More Focus – Page 523
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Features
As bad as all that?
Prime contracting is the MOD's attempt to apply Rethinking Construction. But contractors have complained loudly that it transfers too much risk to them. So, is it going to be Egan-compliant?
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Maximum effort
The latest in this series for small and medium-sized firms explains how better financial management procedures can maximise your profit.
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E-cruitment
Chrissie Chadney, human resources director of Willmott Dixon, explains how she used the web to recruit IT trainees.
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Appointments
Contractors Engineer and contractor Black & Veatch has appointed Doug Smith managing director of its European infrastructure business. He also becomes managing director of its UK business Binnie Black & Veatch.EBC Group has appointed Richard Smith area director for Reading. Nigel McArthur has been promoted to director responsible ...
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Wasted opportunities
Architects and developers are forming an orderly queue to put the boot into English Partnerships for its timidity, lack of leadership and inexperience which, they say, are jeopardising the urban renaissance.
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It's all about respect
Enthusiasm, professionalism, and a love of punk rock just the qualities you'd expect from Ian Eggers, CIOB Building Manager of the Year.
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'Busier than we've ever been'
That's the view of one North-west consultant, but is the picture the same across the country? Building toured the UK to find out
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Conservation piece
A wood-frame roof may not sound unusual, but Buro Happold's take on it the UK's first timber gridshell at a Sussex history museum is enough to make a structural engineer whimper with fear.
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Perfect pitch
How can a roof make you sound better? The one that tops Shrewsbury School's concert venue is elliptically shaped to help the students make beautiful music.
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Who was to blame?
The tragic death of three children in a house fire led to a council design team being sued for negligence. The case went to the Court of Appeal, and laid down some important rules on designer liability.
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The sense of proportion
Jarndyce & Jarndyce still drags its dreary length before the Court, perennially hopeless, wrote Charles Dickens, satirising the legal system of his day. It's better now, though, as the rules on proportionality demonstrate.
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Satisfaction guarantees
A new, improved brand of performance bond is now available for project financing and promises to be a cheaper way of covering more risk particularly on private finance initiative projects.
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The biter bit
The RIBA really must pay attention to developers' complaints about the SFA/99 standard appointment form architects will only suffer from the preferential treatment it gives them.
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Tender price forecast
Continued steady growth is the order of the day, with tender prices, materials costs and new orders all continuing to rise. Many contractors are becoming increasingly selective, but the output picture is less clear.
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Balancing act
Allowing workers a home life is the new trend, says the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development s Angela Baron.
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Appointments
Contractor EBC has promoted Robert Wood to area director based in Plymouth. He will be responsible for construction, building and maintenance operations. Housebuilders Grenville Homes Group has appointed Fiona Gordeno sales and marketing manager. David Hill has been promoted to group surveyor at Acorn Homes. He will ...
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Top 250 consultants
Welcome to this year's consultants survey, which finds the top 250 firms in the best of health. Expanding workloads are reflected in swelling staff numbers, with most firms employing more UK chartered staff this year than last. More than 90% say they expect to take on staff in the next ...
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Falkirk's millennium wheel starts to roll
Site work begins on £78m, 17 000 tonne rotating boat lift that will link two Scottish canals.
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Rough and tumble
Undoing deals on the grounds of economic duress is difficult, as shown by a recent decision of Mr Justice Dyson in the Technology and Construction Court.
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Solar power: just a bright idea
With the ice caps melting and oil prices soaring, solar has never looked a better bet. But in Britain it remains the concern of cranks and visionaries. Will this ever change?