All Features articles – Page 581
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FeaturesPalm stormers
Get drawings, cut paperwork or surf the net, all from a muddy ditch anywhere. As computers get faster, smaller and cheaper, some companies are holding the future in their hands. Thomas Lane explores the revolution in mobile computing
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FeaturesIt's (still) a man's world
Equal opportunities initiatives come and go, but construction's career ladder remains steeper for women than men – if they manage to cling on at all after they've had children
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FeaturesGet shorter
Just a year ago, it seemed a string of skyscraper proposals were about to turn London into Chicago-on-Thames. Now, tall is out and once again the groundscraper is flavour of the month. Matthew Richards discovers that big offices are laying low
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Features
Rules of the game
Partners who work together without a partnership agreement are asking for grief …
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Features
Five resources for working women
www.maternityalliance.org.uk has a vast store of information and guidance on maternity benefits and rights. It also deals with parental leave and has a section dedicated to up-and-coming employment legislation that affects women.www.womenback2work.co.uk offers women who've taken a career break advice, as well as publishing the experiences of those who've been ...
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Don't go KPI nuts
These days, there's a benchmarking tool for everything – except the effectiveness of benchmarking. And as key performance indicators cost more than peanuts to implement, how can companies work out which ones are truly key to their performance?
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Features
The killer clients
Eganism is being threatened by a very different way of doing business, as blue-chip employers switch to 'reverse auction' tendering on the internet – a ruthless game in which the client picks off bidders until there is just one left.
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Features
Bright young thing
Ben Tanner, winner of the Sir Ian Dixon Scholarship, which gives the industry's bright lights a chance to research a topic of their choice, talks to Victoria Madine
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Features
Appointments
ContractorsMidlands firm William Sapcote has appointed Phil Livesey senior project surveyor in Birmingham. He was previously a PQS with Mowlem.Gary Charnock (left) has joined Willmott Dixon as general foreman for the West Midlands. Wiltshier FM, the facilities management division of contractor Ballast, has appointed Robert Newton general manager. HousebuildersBellway Homes ...
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Features
Meet the neighbours
With all eyes on the eurozone, it is easy to forget the possibilities in central and eastern Europe. Following on from our euro special, Victoria Madine discovers that these markets are about to become mainline stations on the European Union's gravy train
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Features
The generation game
Lessons learned as children affect our working lives – and we're not talking Tonka toys
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Features
Front line
Are developers grasping the green agenda? Judith Harrison sees signs of hope, but John Callcutt doesn’t see much beyond general enthusiasm
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FeaturesSmall but perfectly formed
Black Country Housing and Community Services Group caught a lot of attention two years ago with an ultra-green scheme at Bryce Road, Dudley, boasting composting toilets, photovoltaic panels, greywater recycling and a whole lot more.
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Features
Mild, green, fairly liquid
Lord Falconer's planning green paper was designed to clean up the system by cutting through stubborn layers of built-up bureaucracy – but turns out to be a bit of a wash-out.
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FeaturesSwiss ease
From the land of chocolate and cheese comes another remarkable product – a slot-together modular building system, not unlike Lego, called Steko. Marcus Fairs went to see the first UK project to use the blocks – a cliff-top home in Cornwall
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Features
Community test
In the first in our series of revisits, Alan Cherry, chairman of developer Countryside Properties, meets one of his customers at the Greenwich Millennium Village to review the successes and failures of the country's highest-profile sustainable community
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Features
The colour of money
Do housebuilders have to go into the red in order to turn green? It looks like they do, because putting in ecological features can be so expensive that payback times may never come.
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FeaturesChris Mellor
Some people might think AWG's admission that it paid £22m over the odds for contractor Morrison is a cause for embarrassment. But, as Victoria Madine discovered, the water group's chief executive isn't one of them.
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Features
Five effects of company car tax changes
Large cars face heavier taxationFrom this April, tax on company cars will be based on carbon dioxide emissions per kilometre – so large vehicles with high fuel consumption will be hardest hit. A top-rate tax payer driving a £20,000 BMW 318 could end up £400 a year worse off.Employees could ...