More Comment – Page 407
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Comment
Finer matters
Some of us may remember the Royal Fine Art Commission (RFAC). It was about as effective as Cabe, though having to work more through the community
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CommentInnovation in blockwork: The Wi Beam
In an industry notoriously cautious of innovation, it’s quite something to meet a brickwork contractor who’s not only inventive but also prepared to see his inventions through
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CommentPhilosopher’s dog dilemma
The odds are stacking up against development, with a lack of private funding, planning in chaos and a shift in power towards the nimbys, says Pascale Scheurer
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Comment
Future of education looks prefab
Local authorities were due to find out this week how much they will have available to spend on schools. Labour’s £55bn Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme has been abolished and the coalition has pledged to spend £15.8bn improving the school estate.
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CommentHouse building recovery stalls and a further fall can’t be ruled out
Housing completions in England are down 12% year-on-year
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Comment
Jobs scene a little brighter today, but what does the future hold?
Rate of construction redundancies returns to pre-recession levels.
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CommentInflation: a reason to be cheerful or a cause for concern?
What’s driving the 3.2% inflation rate and does it matter for construction?
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CommentA riches to rags story
The sudden suspension on Monday in the shares of Rok - “the nation’s local builder” - would have surprised few in the City.
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CommentConstruction industry is £1bn smaller as official growth rate is trimmed
Revised output figures for construction have impacted on GDP growth in Q2
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CommentWhat’s wrong with tradition?
Let’s not write off conventional contracting just yet, as some would have us do. Used in the right place at the right time, it is just as robust as any other procurement method
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CommentHansom: Stage whispers
The industry finds itself this week examining vaunting ambition, coming a cropper over a letter and witnessing an epic battle - clearly it’s not only a young Michael Gove who enjoyed Shakespeare
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CommentAre contractors putting the squeeze on the supply chain?
In a disturbing trend subcontractors are being asked to reduce costs and even make upfront payments or risk being removed from main contractors’ supplier lists. Coercion or market reality?
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CommentWhat’s going on?
The ’resurgence in construction activity’ is proving difficult to detect in the real world. And even if growth does take off, it’ll be a long time before we feel the benefit
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CommentQuentin Shears: Evolve or die!
For almost my entire career, we quantity surveyors have been told that we must evolve or die. This has never really bothered me, although I’d hate to think of the chain ending with me and Richard Steer.
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Circle line
In the 1991 recession, I joined the last London Underground major project team for the Jubilee line extension.
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SFO means business
It is sometimes said compliance with the new Bribery Act is impractical in the construction sector (“Where the buck stops”, 29 October, page 34)
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Comment
Don't speak too soon
This week’s latest survey from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (Cips) confirms recent warnings from the Scottish Building Federation that the rise in construction output witnessed in the early part of this year was never going to last
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CommentMakes scents
I read your article “Galliford bags sewage job” (2 November, building.co.uk). There is something I have been banging on about for years. I have written several letters to various bodies about this issue: simply that the largest waste water facility in Europe must produce one hell of a lot of ...