More Focus – Page 546
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Features
Scotland: Mixed temperatures
The new Scottish parliament building continues to be a source of controversy, with latest reports suggesting that the final bill will approach a staggering £200m. At the same time, the parliament is still the main driver of new building around the capital, as businesses jockey for position near the decision-makers.Contractors ...
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East Anglia: Good, but not great
Workloads in Cambridge and Norwich are good, but not spectacular. The market is healthy enough for contractor Fitzpatrick to set up an office to service Cambridge and Peterborough, and consultants in Cambridge reckon that workload is about 5% higher than last year. Stephen Bugg, a partner in Davis Langdon & ...
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Features
What the L is going on?
The government is to change Part L of the Building Regulations to make buildings more energy efficient. The way it has done this has driven an angry industry to talk about a conspiracy against it. What’s the DETR playing at?
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Features
Virtual Basingstoke
It's been done before but never on this scale. And it has real wow impact with potential customers. For the developer it's a way of pinpointing errors before it is too late and for the facilities manager a treasure trove of maintenance data.
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Features
Fiddlers on the hoof
Floating in from Europe is a piece of legislation that promises to bring an end to the little — and not so little — swindles that have been going on between competitors. And the penalties are draconian.
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Features
Three cheers for Raynsford
With the Construction Act nearing its second birthday, Nick Raynsford should be giving himself a pat on the back for pushing it through. But he could do more, such as allowing adjudicators to correct their mistakes.
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Features
An international outcry
For the international contractor, the new FIDIC forms are an unholy mess, full of pitfalls. This article looks at what is wrong with the Silver Book's design-and-build terms.
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Features
Asking for trouble
This is the story of a company that went to adjudication and ended up with exactly what it said it wanted in its referral notice – and no more.
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Features
Cost update
This quarterly analysis looks at materials prices, with a special focus on insulation, labour rates and works packages.
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Features
The minders
How 12 Galliford and Castle Cement staff spent a week looking after 30 10-year-olds, and learned all about teamwork.
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Features
Appointments
ContractorsAndrew Parrish has been appointed non-xecutive director of Carillion.Amec Construction has appointed Helen Rowley quality co-ordinator for construction operations in southern England.Ray Bell, previously with Christiani & Nielsen, has joined Wrekin Construction as head of its new rail division.Yorkshire-based S Harrison Construction has promoted Stephen Jenneson to construction director. Adrian ...
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Features
Shattered confidence
The falling glass at Stratford Jubilee Line station is just the latest in a line of glazing failures that have rattled the public. What is causing these problems, and how can the industry convince clients and users that glass is safe?
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Features
Bob Emmerson
Ove Arup’s chairman designate has the job of preserving the Arup ethos while the firm changes into a heterogenous multinational. Here’s how he will do it.
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Features
Who would you give the job to?
Is the double-breasted suit still the only way to impress clients? To find out, Building gave this industry professional three different outfits and asked major clients to take their pick.
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Features
Send in the specialists
Cluster groups, co-operation and making the most of specialist subcontractors’ expertise has earned the team building an MOD sports centre spectacular cost and time savings.
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Features
Added extras
The team building Foster’s fencing mask – also known as the GLA headquarters – has a new weapon to fight inefficiency: a secure extranet that holds documents and drawings.
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Features
Right, for wrong reasons
An adjudicator thought settling a “repudiation of contract” dispute was beyond his jurisdiction. He was wrong, but the court enforced his decision for another reason…
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Features
Empty life of a very fine chair
Introducing fitness-for-purpose obligations into contracts in place of reasonable-skill-and-care clauses would remove uncertainty and reduce disputes, but perhaps we’d have to pay more for peace of mind.
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Features
What’s the meaning of this?
Collateral warranties are highly controversial, ferociously contested and poorly understood. This is the first article in a series intended to tackle the third of these problems.