Opinion – Page 400
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Comment
The Chancellor's measures are not exceptional enough
I can but agree with the Chancellor that these are exceptional times and they require exceptional measures.My complaint, as I have said before, is that it took rather too long for the bulk of the political establishment to accept the severity of the economic turmoil we faced.And sadly I do ...
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CommentA sea of troubles
Looking into the white wall of fog ahead, it’s impossible to discern a safe haven, or the rocks in between. But, says Richard Steer, that doesn’t mean we should lose sight of what we’re about
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Comment
Stamp duty down £500 million a month
The latest figures for tax receipts suggest that the Government is down about £500 million a month in stamp duty revenue.Taking the three months to October the revenue trawled in £2,162 million in stamp duty. This compares with £3,926 million over the same period a year earlier.The bulk of the ...
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Comment
Housing figures underline the haemorrhaging of construction workload
The latest starts figures appear to support the view that house building will drop by about a half next year as current projects completed and few if any new sites are opened.That would mean a loss of about £10 billion in construction workload.Put another way that is about half the ...
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Comment
Is the frozen housing market beginning to thaw?
Looking at the most recently released housing market data for October it is tempting to interpret it as showing signs of a thaw in a market that has almost frozen solid.On the month transactions rose according to the revenue figures, lending was up according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders ...
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CommentMy digital life: David Eastgate
Not your average chief executive, this ex-punk band member spends his online time surrounded by drums and drumming paraphernalia. Unless he’s on holiday, when you’ll find him talking to Building
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CommentComedy of errors
This week, causes for confusion include a mysterious marketing campaign, a dubious safety claim, a phantom contract and a rather naughty search term – plus, the RIBA’s clever job creation scheme
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Comment
Not lost in translation: Using NEC3 contracts abroad
There’s no reason why civil engineers and others shouldn’t use the NEC3 contract abroad – but bear the following points in mind …
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Comment
Blueprint for leadership
While I admire the quality of the work architects produce, I cannot help but disagree with Keith Mason’s Open Mike (24 October). There is only room for one leader, but that isn’t necessarily the architect.
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Comment
Negative energy
It is surprising that some people still believe electricity to be 100% efficient (and clean).
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CommentHow does your garden grow?
The refurbishment of the Axis Design, Ecoterrace (7 November, page 54 and again, below left) is to be admired – but what have they done to the garden?
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Comment
Old houses for new
Eco-towns? A valid showcase for future sustainable development, but even with the increased rates of new build sought by the government, estimates suggest that 90% of the buildings that will be standing in 2050 have already been built.
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CommentBuilding buys potatoes…for Kanvas Interiors
If Louise Frostick were ever to meet Jarvis Cocker, it’s fair to assume they wouldn’t get on, at least not on the subject of interior decor.
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Comment
Barratt slashes house prices by 43% - good or bad news?
Barratt's attractiveness to investors is a moot point.Some in the City believe the housebuilder is over the worst and say its shares are worth a punt at 60p-ish. They point to the rescue deal it struck with its banks in the summer.Others are more reticent. Included in that camp is ...
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Comment
Barratt chairman puts his money where his mouth is
At Barratt's trading update this morning one analyst questioned whether FD Mark Pain or chief exec Mark Clare would be buying shares in the company any time soon."It's a good mark of confidence from the directors in the company's fortunes," he pointed out.Pain was cagey and joked that his wife ...
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Comment
How bad will deflation be for UK construction?
The talk now is not of inflation but deflation.The latest inflation figures showed a fall for the first time in 15 months and the Prime Minister chided the opposition with the line that if this year was about inflation next year is about deflation.But what would it mean for construction?Well ...
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Comment
NHBC latest figures show deepening pain for house building in 2009
The NHBC figures for October show private sector house building plumbing new depths.The number of new registrations for the month dropped to just 3,454, compared with 14,698 last year. Taking the three months to the end of October registrations were down by 73%.While private sector completions were a shade perkier ...
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Comment
Are plunging rents a prelude to a mass buy-to-let sell off?
Here are the figures that the buy-to-let critics and cynics have been waiting for. Rents are plunging.Okay, this is only one month's figures from the surveyors' body RICS, but the many buy-to-let critics will see these as heralding a transformation of buy-to-let bulls into buy-to-let rats ready to flee the ...
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Comment
Asking prices crumble as hope of housing market recovery fades
For those who may have held lingering hopes of a lift in the housing market after the various interventions by the Government and the Bank of England of late will be disappointed by the message coming from the latest Rightmove figures.The November data suggests that increasingly desperate sellers are dropping ...