Opinion – Page 565
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Comment
My safety record is clean …
Gillian Birkby (24 September, page 72) refers to my prosecution as an “illustration of how designers need to implement the CDM regulations” and of how designers “could avoid accidents by providing more information about hazards”. However I feel sure that she could not have intended to imply that I failed ...
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… designers need more guidance
Mr Allan is correct; there can be no implication that he had failed to comply with the CDM regulations, as he was found not guilty. The question of what amounts to “adequate information” that designers must include with their design still remains as a knotty problem. Perhaps the professional ...
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Comment
No need to rush
It is most refreshing to read a thoroughly independent and objective analysis of construction management. Ashley Pigott is correct in saying it is for the professional client that builds regularly, and by definition, knows what he wants and does not change his mind (8 October, page 56).Who then advises clients, ...
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Comment
The wrong kind of demand
Nick Lane is right to sound a warning (3 September, page 52) about using winding-up petitions to make debtors cough up. However, his explanation of what the recipient of a statutory demand needs to do is not quite correct as far as a company is concerned. Before issuing a statutory ...
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Comment
Unfair penalty
NSV carried out work on the instructions of Consafe on heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment at a plutonium chemical waste plant at Drigg, in Cumberia. Consafe counter-claimed for liquidated damages. NSV said that liquidated damages could not be levied because they were a penalty. As the judge said, if the ...
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Comment
Above financial persuasion
Tony Bingham (24 September, page 70) says that adjudicators should not be given the power to decide on their own jurisdiction as they have a financial interest in the outcome.Come off it, Tony! Arbitrators have the power to decide on their own jurisdiction, and the courts encourage parties to refer ...
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Comment
Way off
Although I’m a strong advocate of off-site manufacture (OSM), I have to take issue with your Offsite supplement (1 October). OSM will only succeed if it can match the design quality and cost effectiveness of traditional building. Few of the featured projects showed any of John Prescott’s ‘wow’ factor, and ...
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Comment
One-eyed jock
Lord Fraser’s report on Holyrood appears to me to be one-eyed, ignoring as it does the plight of the trade contractors involved. The building may well have cost its owners – the taxpayers – £431m but I surmise the cost to its builders, trade contractors and the professional team is ...
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Comment
On different tracks
I don’t claim to be an expert in construction project management, or indeed public transport, but to attempt to compare the state of the railways with construction, as Paul Morrell does (3 September, page 40), is surely wrong. Railways provide a service to the clients – the passengers – who ...
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Comment
Gone with the wind
The objections to on-shore wind farm schemes (24 September, page 70) are classic nimbyism. Would the objectors prefer a nuclear power station on the green fields? At least with wind farms, when they are removed you wouldn’t know they had even been there.
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CommentGive us our money back
Colin Harding The government’s Pensions Bill is proof that it is waging a war against small employers. It is time to take our savings out of the Treasury’s hands
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CommentSeduced by simplicity
Last week Ashley Pigott used the Holyrood fiasco to take a pop at construction management – but easy targets don’t help us understand complex problems
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Comment
Competitive streak
James Foster Under pressure from the EU, the government has reclassified registered social landlords as public bodies. The ramifications for procurement are far-reaching
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CommentIsn’t it obvious?
You may not be entirely surprised to learn that when it comes to construction law the most obvious meaning of a word isn’t necessarily the right one. Context is all
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CommentWonders & blunders
A civilised street with space for everything turns into an eyesore that should have no place on this small planet, says Bill Bryson
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Comment
Rouse … to Simmons
Succession is a tricky proposition, especially when your predecessor has made the job his own. Witness the plight of Jonny Wilkinson, the wunderkind of English rugby, who has been handed the captaincy of his national side last week after an eight-month injury. He has the small challenge of getting the ...
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Comment
The moment to mediate
The claimants Yorkshire Bank, had been involved in litigation with the defendants in respect of four coaches that the claimants had engaged RDM Asset Finance Limited to recover and sell. The claimants at trial had been successful in respect of only one of the coaches, but nonetheless recovered £65,000 together ...
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CommentGreen grass roots
Since politicians clearly cannot be trusted to tackle climate change, it’s up to the lowly masses to make a difference – and that includes designers and engineers