of the few escapes in another sobering year for consultants, but the adoption of BIM technology is hitting technical experts hard. Building reports
The RICS' new rules of measurement
Next month, the RICS launches a suite of guidance and standards that is set to transform the way that costs are managed through the life-cycle of a building. Stuart Earl explains how it works
My working day: RLF QS Kat Hurworth
The young QS on a placement at RLF took on the nickname ‘the golfer’ even before she began work
Cost model: Standardised schools
As the James Review made clear, the future of schoolbuilding lies with low-cost standard solutions, much as it did in the fifties. Darren Talbot and Stuart Francis of Davis Langdon, an Aecom company, offer an overview of this burgeoning market and consider the costs
Green Deal: Does it add up for homes?
The Green Deal aims to reduce energy consumption at no upfront cost to homeowners, but which measures meet the ‘golden rule’? Phil Birch and Richard Quartermaine of Cyril Sweett report
Predictions for 2012: The year of the groundhog
So what does 2012 have in store? Well, there’s the Olympics, of course, and some potentially interesting developments in nuclear power and infrastructure. But mostly it will be a year of battening down the hatches. There will be recklessly low bids for work, some firms will go under, others will seek refuge in emerging Asian markets. Hang on, this all sounds very familiar …
