More Comment – Page 684
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Comment
All in the forecast
Further to Malcolm Taylor’s letter (10 December, page 29), it may well be puzzling that the services element of a building does not receive the same level of prescriptive design as the architectural elements.
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Comment
Mr BTEC responds
As a course director (“Mr BTEC”) at the College of West Anglia in Norfolk, I would like to reassure readers that Della Madgwick’s unfortunate experience, recounted in her letter of 3 December, need not be universal.
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Comment
The price of CSCS
I read with amazement that the CSCS scheme is £5m in the red (3 December, page 9).
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Comment
Jack’s blunder
Jack Pringle’s comments (3 December, page 34) demonstrate how out of touch with reality the RIBA remains in 2004, with its obsession for style before function.
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Comment
Perfect 10 (well, almost)
I was interested to read Rudi Klein’s recent article about the benefits of single project insurance to the construction industry (26 November, page 51).
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Comment
Get ’em young
Andrew Williams’ article “The QS’ apprentice” (19 November, page 33) raises some interesting issues about how we train future practitioners, and will no doubt provoke much debate.
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Comment
The name’s Bond … retention bond
A number of British Constructional Steelwork Association members may choose to give bonds in place of accepting cash retention (26 November, page 63), but I hope you don’t think I’m being too pedantic if I remind you that this is no longer a BCSA matter but one for individual companies.
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CommentRule Britannia
How’s this for a list of new year’s resolutions? I will not design buildings with sexy floor-to-ceiling glass cladding.
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Comment
Don’t delay
In 2003 Severn Trent Water Limited (STW) commenced its tendering process for the award of contracts for the maintenance, renewal and improvement of its reservoirs, pipelines, pumping stations, treatment plants and sewerage systems. The contract was a five year programme of considerable value, being somewhere in the region of £1.5-£2bn.STW ...
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CommentClucking hell
If construction has been likened to a flock of quarrelsome chickens, it is because industry bodies are concerned with nothing but their own place in the pecking order
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CommentPeace and goodwill
With Christmas eight days away, what better time could there be for the unions and CITB-ConstructionSkills to call a truce in their war for possession of the CSCS card scheme?
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CommentA question for the judge
Can one adjudicator read 52 lever-arch files and nine boxes of documentation in 100 days and still reach a fair decision? Here’s what Judge Toulmin said
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CommentJingle all the way
Deck the halls with boughs of holly/Here’s some advice on saving lolly/Hire yourself a new surveyor/Who’ll collect evidence against the payer …
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Comment
The recovery position
If your subcontractor or supplier turns turtle you have a major problem, but all may not be lost. Here’s how you can jump the insolvency queue …
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CommentOpen mike: This is unacceptable
Legal disputes in construction are as important as those in any other industry, so why do our firms have to use the tradesman’s entrance to the courts?
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CommentHold that axe
The architecture school at Cambridge is a world-class institution renowned for the calibre of its ex-students (ahem). Only the Brits could think of shutting it down
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Comment
A recipe for disaster
If danger is your bread and death your butter, you might be attracted by contracts containing fitness for purpose obligations. Otherwise, steer clear
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Comment
A place for leisure
In 1997 outline planning permission was granted for a business park on a 53-hectacre site. The permission covered mixed-use development for business and commerce, comprising classes A2, B1, B2 and B8, together with recreational use associated with a particular recreation ground. No environmental impact assessment (EIA) was carried out in ...
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CommentWho are you today?
A piece of legislation that protects ‘consumers’ against unfair treatment from ‘commercial’ types – meaning you – undermines whole basis of a building contract