Opinion – Page 532
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Comment
Why retentions must go
I read your article “Blood and money” (2 September) with great interest.
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Comment
Recruitment faces dire future
Your article outlining the current recruitment problems in Essex (9 September, page 110) failed to mention three other developments that will “make high demands upon the local construction industry”. These are the Thames and Haven Gateways projects, both of which provide for thousands of homes and huge industrial and commercial ...
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Comment
We’re not using CDM right
Any attempt to get the industry to recognise the financial and other benefits to be gained from improved logistics is to be applauded.
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Comment
Partners in crime
I sit and wonder whether Egan’s theory of partnering “twice as much for half the price” will ever be as famous as Einstein’s formula for the relationship between mass and energy, E=mc2. Partnering is the new “in thing” and at least 50% of local authorities are attempting to do it. ...
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CommentWe have the results
PFI needs a thorough examination. It’s certainly not on its deathbed, but it clearly isn’t working as it should, and if not treated soon, it may soon be in serious trouble.
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Comment
What’s in a name?
The respondent had built up a funeral directors business under the name of “Richard T Adlem Funeral Director”. In 1993 the respondent sold the business to a Mr Beckwith, who continued to use the name “Richard T Adlem Funeral Director”. In 2000 Mr Beckwith sold the business and goodwill to ...
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CommentOwn goal in extra time
Rather like referees, contract administrators aren’t infallible. So what can you do if one of them wrongly awards your contractor an extension of time?
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Comment
Courts U Like
The Technology and Construction Court is about to reinvent itself as a customer-friendly dispute resolution service – as long as litigants follow the rules
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CommentReviewing the review
Michael Latham offers a behind-the-scenes guide to the review of the Construction Act – and ponders whether it will make a real difference to payment terms
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Comment
The end of ageism
Prudent employers will be reviewing their procedures after the government announced a series of measures to tackle age discrimination in the workplace
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CommentIdentity crisis
The role of the M&E engineer has been changing since Roman times. But in our energy-conscious era, that change is going to happen quicker than ever.
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Comment
Stop sobbing, subbies …
I think subcontractors complain too much about retentions. From experience, I think the subcontractor is often its own worst enemy.
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Comment
… Or how about a £500 answer?
We are a small company with a turnover of £1m and have worked successfully with small and major contractors. In all cases 100% of funds are released on completion of our works.
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Comment
Four years later
I write as the author of the DTI/Bovis Lend Lease report on the Mid City Place project in London, which was referred to in your article “Driving us crazy”, (2 September - see related articles). Although it is pleasing to see that Mid City Place still being held up as ...
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Comment
Why can’t we be more German?
The article on logistics in the UK is timely. If our recent experience as a small firm of architects is anything to go by, our German cousins beat us hands down. We needed eight 250 kg L-shaped pre-cast concrete units for a client near the M25 and found that British ...
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Comment
A logistical twist
There is far too much carbon dioxide-emitting traffic on the road, and the government is trying to address the issues through initiatives such as EcoHomes. But one is tempted to think that the authors of such systems have never been outside the Home Counties. Certainly, they do not appear to ...
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Comment
Local jobs for local people
In the 12 August issue of Building there is an article entitled “Ethnic minority firm gets helping hand in Burnley” (page 18 - see related articles). The implication of this article – the same implication as contained in a separate recent article in Building about social enterprises – is that ...