Opinion – Page 615
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Comment
Calling like-minded lawyers
I read with interest Colin Harding's article "A paradise for parasites" (21 March, page 37). I write as a lawyer who has been involved in PFI deals in the industry (for Carillion and Bechtel) and in private practice with a firm fully committed to Rethinking Construction.Although lawyers, among other advisers, ...
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Safe, unless you're cooking
We would like to respond to your leader in the 14 March issue. Although we are aware of the recent court ruling in respect to the Sahib Foods fire in 1994, it would be wrong to assume that the specification of combustible composite panels will automatically create a problem for ...
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Read the instructions
Tony Bingham's article "Never trust a copper" (21 March, page 59) raises the issue of low water draw-off, which we feel deserves comment.Many thousands of copper pipework installations are made each year, including those in properties that will use water sporadically (show homes, for instance), and there are very few ...
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Designing for imbeciles
The UK's regulations assume a high level of human stupidity, says Barry Munday – plus Stewart McColl tells of a clash between money and morality
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The risks of going to court
The claimant, Mr Islam, sought remuneration in respect of his services as the chartered accountant during the period May 1999 to July 2001, when he ran the defendant Mrs Ali's late husband's accountancy business. He had received around £72,000 for part of this period and sought about a further £84,000, ...
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Leading the evolution
To all appearances, little has changed since the last Building Awards a year ago.
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Comment
An offer you can refuse?
Refuse an offer to mediate and you could end up paying the costs of litigation, win or lose. But what if that offer of mediation was just a tactical ploy?
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Comment
Know your onions
Tony Bingham Here's another take on the controversial case of the architect who got sued after specifying the wrong panels, despite the client's giving false information
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Comment
No records, no claim
This was an application by the attorney general for the Falkland Islands (on behalf of the Islands' government) for the determination of a preliminary point of law in arbitration proceedings. Gordon Forbes and the government entered into a FIDIC fourth edition contract in 1997 to carry out some building works. ...
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Comment
Bombs on a budget
This week, our attentions shift to the damage that the war is causing on the home front (pages 22-23). It would be a cruel irony if investment in public services was halted to pay for Iraq just when the contracts are starting to flow. But nobody is under any illusions ...
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Comment
A voyage to Psychotropia
"Art deco was kitsch and camp and gently surreal, and architects who take themselves too seriously have always taken it too seriously, too." Discuss …
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Comment
So much energy, so little time
I am writing in response to your piece on the government's energy white paper (28 February, page 15), which outlined targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from buildings. A few days later, the government announced a much-needed £20m grant aid programme to stimulate the installation of photovoltaic cells in buildings.Fronted ...
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In safe hands
Philip Harris' article on the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (14 March, page 54) is an interesting approach to the question of how to enforce what he calls "unpopular and ineffective legislation". But if CDM is unpopular, who is going to bother enforcing it if the Health and Safety Executive ...
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Comment
There's no such smell
I have just been catching up on last week's edition of Building and enjoyed the collection of interviews entitled "The children's crusade" (21 March, page 44). However, Jonathan Manser confused me in saying that the smell of wet concrete was one of his earliest memories. In my 35 years in ...
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We're all taxmen now
The Inland Revenue intends to introduce a new scheme for policing tax collection, and once again it shifts the onus onto you, dear reader
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Comment
Pleasure and punishment
What has compensation for the mental anguish caused by a holiday from hell got to do with the construction industry? Rather more than you may think, alas
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Comment
Dumb or what?
The drive to deliver high-value, high-quality design is being hampered by a class system that prevents architects and engineers from talking to specialists as equals
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CommentGet your retaliation in first
Contractual documentation fosters an atmosphere of trust and co-operation between parties in which fairness and mutual … oh, lordy, who am I kidding?
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Comment
Homes comfort
Whenever housebuilders meet nowadays, they can be seen staring intently at one another and muttering, "this is going to be an interesting year". Never ones to talk down business, what they are really saying is: life is pretty damn difficult. The industry is facing more demands than ever before, with ...