More Comment – Page 585
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Office politics
Regus (UK) Limited supplies serviced office accommodation. Epcot Solutions Ltd provides professional IT training. Epcot entered into an agreement with Regus on Regus’ usual terms and conditions for the use of serviced office accommodation for Epcot’s training courses. Epcot initially rented office accommodation in Heathrow. After Regus closed this location, ...
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CommentLet the supplier beware
You may have taken every precaution to make sure a contract is watertight but a consumer can claim a term isn’t fair if it puts them at a significant disadvantage
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If the cap fits…
Cost capping orders may not have extended to construction cases yet, but the courts are becoming increasingly willing to use their powers to limit recoverable costs
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CommentHow to play cops and robbers
Thieves tend to regard building sites as large, open air supermarkets where they can walk in and simply help themselves – bypassing the check-out tills, of course. But there are ways of thwarting them …
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CommentGekko redux
Back in the eighties, Hollywood’s apotheosis of the cynical, sleazy financier had a real-life counterpart in the contractors who used new procurement systems to fleece hapless clients. And now they’re coming back …
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Flaming ridiculous
What a delightful irony it was to have an advert from those astute concrete people, depicting the Colindale fire, placed opposite an announcement for your zero-carbon conference (18 May, pages 50-51) – all that previously sequestered carbon being put back into the atmosphere!
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CommentYesterdays man
Lord Lawson has long been a bucket on the tiller of sane attempts to steer the UK towards a smart, efficient, renewable low-carbon economy.
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Bigger isn’t better …
I read with great interest your recent article on the possible formation of a trade body to work closely with the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) to deliver maintenance in the social housing sector (18 May, page 14).
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… unless it’s your house
Richard Donnell (www.building.co.uk, 25 May) sensibly argues that the mix of new housing should be decided at the local level – top-down density or mix targets cannot possibly produce the right housing.
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Divine intervention
I am a great admirer of Sir Michael Latham, but I refer you to my article “Shopfitters of the World Unite” (23 February, page 38).
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CommentKing Richard
Introducing the all-conquering Lord Rogers of Riverside: Pritzker prize-winning architect, confidante to the rich and powerful and, of course, would-be sexologist
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CommentWhat more do we need to know?
Many people have suspected that there was something a bit haphazard about the way companies handled tower cranes.
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CommentHow to inspect things
Just what an “inspecting professional” has to do, and therefore what they can be sued for not doing, has always been a bit of a mystery. Luckily, a familiar case has shed some light on it
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CommentPot calling kettle
The government wastes £2.6bn of its construction spend, then wonders if the industry is efficient enough. What’s really annoying, though, is that it doesn’t have to be like this
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CommentIves rolls the dice
Francis Ives, the charismatic chairman of Cyril Sweett, has the reputation of being an enterprising fellow.
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Comment
Propping Up
The claimant, Hart Investments, sought to hold the first defendant, Fidler, responsible for the collapse of part a building that Hart owned. Fidler was a structural engineer and denied responsibility for the collapse. He was employed by both the claimant and the second defendant, building contractor Larchpark.Hart alleged that Fidler ...