All Letters articles – Page 74
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CommentThe plywood
In a former life as a site manager, I was charged with carrying out £800,000 of modifications to a building designed by a signature designer of international renown. I had an outline programme, budget and a designer novated, for want of a better word, to the main (negotiated) contract. At ...
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After the battle
Some readers may remember me as Building's planning correspondent. I have since swapped the pen for the mace as mayor elect of Wallingford, Oxfordshire. When I was first elected mayor four years ago, I supported the new Waitrose store featured in "The Battle of Waitrose" (13 April, page 54). It ...
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They're both wrong …
Fascinating though it certainly is to read yet another article on how best to manage construction projects from such seasoned professionals as Colin Harding and Rab Bennetts (21 April, page 60), I am left wondering who really will be in charge when, sooner or later, something goes wrong.
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How to get a break
The guidance on tax breaks for cleaning up contaminated land and buildings provided by Davis Langdon Crosher and James in the infrastructure cost model (28 April, page 65) contained a couple of misleading statements that I would like to correct.
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Football folly
Women represent a significant labour force, yet have always been underrepresented in the UK construction industry. Patricia Hewitt, when minister for trade and industry, claimed that there are women who want to work in construction but are discouraged by its macho, male-dominated image.
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CommentIt's ok. He's holding on to a tile.
Thanks to Peter Smith of Raymond Smith Patrnership in Eastbourne for this week's example of man's indifference to mortality.
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… and neither will learn
It had to take four valuable pages of Building to produce predictably stereotyped, polarised views. Although Bennetts and Harding were very civil to each other (Harding uncharacteristically so), the arguments of one were not going to budge the other one jot. Which is a pity.
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Unproductive students
You ran a good article on poor pay and conditions for architecture students (10 March, page 22). It is not that long ago that I was a recently qualified student and I now find myself being approached by dozens of them looking for work. Frankly - and this is not ...
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Taking issue with Rab Bennetts
I must congratulate you on the publication of the debate between Colin Harding and Rab Bennetts. I wish to raise one issue and make one objection.
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The view from The Edge
If sustainability is on the National Curriculum, isn't it about time it became a central tenet of the government's schoolbuilding programmes?
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The rules of engagement
In "The limits of trust" (7 April, page 70), Gillian Birkby stresses the need for two things in contracts for the procurement of designers' services. The first is "some way of identifying exactly what services the designer is to provide", and the second is a mechanism for identifying who is ...
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CommentIt's raining men
My wife and I were in Tallinn, Estonia, last summer when we saw these three lads re-roofing a building in the old town - soft hats and soft brains, and the rain was pouring down.
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The last word
I was very disappointed that the contents page in Friday's magazine (21 April, page 4) styled me as a "professional architect hater". It is patently obvious from the debate with Rab Bennetts that I am not.
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CommentAh, they've finally made that safe, then
This classic safety precaution comes to us from Tony Rackliffe, of Farnham, who explains it was one of a series of similar holes in a fairly busy street in Kuala Lumpur. It was much more dangerous before the planks went across, presumably
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Keeping at arm's length
The government should temper its move to replace the Decent Homes standard with a wider benchmark by taking into account the achievements of many arm's length management organisations to date.
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Don't blame the software
I have no wish to defend the shambles of the implementation timetable of Part L, forced on the ODPM by its political masters and the European Union. The development of the Simplified Building Energy Model was part of that sorry process, but to criticise SBEM because it doesn't give the ...
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Private concerns
As the newly appointed chairman of the Association of Consultant Approved Inspectors (which represents about 30% of the building control industry), I would like to endorse the five manifesto proposals, particularly the first two. It is noted however, that the private sector building control was not included in the summit, ...
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