Opinion – Page 529
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Comment
The rise and rise of consultation
Jon Rouse sensibly sees the pursuit of consensus through interminable consultation as a failure of nerve among those politically or professionally charged with planning (30 September). This serves as an apology from the man who established the corrosive influence of the unelected CABE.
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Comment
What’s it worth?
The claimants were trustees of a settlement. They owned a property comprising a number of shops and flats. The primary purpose of the trust was to provide income rather than capital growth.The claimants sought to obtain vacant possession of the individual flats with a view to re-letting them on short-term ...
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CommentOpen Mike: Wrong turnings
David Trench, the project director on the Millennium Dome, knows from experience what happens when people stray too far from a project’s initial raison d’être
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CommentLook to the skies
We need to forget about cheap houses and luxury riverside apartments and start building high quality high rise, says the latest column from our graduate panel
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CommentDouble your risk
A fitter’s mate who stepped on some ductwork in a Tyneside factory inadvertently overturned 200 years of legal tradition – and greatly increased contractors’ liability
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Comment
Hold your horses
It was interesting to note Christopher Linnett’s comments on the increasingly short periods of time being allowed for contractors to tender for design-and-build enquiries (14 October).
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Comment
If you can’t stand the heat …
Perhaps, as Mr Linnett considers it bad practice to tender within such periods, he should stop working in the hot kitchen and retire to the dining room immediately.As a front-line contractor’s estimator, I’m the first to agree that a contractor’s bid team is up against it when undertaking such a ...
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Comment
The race still running
Your article “Four housebuilders pull out of ‘onerous’ grant process” (28 October, page 22) took a somewhat sensational line and missed at least some of the point as a result. Opening bidding to private developers for the first time was always going to be about testing the market. We expected ...
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Comment
Completion equals confidence
Congratulations to Trevor Hursthouse for defending the indefensible – that is, retentions – (7 October) but I suppose as chairman of the Specialist Engineering Contractors’ Group he had no alternative.
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Comment
Credit control where it’s due
Colin Harding and fellow travellers should remember one important fact before attempting to have retentions outlawed: contractors usually get paid 95% or 97% of work done to date in advance of completion, once a month.
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CommentTales from the pit
Our thanks to George Fordyce, head of engineering policy at the National Home Building Council, for sharing this fine example of ladder craft.
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CommentWonders & blunders
Des Lynam analyses the performance of two very different domes – and as usual, Italy scores big points while England gets a red card …
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Comment
Defining a contract
The defendant engaged the claimant builder to carry out work at his home in Beaulieu. Work carried out was in excess of £500,000. Initial letter of intent provided for a limited amount of work to be carried out. However, that letter of intent said that the work would be carried ...
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CommentA nuclear spring
To plug the energy gap, Britain’s ageing nuclear power stations must be replaced. This is what government and industry has to do to get them up and running in time
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CommentWinning on penalties
Construction may one of the worst offending industries for wasting energy, but criminalising firms won’t necessarily protect the environment