Opinion – Page 378
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CommentWhy Tesco is a good client
When prices are falling so quickly, owing to lack of workload and competition to secure projects, it is disingenuous to hear clients such as Tesco being criticised for taking advantage of their position
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Spitting in the wind
What options are we exploring, apart from wind farms, as alternative energy sources?
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Looking on the bright side …
That an industry in recession has managed to retain almost 700 apprentices who were at risk of not being able to complete their training is a significant success – which was sadly not reflected in your recent feature (“Displaced persons”, 24 April, page 24) which chose to focus on trainees ...
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Comment
Korea advice
Alistair Darling’s Budget announcement of £405m for “energy efficiency” spending is peanuts (24 April, page 12)
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Comment
Dubai’s secret shame
The plight of a significant number of Dubai’s migrant workers from the Indian subcontinent is appalling
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Comment
British jobs for team players
Regarding Nick Chronias’ article on equal opportunities (“Lip service won’t do”, 24 April, page 52), what a lot of waffle to say that we should all uphold the law
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Action first, regs later
We must conserve our energy and improve the existing building stock to reasonable, if not high levels, as well as raising construction standards
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CommentThe prince and the profession
So is he about to aim another missile at the architectural profession? Or will he finally offer it an olive branch?
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CommentDiminishing returns
Most of the major consultants have now announced pay cuts of between 7% and 20%. Richard Steer explains why this option is the best of a bad bunch
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Comment
UAE construction tenders to fall up to 15%
Last week, we published our latest forecast for UK tender price inflation, in which we predict tender prices to decline by a further 6-9% this year and another 3-5% in 2010, due to increased competition as jobs complete and contractors chase a dwindling supply of work, as well as lower ...
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The trouble with house prices
I read with interest recently the CEBR's predictions for the total fall in house prices and when it expects the turnaround to come and that got me thinking on the topic of house prices in general.The basic problem with house prices is, whose do you use? The ones the press ...
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Construction orders reveal industry’s pain
The March figures for construction new orders were only marginally better than those seen in the previous two months and there are still little signs that point to any stabilisation in industry workload.Monthly new order figures can be volatile, so to assess the trend in work volume it is better ...
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We are back to April 2004 on house prices, says Halifax
The Halifax house price index showed a further 1.7% fall in April dragging the cost of an average home down to £154,716 on the seasonally adjusted measure.The last time prices were that low was in April 2004 and Halifax puts average prices at about 23% lower than at the peak ...
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Recessionary pain spreads, says latest construction trade survey
The latest state of construction trade survey figures compiled and analysed by the Construction Products Association is interesting as it provides a clear picture of an industry drifting deeper into recession.We seem to be, just from a cursory look at the graphs, very much at the beginning. And the pain, ...
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Construction deflation forecasts... not a surprise
Davis Langdon's latest forecasts for tender prices make for interesting reading. They are anticipating a fall in tender prices during 2009, 2010 and even in the first quarter of 2011. By 2010 Q1, tender prices are expected to be between 6% and 9% lower than a year earlier and by ...
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Collapse in construction workload eases, say buyers
The latest indicator of construction activity from the buyers' body CIPS suggests that the pace of decline in construction may have eased a bit in April.The key Purchasing Managers Index for construction rose in the month from 30.9 in March to 38.1. This still means things are getting worse fast, ...
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A housing market recovery next year, says CEBR
There is a growing chorus of voices saying that the worst is over in the housing market and that the upturn is not that far away.And to add a bit more volume to the choir is the latest Consumer and Housing prospects report from the business and economic consultancy CEBR, ...
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What revelations are there in the insolvency figures?
IfPestilence is the diseased financial systemWar is contractual and trade disputesFamine is the lack of ordersThenDeath must be measured by the insolvency figures.And they do look a bit on the pale side.The base figures show a 56% increase in the number of liquidations across all sectors in the first quarter ...
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Mortgage lending a bit better but still pretty much on the floor
The Bank of England's release on mortgage lending does show a futher slight rise for March.The figures show mortgage approvals for house purchases rose to 39,230 in March from 37,716 in February. And this puts the level of approvals reasonably well up from the bottom reached last November of 27,000.But ...