More Focus – Page 441
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FeaturesHow low can he go?
Famed for an audacious, but failed, bid for Tay Homes, Country & Metropolitan boss Stephen Wicks had better luck with his acquisition of NorthCountry Homes. Now he's championing rock-bottom sale prices and planning his next buy. Josephine Smit met him.
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Features
Factfile
Planning approvalsThe southern market may be slowing but Berkeley Group is still feeding its development pipeline, with the highest number of approvals in April. Overall, the emphasis has moved away from London and the South-east, with most approvals being won in the West Midlands and the North-west.New-build completionsPrivate completion numbers ...
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Features
How buyers spend £30,000 on extras
Homebuyers are spending an average of £3200 and up to £30,000 on optional extras and upgrades, according to a Homes survey of 30 housebuilders – including the top 10. But what are they buying with their money? Here are the 10 most popular extras
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Features
Get it right: Plumbing and electrical
The Annual Customer First Survey carried out on behalf of Zurich Insurance Building Guarantee is in its fourth year. The survey provides information on customers' satisfaction with their new homes. This year's survey shows a growing frustration with plumbing and electrical installations. Problems can usually be attributed to errors in ...
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FeaturesWe've got your results
The Cumberland Infirmary was the prototype PFI hospital, and therefore a test-bed for how well the private and public sectors work together. Building visited it three years after it opened and makes a disturbing diagnosis
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Features
European whole-life costs
Quantity surveyor Franklin + Andrews' cost research unit has produced its annual study of whole-life costs. Here we hold up the results against last year's figures and pinpoint fluctuations in construction, ownership and labour costs for a notional manufacturing plant in 12 European countries
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Features
Steve Feery
Why break into the PFI market? It's too expensive and too risky – just stick to what you know
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FeaturesThe leveller
Julie Mellor, chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, has construction's lousy record of recruiting women in her sights. But she's not out to give the industry a bashing: she has more subtle ways of making it see sense
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FeaturesRichard Rogers' Japanese school: Dream school
An elegant open-plan school beneath a sawtooth roof has been built in a Japanese village to designs by Richard Rogers Partnership
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Features
Movers and makers
Building products multinational Knauf has announced it intends to spend £20m on new drywall manufacturing facilities in the UK. The company said it was optimistic about the UK market, which is one of the largest drywall markets in Europe, and it anticipated increasing demand for plasterboard products as the industry ...
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FeaturesParty animal
Dawn Gibbins' blend of knife-throwing, feng shui, democracy and belly dancing certainly makes a new contribution to modern management theory. But how did it win her businesswoman of the year?
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Features
In the shadow of the gun
Suicide bombings, aggressive security, rising tension, paranoia … Just how tempting does the money have to be to persuade British firms to work in the Middle East? Building examines the risks and rewards
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Features
The end of the lines
The government's promise to plug broadband pipes into every new home in the UK looked like forward thinking a few years ago. Now it seems hopelessly out of date. Building keeps pace with the wireless revolution
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Features
The ice queen
Zaha Hadid has broken free from restraints of architecture with this sinuous, arctic installation in a Viennese gallery
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Features
Just the job
Barbara Irwin of Turner & Townsend explains how she went from PA to project manager
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Features
Up ladder, down snake
In this month's Tracker, Building reports that although growth in activity picked up between February and March, it is expected slow down over the next quarter
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Features
Focus on the regions
A closer look at activity levels and order books in 11 regions around the UK, from the sunny spots of the South-west, the East Midlands and Scotland, to the chill winds of Northern Ireland and the South-east.
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FeaturesDavid Miliband
The schools standards minister comes across as a sixth-form debating champion – but can he convince regional contractors to play a leading role in his plan to revamp the UK's secondary schools?