Opinion – Page 458
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CommentFill in this brief questionnaire
What does ‘dispute’ mean? When are two disputes linked? When are they not linked? If an adjudicator decides unlinked disputes, is his decision invalid? For one or both? How much sense does all this make …?
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CommentIt’s the heat!
A London council is checking up on the energy use of its residents thanks to a nifty web map from Ordnance Survey that details every building. Alex Smith takes a look at his own four walls
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CommentRip it up and start again
What do you do if you’ve fallen out of favour with the City and your share price is heading south?
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Get it fixed
SWI Ltd entered into a subcontract with P&I Data Services Ltd for building works. SWI’s and P&I’s subcontract specified that a price would be paid for works listed on the tender documents. It was common ground that if P&I required works to be performed that were not the subject of ...
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Pay your dues
The defendants, Mr and Mrs Johnston, engaged the claimant contractor, Pierce Design International Limited, to carry out construction works at the property. The contract incorporated the JCT Standard Form of Building Contract (With Contractor’s Design), 1998 edition. During the contract the defendants failed to make interim payments to the ...
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CommentYes, in your backyard
If we’re ever going to get the homes we need, rural nimbys are just going to have to accept some development – maybe even a new next-door neighbour…
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CommentThe naked quango
In the first of a new series in which professionals reveal what they really think, a regeneration expert tells us just how much help agencies and quangos are …
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The code breakers
The Office of Fair Trading has, up to now, reserved its fire for contractors that cross the line during tendering. But it is not all on one side, as this case from Northern Ireland shows
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Comment
It never happened
Your article on the extension of membership of the CSCS board to housebuilders and civil engineers (3 August page 16) was not correct.
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Forum for debate
Your interview with Mike Davies, the new chair of the Strategic Forum, and his predecessor James Wates (20 July, page 36), refers to the role of the chairman rotating every year between the “three core member bodies”.
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Comment
Ivory tower
Colin Harding returned to his architect bashing with his article on “The Prince of Wails” (20 July, page 30). Usually I disagree with his extreme opinions, but this time I had to agree with most of what he said.
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Masters and apprentices
I read with interest the recent findings by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) that 53% of their members are having problems finding the right skills (July 20, page 11). Last year we provided a grant to support FMB members to train nearly 6,000 apprentices.
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CommentHansom Sign ‘o’ the times
The silly season is heralded by Serbian ‘folk-pop-dance’ acts, mix-tape morris dancers and those pocket-sized icons of the 21st century, Prince and Hazel Blears
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CommentYou made the bed …
The McGlinn case raised the tricky question of the responsibility of the architect for a client’s unsafe design. But if the client insists on an unsafe design, is it not then the real designer?
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CommentStreetlife
A construction website in Belarus reports on an important document on UK street design and now Alex Smith is using it in a squabble with his local council. Talk about a global village …