Opinion – Page 540
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Comment
Carrot health scare
Carrots may be good for you, as Roger Knowles suggests in his letter (3 June, page 36), but the idea of giving a bonus for a reduction in accidents has been tried in the offshore oil industry, with unfortunate results.
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Comment
Turn the mike down …
Perhaps Ian Abley was simply trying to be provocative in his Open Mike article (10 June, page 34) but it is rather alarming that any professional designer should express such views. There is much to take issue with in his article but I will settle for the following.
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Comment
… in defence of architects
Ian Abley seems to be in denial about the responsibilities of designers for site safety.
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Comment
Speedy 3D …
Your article on the use of building models by contractors (10 June, pages 58-59) focuses on very large projects and organisations with professional clients and a large commitment of resources up front.
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Comment
… and a memory prompted
Your article on 3D modelling brought back memories of a project I was working on 10 years ago with a small group lead by Dr Stephen Drewer, then reader in the faculty of the built environment at the University of the West of England.
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Comment
Out of order
With great respect to Tony Bingham in his commentary on Geris vs CNIM (10 June, page 52), an adjudicator has no authority under the Scheme for Construction Contracts or any set of adjudication rules that I can think of, to make orders.
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Comment
Faulty Towers
The respondents were owners of a hotel and retained the services of the appellants to design the work necessary to remedy structural defects in a large bay window in the building.Remedial work was carried out to the engineer’s design in 1997. In late 1999 the respondents noticed that the lintel ...
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CommentWe’d be great together
The British Property Federation’s consultancy agreement is a good start, but what we really need is an all-inclusive contract for all parties and single project insurance
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CommentSecond-chance saloon
The DTI’s consultation on reforming the Construction Act could clarify grey areas on adjudication that cloud the original intentions – but only if the industry responds in time
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Comment
The Jackson files
Mr Justice Jackson took charge of the Technology and Construction Court 10 months ago. Under new rules, he will work there full-time. But what’s he done so far?
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CommentWho’s suing whom
Legal wrangles at the High Court over valuable land in trendy Borough Market, a south London restaurant that never served a meal and an IT agreement that crashed. Plus our Brussels update
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Comment
A bit of light pressure
In an attempt to meet the targets set by our government for a CO2 reduction of 20% by 2010 and a 60% reduction by 2050, we should embrace pressure testing as a way of demonstrating that the performance and construction of our dwellings is improving (3 June, page 64).
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Comment
An attack on adversaries
Nick Henchie (20 May, page 39) suggests Tony Bingham’s proposed “arbitral investigator” may be possible but is unlikely to succeed as it requires consent.
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Comment
A pragmatist writes
Ann Minogue’s recent article “You know it makes sense” (27 May, page 47) listed the wholly unilateral benefits of the new British Property Federation form of consultancy agreement compared with the forms of the Association of Consulting Engineers, the RIBA and the RICS.
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Comment
BIW vindication
Last year, you published a potentially misleading article concerning my company (“Inland Revenue probes IT provider BIW”, 24 September 2004, page 14) and a subsequent letter from me (8 October 2004, page 32), relating to BIW Technologies’ claims for some £400,000 worth of research and development tax credits.
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Comment
Counting the cost
I read with interest the news that the Health and Safety Executive is to target injuries caused by manual handling with a view to “promoting the use of mechanical handling equipment”.