35

Amount in pounds sterling Corus is increasing its price per tonne for steel from April. This comes on top of a rise of £15 per tonne in January and an £8 surcharge to help cover fluctuating raw materials costs.

Steelwork contractors are now considering reintroducing tender price fluctuation clauses, to cover themselves for rising costs.

The reason behind the hikes is the booming economy and construction spend in China. The country now uses 29 per cent of global steel, according to figures from industry body UK Steel.

Building materials from the Far East have traditionally been cheaper than those from UK, but with steel at the moment that trend is reversed so that scrap steel and steel products are being exported from UK to higher-priced markets.

66

The percentage of workers on Major Contractors Group (MCG) sites who have CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) cards, up from 55 per cent in January 2003. The MCG's first competence audit in January 2002 showed 37.7% of all workforce with cards.

Members of the MCG, which account for 30% of the market, pledged to make CSCS cards a must from the beginning of this year, writing the necessity to have a carded workforce into subcontract clauses. Back in summer 2001, the MCG had set 1 January 2004 as the deadline for 100 per cent of its workers to hold CSCS cards.

Among directly employed operatives, the contractors achieved an average of 82% with cards. For indirectly employed workers, the figure was 57%. Over 600,000 workers in 166 trades now hold CSCS cards.

100

kilos. Is that really the weight of the average construction worker? The Health and Safety Executive doesn't think so. At the moment harnesses and lanyards are tested using 100kg – or 15 and a half stones in the old money – because that is, apparently, the average weight of men between 18 and 64.

But anecdotal evidence suggests that some of the people who are working at height on sites are considerably heavier, and so the HSE has commissioned Loughborough University to weigh 700 volunteers for its Body Size Criteria study.

If you think that any of the scaffolders or steel erectors working on your project are considerably heavier than 100kg, the HSE advises that contractors should check with the manufacturer or supplier to find out exactly what the harnesses have been tested for. Loughborough plans to finish its research by the end of April.

8815

The number of students who applied to building courses up to mid January, a 16% increase on the previous year, according to UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admission Service). This is considerably higher than the overall 3.4% rise in applications.

Other construction courses are also proving more popular. There were 25% more applications, 14,807, to read civil engineering and 17.5% more, 18,357, for architecture.

At the other end of the scale, those subjects falling in popularity were software engineering, down 24.3% computer science, down 19.6% and physics, down 10.4%.

The growth represents a welcome reversal in the trend for the industry. In 2002 a Rethinking Construction report predicted that if the decline in those studying construction degrees continued at the same rate, there would be no construction students at university by 2012.

400,000

The number of people claiming asbestos-related damages against Halliburton, the giant oil services company, formerly led by George W Bush's right-hand man, the American vice-president Dick Cheney.

Halliburton's total asbestos claim bill is likely to reach a figure in the region of US$4bn (£2.3bn). Most of the claims date back to the 1960s and 1970s from employees who worked for Halliburton subsidiary companies DII Industries and Kellogg Brown & Root.

Reinsurance vehicle Equitas will pay $575m of the total claim, but Halliburton's asbestos liability is a substantial burden, resulting in a loss last year. However the company still enjoys soaring revenues, assisted by a $1.2bn contract for the US government to help rebuild Iraq.

Asbestos claims have cost US firms an estimated $54bn so far, with 60 companies going out of business due to the litigation.

2.2 trn

The amount in US dollars spent globally on construction last year according to a report from Davis Langdon & Everest, up 2.8% on 2002.

The USA leads the way on construction spending, followed by Japan, China and Germany. The UK is sixth in the global construction spending ranking, just below Italy. Within Europe UK and Spain fared better than many other European countries in 2003, growing 4.5% and 4.7% respectively. France grew 1.6%, Italy 0.5%, and in Germany construction output fell.

DLE predicts that global construction spending will grow 4.6% annually between 2004 and 2007, with China and India experiencing faster growth with 8% and 9% annual growth predicted. Within Europe the consultant highlights Greece, post-Olympic spending, and Russia, with growing demand from its middle class for housing, goods and services, as two emerging markets.