More Comment – Page 485
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CommentThe disaster area
Open mike: The latest data from purchasing managers confirms that construction has been one of the worst afflicted areas of the UK economy. Roy Ayliffe peers into the gloom for signs of hope
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CommentSometimes a great notion...
They say great ideas have three phases: first, they’re ludicrous, then they’re wrong and finally they’re obvious
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CommentAsking for the moon: Construction Act changes
The Specialist Engineering Contractors’ Group wants payment security on demand included in the new Construction Act. It should not – and will not – become law
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CommentTranscendental mediation: A mediator's role
The talking cure for construction disputes is a fine way to settle an argument – but only if the mediator is prepared to go beyond the role of polite, ineffectual facilitator
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Settle down: The popularity of mediation
Mediation is proving ever more popular as a way of settling disputes before they get to court. And, as it saves money, parties are going willingly to the talking block
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CommentHuman sacrifice won't help us
Kicking out apprentices and slashing training is not going to cure the recession, but it will kill the recovery. What firms need to do is keep their nerve – and their staff
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CommentWonders & blunders
Martin Playford revisits two grand schemes from the seventies, one a gleaming symbol of the might of the City, the other a sad leftover from a best-forgotten motorway project
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The disaster area
The latest CIPS/Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data shows that global forces continue unremittingly to batter all UK industries, with the ailing construction industry the sick man of the economy.Indeed, construction firms’ purchasing managers say the slight improvement in operating conditions in the past month only reaffirms how bad things ...
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CIPS construction index bounces back, but what does that mean?
The latest survey by the buyers' body CIPS shows a remarkable bounce back in the broad construction index towards the magic 50 no-change mark.The index has risen from 30.9 in April to 38.1 in May and up to 45.9 in June. This will no doubt be taken as a sign ...
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Relief on the home front, but are we really on a road to recovery?
The relief among those connected with the house building and selling industries must be enormous at the moment.Following on from a set of more encouraging sales data and a fall in pessimism among estate agents, we had figures from Nationwide at the end of last week saying that house prices ...
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CommentThe bridge on the river Tees
Its parents were Eric Fletcher and Margaret Thatcher. Assisting at the birth were 500 midwives. It is now being cared for by the 187,000 people of Stockton-on-Tees
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CommentThinking caps: Employer's agents
When a QS acts as contract administrator, certifier, project manager and employer’s agent, it all ends up like a game of pass the hat. But some principles always apply
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CommentTell them a bedtime story: Public sector tendering
If you’re a public authority inviting tenders, you should treat bidders like small children, eager to learn how you will judge them – and for heaven’s sake make sure they do learn
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CommentThe general purpose specialist
If we want to make it through the recession with our highly trained staff intact, we have to carry on doing what we do well, and start doing a lot of things that we don’t
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Burning questions: Waste disposal strategies
Paul Mansouri and Mark Berry As Costain’s £398m waste project in Manchester confirmed, muck and brass are as linked as ever. The link between muck and renewable fuel is more recent
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Why nobody wants to buy
Tumbling fees, dwindling workloads and payment periods stretching beyond the horizon. In the last recession this led to a frenzy of mergers and acquisitions. This time, it's different.According to a report by researcher Corpfin, corporate activity in the first quarter of this year has ground to a virtual halt. There ...
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Short and tweet: Bob Leung
Dispatches from the Twitter social networking site: Bob Leung is the co-founder of Woobius, the collaboration hub for architects and engineers and a partner at Make Architects
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CommentBuilding buys a pint … for Penson Group
“I’m claustrophobic ,” announces Lee Penson, founder of architectural practice Penson Group