More Comment
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CommentLook at buildings as a whole for the most efficient carbon outcomes
The Net Zero Carbon Building Standard has made a start, but limiting carbon metrics to upfront emissions and energy use misses the full picture. Simon Sturgis argues the data now exists to set whole-life carbon limits - and the GLA should act
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CommentThis month’s construction industry gossip: A brand day out
News and exciting views from Joseph Aloysius Hansom and the team as they scan the latest chatter around the industry
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CommentBurnham needs to do much more to give the construction industry funding certainty
The operating environment remains unpredictable and investors need visiibility of pipelines if Burnham’s regional growth ambition is to become a reality, writes Carl Brown
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CommentThe price of cheap energy could be programme certainty
The government’s aim to ensure cheap energy is the right one – but could there be unintended consequences? asks Simon Rawlinson of Arcadis.
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CommentHS2’s latest reset and what could come next for contracts and claims
Antony Smith and James Hughes consider how the reset is likely to play out in terms of claim settlements and contractual arrangements
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CommentThe Gateway 2 principles are sound but patience with its growing pains is still needed
The process is getting better and its intentions are good but, three years on, it still needs tweaking, writes Morris + Company’s Niall McHale
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CommentBudget 2026: net zero didn’t die - it went to business school
Last week’s Budget has not killed the net zero agenda but it has rewritten the rules. Hannah Vickers argues that affordability, grid value and national security are now the criteria that matter, and sets out what that means for the energy transition pipeline
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CommentBuild lean: Why good projects must get built
With viable schemes increasingly struggling to reach site, design teams must focus on what they can control: challenging costly assumptions, revisiting early decisions and making viability a shared responsibility, says Oliver Milton
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CommentSelf-promotion in construction: The dangers and delights of being seen and heard at work
Good work does not always speak for itself. Penny Haslam explains why greater visibility matters in construction and offers three practical ways to raise your profile without feeling like a show-off
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CommentBudget 2026: No extra hope for today, less breathing space in the future?
The expansive phase of public investment is ending. Government is now betting on leveraging private finance to keep construction’s projects pipeline moving, says Simon Rawlinson of Arcadis
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CommentPublic housing is back at the top of British architecture
Council homes won both the Stirling Prize and the Neave Brown Award this year. Satish Jassal, whose practice won the latter, says it is heartening
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CommentBeyond retentions: can the Commercial Payments Bill help transform construction's business model?
Calls for change are nothing new in our industry, but now we really do have the tools and the need to make it happen, says RLB’s Paul Beeston
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CommentSlash-and-burn deregulation is no fix for the viability crisis
The Conservative Party’s bonfire-of-regulations pitch makes some fair points about development viability – but the crude politics of scrapping the Future Homes Standard obscures what smarter reform could actually look like
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CommentWhy the devolution agenda presents a genuine opportunity for construction
The skills shortage in construction is not just about numbers - it’s about having the right people, in the right places, with the right competence. Tim Balcon argues that devolution offers a chance to build a system that matches training to demand
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CommentCouncils can build homes again, but funding alone won’t drive delivery
Local authorities will need to be efficient and have the necessary capacity to translate Burnham’s ambitions into outcomes, writes Caroline Compton-James
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CommentWhy London is right to cap upfront embodied carbon
The draft London Plan’s decision to cap upfront embodied carbon rather than set a single whole life limit has divided opinion. Will Arnold argues the GLA has the logic exactly right
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CommentThe negotiation skills construction forgot to teach
Former chief construction adviser Paul Morrell reflects on HS2’s contract renegotiations and argues they expose a deeper, systemic failure in government procurement capability - and a neglected gap in built environment education
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CommentThe adjudicator can ignore your arguments and look to the materials
An adjudicator plumped for a position advocated by a document in the case bundle but disavowed by both disputing parties
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CommentLondon wants whole-life carbon reductions. So why are its proposed limits focused on upfront emissions?
The proposed London Plan rightly sets out to reduce embodied carbon. But setting limits on upfront emissions is tackling the problem the wrong way round, writes Andrea Charlson
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CommentWhat if Britain’s next construction boom is driven from the regions?
For devolution to fulfill its potential, five things need to happen, writes RLB chief executive Andrew Reynolds