Consultants Focus – Page 12
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FeaturesGIA: Is this the UK’s grooviest building surveyor?
The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker – if they’re after second careers, they could do worse than apply to become building surveyors at GIA. Alex Smith talks to seven employees who all have wildly different backgrounds. Photography by Steve Schofield
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FeaturesTop 150 Contractors and Housebuilders 2008
It looks like we’re in for nasty weather. Problem is, most of the the industry has only known bright, bright sunshiny days. So what can the people who went through the misery of the early nineties teach them?
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FeaturesSweett smell of success: Cyril Sweett interview
Dean Webster and Francis Ives were the men who took Cyril Sweett public. Now they have their first set of results, and they make happy reading. Portrait by Wilde Fry
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FeaturesMeet the boss of Bouygues UK – Madani Sow
As the new boss of Bouygues UK, Madani Sow is in charge of feeding the company’s voracious appetite for acquisitions. But, as he tells Tom Bill, it demands an awful lot from those it buys
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FeaturesThe best china: 10 of the most spectacular new Chinese buildings
Even without the Olympics China is producing some of the finest architecture on the planet – with a little help from the Brits. Martin Spring chooses 10 of the best
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FeaturesBernard Ainsworth interview: Shard man
‘Ultimate project manager’ Bernard Ainsworth is ready to perform his next miracle on the Shard at London Bridge, and he’ll rip up the plans and start from scratch if it gets the controversial scheme completed. Roxane McMeeken went to meet him
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FeaturesInternational markets: 10 fastest growing markets in the world
As the economic downturn sets in at home, it might be time to consider working abroad. That’s why Building is launching a new international section, where we’ll bring you essential guides to doing business in the most exciting economies outside the UK. To kick off, this week we take a ...
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FeaturesConstruction's next generation: here’s what we think
Construction’s next generation has a lot on its mind – training, sustainability, recruitment, not to mention the OFT inquiry …
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FeaturesThe plot to escape Erinaceous
When Britain’s fastest growing consultant began to fall apart, the firms it bought had to find a way to avoid sharing its fate. For seven months they fought a hidden war to save their lives. Sarah Richardson found out how six of them pulled it off
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FeaturesHays 2008 Consultants' salary and benefits guide
If your staff room looks like this it’s safe to say that employers are still having to do all they can to retain talented staff. David Parsley introduces this year’s consultants’ salary guide with a look at some of the quirkier perks on offer
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FeaturesHow to make your fortune quantity surveying
With skilled staff in short supply, QS firms are jostling to offer the most attractive corporate structures to their employees. From traditional partnerships to limited companies, Mark Leftly runs through the risks of each model and weighs these against their potential to make you a packet
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FeaturesShould I stay or should I go?
There’s a lot of talk in the construction industry about opportunities to work abroad, from the allure of building Dubai’s dazzling skyscrapers to the chance to help people in countries ravaged by war or natural disaster. But what is the reality of working in foreign countries, and how does it ...
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FeaturesCSTT Training Day: So who knows what a QS is?
The Chartered Surveyors Training Trust is fighting to survive with new government funding cuts
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FeaturesHe’s arrived early: Neil Edginton's career path
At the tender age of 30 Neil Edginton is in charge of Build Ability, the contractor that’s delivering Birmingham’s £75m Cube. He tells James Clegg about how he got there, what’s next and how he upset the BBC by playing Eagles covers
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FeaturesInterview with Jon Emery of Hammerson
Hammerson doesn’t like cosy relationships and obliging suppliers. It wants designers and builders who will kick back, come up with alternative suggestions and generally keep its creative juices flowing.
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FeaturesThe evolving QS
With flotation looking distinctly iffy – as Turner & Townsend realised last week – cost consultants are looking for other ways to expand and survive.
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FeaturesMeet the new nanny
Lance Taylor is chief executive of Rider Levett Bucknall, a global QS that, according to him, resembles a ‘65-year-old toddler’. Here the rugby-playing hard man tells Karolin Schaps how he plans to nurture it through its teething problems.
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FeaturesBetter by degrees
Entering construction as a graduate will stand you in better stead than jumping right in and learning on the job. Even the lack of on-site experience can work to your advantage, says graduate QS Richard Devoy
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FeaturesPhil Redmond
He’s known by many as the father of the modern soap opera. Others see him as the man who’ll deliver Liverpool’s year in the sun. But for some he’ll always be the QS who tackled Orton village hall …
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Features‘Perversely, some see us as a burden’
Project managers are the fastest growing force in construction but also one of the most divisive. Do they expertly pull the strings or tangle projects in knots? Stephen Kennett canvassed the opinions of some well-placed, if occasionally exasperated, observers