Opinion – Page 373
-
Comment
5 reasons why we might be facing the mother of all construction recessions
It's coming around to the construction forecasting season again and the industry prognosticators will be gathering to discuss the ups and downs of the industry.If I were you, I'd be bracing myself for some pretty savage revisions to what already look like pretty savage forecasts.Peak to trough in the 90's ...
-
CommentToo much monkey business
It seems that clients are reverting to the primitive practice of lowest cost single-stage tendering. Trouble is, lowest cost means guaranteed minimum quality
-
CommentOne last big push
Pat McFadden, Lord Mandelson’s deputy in the Commons and a Cabinet attendee, has acknowledged that construction’s representation in Whitehall is a joke, and that a chief construction officer is needed
-
Comment
Frameworks: will they stay or will they go?
Some part of me feels that blogging wasn't invented as a way to discuss the latest movements in construction industry contracts. When Tim Berners-Lee sat down and invented the world wide web, I somehow suspect that the intricacies of single-stage tendering as opposed to long term partnering agreements weren't right ...
-
Comment
Short and tweet: Su Butcher
Dispatches from the Twitter social networking site: Su Butcher is a practice manager at architect Barefoot and Gilles
-
-
CommentBuilding buys a pint … for Moxon architects
If you ever have a drink with Moxon Architects, wait until you’re about four pints along and mention the city of Helsinki. The chances are that they’ll start acting like Basil Fawlty with a corpse in the laundry basket. Or at least, the men will
-
CommentHaving it large
This week resembles nothing so much as a big night out, starting with a booze-up in the new bar, a comical confusion about who’s doing what, a late Currie – and of course the massive bill at the end
-
Comment
From one Jim to another
I was saddened to read of the death of James Nisbet (5 June, page 14)
-
CommentThe world according to Terry …
Thanks to architect Francis Terry, son of Quinlan, for sending us this pictorial explanation of the practice’s views on architectural styles – a useful aide-memoire for anyone following the Chelsea Barracks saga
-
Comment
Open debate
To state that open-plan schools have not been studied, as suggested in your article “Can you hear me at the back?” (15 May, page 40), is somewhat wide of the mark
-
Comment
Hear, hear
I read your article on school acoustics with much interest. As a maker of acoustic ceiling and wall absorbers, we have been working with our customers for some time now to push acoustics higher up the agenda for new schools and we warmly welcome the end-user’s contribution
-
Comment
Inflammatory words
The Practitioners Forum and the Business and Community Safety Forum’s recent report to the minister makes some valid points on the fire risks of timber-framed buildings during construction, and they urge the government to review the Building Regulations
-
Comment
The long game
The construction industry is undoubtedly one of the hardest-hit sectors in this current recession so it is no surprise that consolidation and survival have become watchwords. Job cuts are the answer for some but wholesale cutbacks can prove dangerous in the long term
-
CommentAim high …
The tower blocks that were built in the sixties and seventies failed because they were for the most part poorly constructed and detailed (“That past is gone”, 29 May, page 19)
-
Comment
Maybe a little lower
I’m not convinced that energy efficiency is a reason for advocating high rise
-
CommentLife after debt
Before you know it, UK plc is going to be staggering under a real debt burden of £2 trillion. Here’s Kevin Cammack’s simple survival guide
-
Comment
And the good news is...
The uber-bearish traders in house price futures appear to have softened their view on the depth of the slump in house prices quite markedly over the past month or so.At the turn of the year you could have bought a notional average house three years hence on the futures market ...
-
Comment
The orders figures and public spending fears point to industry chaos ahead - need it be so?
The good news is that after the monstrous distraction over the past month cause by raking over expense claims made by MPs we are getting back to debate about things that really will shape our lives - notably how much dosh there is (or rather isn't) in the Treasury coffers ...