Consultants Comment – Page 12
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CommentQuentin Shears: The great stadium dispute
Quentin receives an invitation from Gator Corp to build a croquet venue - then demolish it
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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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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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CommentAre contractors putting the squeeze on the supply chain?
In a disturbing trend subcontractors are being asked to reduce costs and even make upfront payments or risk being removed from main contractors’ supplier lists. Coercion or market reality?
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CommentWhat’s going on?
The ’resurgence in construction activity’ is proving difficult to detect in the real world. And even if growth does take off, it’ll be a long time before we feel the benefit
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CommentQuentin Shears: Evolve or die!
For almost my entire career, we quantity surveyors have been told that we must evolve or die. This has never really bothered me, although I’d hate to think of the chain ending with me and Richard Steer.
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CommentBenefits of QS work placements
The young QS started life as a geography student, but a summer placement with a construction contractor changed his career direction
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CommentIntegrated design and construction: Divided we fall
Our industry is fragmented between those who do the real work on site and those who live off its adversarial culture. Integrating the two factions is our only hope
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Quality of work: The QS's duty
A QS has been sued for valuing work that was defective. Luckily for it, the law is clear on this point. But surely QSs have a duty to speak up if they spot something’s wrong?
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Quality of work: Outside the QS's remit
The QS is concerned with value and quantity, so it is right that the law should not require them to be held responsible for matters of quality
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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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CommentThe RICS: Are we being served?
Open mike: QSs have little in common with estate agents yet we share the same professional body. We have to break free and form an organisation that truly represents us
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CommentRICS on the Spending Review
RICS director of external affairs comments on the controversial government announcement
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The project manager: A hero of our times
Don’t be fooled by the thick glasses and the side parting - that project manager in the corner might just be the person who saves your bacon …
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CommentQuentin Shears: Thinking inside the box
I’ve never been entirely sure what management consultancy is. My only hope was that nobody else knew either
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CommentDon't kid yourself
Our Top 250 consultants league table shows the harsh realities gripping the construction sector, and there’s no sign of improvement yet
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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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CommentThe silent QSs
Are Building readers aware of the implications of the takeover of Davis Langdon by Aecom?
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CommentWhat do consultants actually do?
Consultants need to explain in simple terms what they do to avoid being blamed for job losses and cut downs