More Focus – Page 560
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Features
Spectacular comeback
A £26m cost overrun, a redesign and a row have wreaked havoc at the flagship venue for the Rugby World Cup. But they are all behind it now – just two weeks before the first match.
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How did it go £26m over budget?
The main reason Laing lost so much money on the redevelopment of Cardiff Arms Park was that it guaranteed a maximum price on a design that was undergoing change. The original design had masts raking out at 45° at the four corners of the stadium, but a row between Millennium ...
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Features
Justice at the speed of light
The new payment rules are getting disputes worked out in only 28 days – none of that hanging around waiting for the other chap to go bust. But the courts can move even faster.
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Features
The trouble with GMP
Just as the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy nor Roman, parties to a guaranteed maximum price contract should realise that price is not really guaranteed or maximum. If they don’t, they could be in trouble …
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Features
Entering extra time
A client makes a change to its building, so the contractor wants more time to build it. Believe it or not, the law was vague on how the extra time should be assessed. Now it may be clearer.
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Cost study: National Energy Centre in Milton Keynes
Low-energy buildings usually mean high capital costs. But not the National Energy Centre in Milton Keynes; it was built for nearly £200/m2 below the average unit cost for headquarters buildings. Compiled by Weston Williamson, Ove Arup & Partners, and Davis Langdon & Everest
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Just the job
The IT manager and former travel rep tells Elaine Knutt why you can change direction without getting in a spin.
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Back in boom
Last year, the market was about to fall off a cliff. This year, orders are up, house prices are up, and Wimpey is starting a yuppie housing scheme it mothballed last year. Too good to be true?
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Features
Life after Rogers
When architect Pierre Botschi was made redundant after 14 years with Richard Rogers, he found the going tough – until he met interiors specialist Jack Pringle and moved into hotels.
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Features
Social circuit
PowerGen's naturally ventilated HQ, built in 1995, promised to promote staff interaction. Five years on, is it living up to expectations?
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Features
‘I’ve got 30 minutes to shift your belief stucture’
Cluster group meetings are the Movement for Innovation’s tool for sharing new ideas and shifting entrenched attitudes, but can gatherings of Egan evangelists change the industry? Building went to one meeting to find out.
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Features
Get on the bus
Training is a key ingredient of any IT overhaul. But how best to do this when staff are scattered throughout Britain? Easy. Go to them.
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Features
Tale of the expected
A recent case is worth looking at precisely because it is nothing unusual for construction, just a bog standard tale of things going pear-shaped on site – and in court.
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Features
The legal 500
The construction law sector is getting bigger, tougher and more lucrative. This year's league table of the best regarded firms covers the UK on a regional basis, and includes areas of special interest, such as private finance initiative work.
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Features
Trying cases
Requirements to use "best endeavours" and "reasonable endeavours" appear in many construction contracts, but do they mean you can sue somebody if you think they're not trying hard enough?
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Features
How do you like it so far?
Client care research is a tool used by an increasing number of professional services firms to keep their clients loyal, and guarantee continued income.
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Features
Cost model: Indoor arenas
The growing popularity of indoor sports such as ice hockey and basketball has led to a boom in new indoor arenas in many UK cities. QS Davis Langdon & Everest examines the cost implications and specifications of indoor arenas
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Appointments
ContractorRichard Lumby has been appointed managing director of Crown House Engineering, the building services arm of Carillion.Housebuilders Trevor Thompson, formerly Yorkshire regional director for Wimpey Homes, has been appointed managing director of retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone’s new North-east division.Redrow Homes has promoted Rob Slocombe to sales director in the ...
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Features
Smashing the cartels
The Competition Act, which comes into force next March, is intended to tackle construction conspiracy theories and discourage firms from price-fixing. The penalties are high for those that don’t comply.
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Features
Andrew Wolstenholme
Six months after ditching half a dozen of its framework contractors and consultants, can BAA's construction director regain the trust of the industry?