Opinion – Page 571
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Wonders & blunders
Tony Bingham is left aesthetically stranded by the RAC control centre on the M6, but the Bilbao Guggenheim comes to the rescue
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Comment
Conspiracy uncovered
Dominic Helps If you’re in any doubt about what constitutes collusive tendering, the Office of Fair Trading has just published a decision that makes it absolutely clear
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It’s a long, long road
Tony Bingham Those canny Irish have put their £4bn roadbuilding programme on hold until they see what happens to the English experiment with design-and-build
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The pensions black hole
Patrick Kennedy and Caoimhe O’Neill If you sign a contract with a firm that has an underfunded final salary pension scheme, it could drag you into the mire too
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Comment
This month Legal Aid
Our experts explain the ins and outs of building insurance, outline the many ways an expert QS can resolve wrangles over costs, and look at who pays when a public sector client clashes with a private utility company over delays
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CommentYou animals..
Welcome to Building’s annual league table of the 100 biggest UK contracting and housebuilding giants, ranked by turnover, pre-tax profit, operating margin and more besides.
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CommentYou are the weakest link
NHS Estates' Procure 21 is a model of how to run a modern supply-chain. Unfortunately, a system is only as good as the firms that operate it. Take this outfit for example …
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CommentThe battle of Twickenham
The funny, bitter, heartwarming tale of six men who came together to work on a London pub and found themselves transformed into a band of brothers …
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CommentContract killing
Nobody will be in the least critical of Montpellier’s decision to walk away from Oxford University’s medical research centre. Over the past few months, animal rights activists have subjected management, shareholders, staff and their families to vile intimidation, vandalism and fraud.
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CommentFirst things last
Why did the cost of the Scottish parliament rise from £40m to more than £400m? Simple. Builders were asked to start work before the designs had been settled
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Comment
Rethinking arbitration
The unmitigated success of adjudication leads us logically to reassess the potential of a streamlined version of arbitration to deal with more complex cases
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CommentBeware your friends
If two firms snuggle up, and then one finds that the other is (metaphorically) picking its pockets, can it get a judge to intervene? The Court of Appeal had this to say …
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Comment
CDM made simple
The problem in assessing CDM’s effectiveness as A Beal suggests (Letters, 2 July, page 32) is that the industry has very rarely implemented the regulations as intended.
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Comment
Another part to the story
Your article “Experts warn of risk from unsafe glass” (18 June, page 17) states that the Building Regulations offer insufficient protection to the public from floor-to-ceiling windows and that architects are free to specify non-laminate glass.
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CommentLet's talk rubbish
The problem raised by the disposal of commodities after consumption is as nothing compared with the problem raised by people who seek to prevent that disposal
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Comment
Trespassers may be injured
The appellant was a police officer who was investigating a suspected stolen trailer that had been parked in the service yard of a supermarket in the centre of Glastonbury. He entered the respondent’s property which adjoined the service area, in order, eventually, to take up a position overlooking the service ...
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A painful omission
Alstom entered into a contract with Railtrack under which there was a pain/gain share provision. Alstom subcontracted part of its works under the main contract to Jarvis. The works were completed and Alstom suffered losses in accordance with the “pain” provisions of the main contract. Alstom claimed that Jarvis ...
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Comment
Bleeding edge design
The construction industry is in a state of permanent revolution, which puts a lot of pressure on those of us who have to build things