All Comment articles – Page 60
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CommentA bonus worthy of Scrooge
The government wants the new homes bonus to spark a resurgence in housebuilding. But it is too complex, bureaucratic and riddled with anomalies to work
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CommentRulers were made for…
You can’t measure the value of design with any kind of measuring stick - and anyone who suggests you can deserves a rap on the knuckles
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CommentQuentin Shears: Secret Santa
Quentin Shears is a senior partner at quantity surveyor Newt UK, the Hertfordshire outpost of US multinational GatorCorp. As the year grinds to an end, Quentin usually finds himself undergoing intensive anger management therapy merely to make it through the Christmas party season. This year, however, has found him in ...
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CommentThe Localism Bill is radical but fraught with difficulty
Last night the Bill was finally published, and now we can see the full extent of the challenges ahead
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CommentGuess who came for dinner?
Richard Steer was tired of shouting at the business secretary every time he appeared on his TV screen, so instead he invited him over for a bit of a chat …
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CommentMorrell's first year: How to be popular
Paul Morrell’s first year at Westminster has confirmed that construction is not the most well-liked boy in the class. But to win friends, he says, it just takes confidence and conversation
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FeaturesMorrell’s progress
A year into the job of chief construction adviser, what has Paul Morrell achieved?
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CommentHow to spot the next Rok
Rok’s spectacular collapse seemed like a bolt from the blue, but in fact it followed in the footsteps of other once admired but now failed big names. What are the warning signs?
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CommentAcademia isn’t up to the job
University research consistently fails to address the practical realities of construction. What we need is industry people in academic posts controlling the purse strings
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CommentWonders & blunders with Bruce Kennedy
BDP’s director is inspired by New York’s forward-looking Rockefeller Centre, built in dark economic times, but regrets the retrogressive timidity of SOM’s One World Trade Centre
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CommentPassivhaus refurb diaries, part 7: Rendered insulation
Rendered insulation was used at the back of this Victorian house but there were problems to overcome …
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CommentWhy we should train architects on the job
Higher education is going to become increasingly inaccessible, so why don’t we create ways of training while working
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CommentReturn to grub street
Open mike Remember how grimy our cities were until not so long ago? Well Cabe helped transform them by homing in on design quality, so its demise should worry us all, says Roger Madelin
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CommentPassivhaus diaries: Life at Denby Dale
Living in the Denby Dale Passivhaus still feels like something of a physics lesson to owners Geoff and Kate Tunstall (but in a good way). Here they give an update on how they have found their first summer and autumn in the house and their thoughts as they head into ...
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CommentCala Homes vs Eric Pickles: Who will be the ultimate winner?
The court may have ruled that scrapping regional housing targets was illegal, but that won’t change the government’s localism agenda
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CommentSnakes and ladders
Our sustainability targets are well within our reach. The only problem is working out which technologies will give us a leg up, and which will send us sliding back to square one
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CommentQuentin Shears: How to cut a school by 40%
’Suddenly I knew how George Osborne felt when he got his hands on the communities department payroll’
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CommentDid the spending review kill off PFI?
The chancellor described PFI as ’flawed’ last week, but it hasn’t fallen out of favour for all sectors - at least not yet…
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CommentHas government really made an 'investment in the future'?
Osborne made commitments to invest in key areas but capital budgets have still been hit
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CommentBalance of terror
Our thanks to Nigel Barrett for this picture of daily life on a south London trading estate.