All Comment articles – Page 61
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NewsYou can’t ditch the indispensable
We’ll soon know whether the government intends to sell off ConstructionSkills. Whatever happens, our industry will still insist on a levy to pay for training, says Sir Michael Latham
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CommentSecond best is no good at all: impressions from the Labour party conference
Fresh from the Labour conference, Amanda Levete muses on the pointlessness of second place, the deviousness of committees and the role of a great leader in making great buildings
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CommentShut your beaks
The construction industry is like a chick in its nest waiting for someone to deliver juicy new-build projects when it should be looking at the nitty-gritty of running an estate
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CommentThe first of many BSF legal challenges?
While councils may be minded to claim back wasted costs, private sector players are just focused on not making a bad situation worse
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CommentWhat you need to know about the Equality Act
Measures that came into force on 1 October will take some construction employers by surprise, here’s why…
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NewsTwo arms tied behind our back
Open mike It is in the interests of both landlords and tenants to improve a property’s energy efficiency - but they won’t until we change the law that constrains them
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CommentSacred cow burgers
Whatever you think of the coalition, it’s pretty clear it needs help. Luckily construction is in a great position to provide it, but it needs to slaughter a few horned beasties first
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NewsDealing with dragons
I was interested to note that it has been considered normal for a deal in China to include a large proportion of consideration (up to 100%) paid in advance (17 September, page 44)
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CommentFalling mortgage approvals indicate gloomier times
House price indices are less helpful for forecasters when housing transactions are low
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CommentNot with a bang but a whimper
We’re fighting our corner with all the eloquence and ferocity of a strangled budgie, and as yet more thousands are laid off, no one is there to so much as protest at our fate, says Richard Steer
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NewsQuestion time for Cameron
The Tory conference is going to be subjected to minute scrutiny in the hope that ministers will fill in some of the many blanks in policy. Sarah Richardson and Roxane McMeeken list the most important
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Comment
Spending cuts: Education was just the start...
After the shock of the education spending massacre, the cutbacks will probably provoke despair rather than anger
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CommentHansom: Tough sells
The Conservative housing minister at the Lib Dem party conference, a strangely familiar ’iconic’ development in Dubai and a super-luxe London apartment with its own secret tunnel
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CommentLib Dems pick a row over education
Passions run high at the Lib Dem conference in Liverpool as they debate free schools and the ’new’ academies
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CommentKicking out the jams: Academies framework
If contractors were peeved at not being on the academies framework before, they’ll be shedding some tears after the latest piece of news…
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CommentBeware Greeks bearing gifts
One lesson the Connaught story tells us is that clients are too ready to accept prices that aren’t sustainable
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Comment
The big squeeze
Connaught’s difficulties have highlighted what most of us who work in the social housing repairs sector are already aware of
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FeaturesThe collapse of Connaught
The Sidmouth concrete specialist that morphed into a £600m social housing contractor was one of the greatest success stories of the past 30 years, and one of the landmarks of the industry. Andrew Hankinson reports on why it fell - and if the banks should have saved it
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CommentGreat crested newts!
As your recent article describes (27 August, page 36), the scale of the London Gateway Development - and the fact that the site lies at the heart of one of Europe’s most important estuary and wetland habitats - presents unique challenges
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Comment
Tradition be damned
Ah, the past, how it used to be (Inbox, The silent QSs, 10 September, page 22).