More Focus – Page 304
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FeaturesWho are these masked men?
Anyone who follows corporate action in housebuilding will have noticed some mysterious strangers riding into town. Sarah Richardson finds out who they are – and where they might strike next
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Features
Up and at 'em
In its latest survey of the construction industry, Experian Business Strategies shows the industry’s confidence to be at an all-time high, with the non-residential sector the strongest
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Building intelligence Q1 2007: Keeping busy
From public housing to the commercial sector, new work continued to keep people occupied over the past year, driving a 3% rise in construction output. Experian Business Strategies reports
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FeaturesTop drawer
Talk about a cabinet reshuffle – Denton Corker Marshall’s flamboyant design for Manchester’s Civil Justice Centre has brought dynamism to the heart of the legal establishment. Over the next eight pages Martin Spring praises the building’s clear, bold expression and on pages 48-50, we meet the Australian trio who designed ...
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FeaturesThe golden age of travel
Is right now, thanks to the bulging pay packets, cushy expat packages, sexed-up CVs and challenging jobs that are on offer to UK professionals willing to work abroad.
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FeaturesInside the project team
Now you’re all clued up on Manchester’s Civil Justice Centre, it’s time to meet the Aussies who designed it. Martin Spring got inside their mutual headspace. Portraits by Tim Foster
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Features‘I just feel the whole system is rather stupid’ — One man’s 14-year battle with the planning laws
Gerald Ringe had one of those classic dreams: buy an old wreck in the country and turn it into a rural retreat. But he hadn’t counted on the idiosyncrasies of our planning system. Fourteen years after his first planning application, he’s finally giving up. He tells Katie Puckett why…
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Features
The cosmic bungalow
Hydrogen is the basic building block of matter. When it fuses with itself, it releases enough energy to light the universe. When it combines with oxygen, it releases enough energy to heat a small house in the Black Country. Is it the answer to all our problems?
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FeaturesSpecialist cost update: Services
Gardiner & Theobald looks at recent changes in the rapidly evolving and increasingly high-tech world of services, from engineering services to lifts and IT systems
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FeaturesBouygues’ battle for Britain
As the 10th anniversary of the French company’s entry into the UK approaches, its managing director tells Mark Leftly about his plans to expand all over the country
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Features‘They all hate me!’
There are some things that the fledgling project manager can’t learn at university – such as how to deal with punch-ups or the nagging feeling that your team couldn’t care less. Debika Ray seeks some therapeutic advice
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FeaturesPhase one, take two
Young Mancunians were out in force at Building’s second networking party last Wednesday
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FeaturesWater fight
The Nirah freshwater aquarium will provide vital scientific research and – at four times the size of the Eden Project – is set to be a huge tourism boost for Bedford. So why has it had to endure an almighty struggle to get planning consent?
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FeaturesIs Brown's plan for 3 million new homes by 2020 feasible?
The Prime minister this week announced plans to dramatically escalate housebuilding in England and Wales over the next 12 years.
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Features
Lead times January-June 2007
Increased lead times for eight construction packages have been counterbalanced by reductions in eight others, reports Brian Moone of Mace Business School.
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FeaturesPyromania for beginners
Look around you at all the things that you can set fire to. Now imagine you can do that instead of paying your gas and electricity bills. Interested? Better listen to what Thomas Lane has to say …
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FeaturesHow to attract students
Lots of construction companies do university milk rounds, but which come away with the cream? Katie Puckett asked six why they chose their employer – and if they were ever let out early to go the pub
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FeaturesSlab happy
The inventors of SmartSlab describe it as an all-in-one, load-bearing, moving-image display slab. It’s also the only system that provides animated displays while retaining all the features associated with external cladding.
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FeaturesCurtain-walling for curved facades
Comar Architectural Aluminium Systems has launched a capped curtain-walling suite called Comar 6EFT in the UK. It is designed for glazing on high-rise, sloped and inclined facades.
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Features‘Frameless’ glass panels
Hunter Douglas has developed an effectively frameless version of its QuadroClad ventilated rainscreen facade, called QuadroMeleon.