Opinion – Page 368
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Comment
Let's keep it simple
I am responding to the article “Two members quit safety group to maintain independence” (26 June, page 15) on behalf of the Construction Clients’ Group (CCG)
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Comment
PAYE in the neck
Although I think I can understand the reasons behind the government pushing for all workers to be taxed on a PAYE basis (17 July, page 9), its failure to appreciate the implications is testimony to its inability to leave the construction industry alone
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Comment
It's a builder's life
I have been in the building trade for nearly 30 years and have lost count of how many thousands of pounds I have been swindled out of by rogue customers
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CommentWhere are we now? How architecture is understood and consumed
The way architecture is produced, consumed and understood in the 21st century has been transformed – for better and worse – by digital technology
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CommentWonders & blunders - 24 July 2009
Bill Price has happy childhood memories of discovering structural design at Coventry cathedral. But the London Research Institute? He can’t even bear to look at it
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CommentBrewing up
This week, insights into the industry’s relationship with tea, as rustled up by housing ministers and supped by site monitors, but rejected by stereotype-defying labourers, who prefer dancing
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CommentThe government's greenprint
The government has spent far too long cooking up ever more ambitious carbon targets without doing anything much to meet them
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CommentDamage limitation: Latent defects insurance
Latent defects insurance is a useful back-up for collateral warranties – it can ensure problems get fixed even if the contractor has gone bust
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Comment
Stop kicking Dubai
I am fed up of people gloating about Dubai going belly up. Rod Liddle’s piece in the Times this weekend said nothing new and got certain facts wrong. The piece is a prime example of the Dubai baiting that’s been done to death lately.The worst thing about the article is ...
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Comment
The spike mystery solved...well maybe
Following the poser I posted on that rather surprising spike in planning times for residential schemes, I have had a few questions and a few suggestions.The pint for the first (and sensible) response going to Alasdair Reisner, Head of Industry Affairs at the Civil Engineering Contractors Association.But by way of ...
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Comment
Rightmove data suggests a testing time for house prices
One figure in the commentary alongside the latest set of Rightmove statistics caught my eye - apparently there has been a 20% increase in sellers coming to the market compared with the previous year.Rightmove puts this down to resurgence in home movers putting their current homes on the market with ...
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CommentThe wrecking crew
Oscar Wilde said a cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Gus Alexander suspects that much the same is true of value engineers …
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CommentTurning navvies into staff
Will we look back at the summer of 2009 as a defining moment in construction?
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Comment
Can public sector capital projects really stimulate the economy?
With all the talk not on 'if' there will be public spending cuts, but 'where' - what are the choices and pressures facing this Government, and whichever Government picks up the reigns following the next election?At the very top level, total government receipts this year are expected to be circa ...
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Comment
Turning navvies into staff
In parts, the industry still resembles the one depicted in McAlpine’s Fusiliers. Can it be turned into one that is truly professional – where workers all pay tax and where it’s no more acceptable for someone to be killed than it is in a well-run factory?One reason for thinking it ...
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CommentBuilding buys a pint … for Collado Collins
At the end of the evening there are only two of us standing. In several inches of sand in the boisterous balloon-filled basement of a Soho bar. “I think it’s time to go,” says Jonathan wisely
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CommentAngry old men
The Prince of Wales loses another friend, the Shard team unwind to a bunch of gnarled old punks and a senior architect has reason to feel aggrieved/flattered after a judge draws an unlikely comparison
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Comment
It’s just not tennis
I read your articles about the dispute between the All England Lawn Tennis Club and Building Design Partnership (BDP) with a deep sigh of frustration (26 June, page 10)