All Letters articles – Page 98

  • Comment

    The last of the tradesmen

    2004-09-03T00:00:00Z

    I started working as a joiner in the 1970s and you could say my age group (40-year-olds) were the last of the tradesmen to be brought through a real apprenticeship. This should have enabled us, now that some of us are in managerial positions, to pass on our expertise to ...

  • Comment

    Phone a fraud squad

    2004-09-03T00:00:00Z

    What the industry needs is a hotline to report bogus companies that the Inland Revenue actually takes notice of!

  • Comment

    That sinking feeling

    2004-09-03T00:00:00Z

    Andy Carter asks why the RAC buildings at Bristol and Walsall harbour a nautical theme (Letters, 13 August, page 28).

  • Comment

    Paying for a faulty system

    2004-09-03T00:00:00Z

    Last week’s editorial on construction’s payment problems (13 August, page 3) leads one to the conclusion that when the chips were down the provisions of the Construction Act were found to be ineffective.

  • Comment

    Credit where it’s due

    2004-09-03T00:00:00Z

    It is a great disappointment to find that such an excellent article dealing with the Hyde Housing Association prefabricated flat development (6 August, page 38) failed to mention the approved inspector for ɫTV Regulations or the important role played by the staff of our central London office.

  • Comment

    Safety’s come a long way

    2004-09-03T00:00:00Z

    There has probably been more progress in the area of improvements in construction site safety and attitudes to training over the past 18 months than at any time in recent years.

  • Comment

    Sunstroke

    2004-08-27T00:00:00Z

    I think you have been spending too much time in the sun yourselves … (6 August, page 18).

  • Comment

    Name that tree

    2004-08-27T00:00:00Z

    To the timber industry, the names of timber, wood, hardwood and softwood are fundamental.

  • Comment

    Before BUMA

    2004-08-27T00:00:00Z

    You state that the Hyde Housing Association scheme in south London by Polish company BUMA, which cost £1260/m2, “brings prefabrication within Housing Corporation budgets for the first time” (23 July, page 12).

  • Comment

    Ships that pass on the motorway

    2004-08-13T00:00:00Z

    As a regular passer of the RAC control centres at Bristol and Walsall (30 July, page 34), perhaps someone could enlighten me about the obviously nautical inspiration in the designs. The centre at Bristol screams Noah’s Ark (when not attracting divine thunderbolts, causing the computer system to shut down!) and ...

  • Comment

    Quality is key

    2004-08-13T00:00:00Z

    I would like to take this opportunity to respond to your invitation for views on whether or not the Quality Mark can be resurrected (2 July, page 15).

  • Comment

    Stuck in first gear

    2004-08-13T00:00:00Z

    I read with interest your leader article “Assisted Suicide” and “Watts: BRE is on a precipice” (23 July, page 12) on the DTI’s proposal to end the practice of ringfencing money for construction research and development.

  • Comment

    Charity begins at home

    2004-08-13T00:00:00Z

    No, I do not agree the industry should be funding migrant workers for skills training (30 July, page 15). Do British tradesmen get the same treatment if we work on the Continent? Maybe it’s about time Britain stopped being such a “bleeding heart” and actually concentrated on solving our own ...

  • Comment

    The Holyrood treatment

    2004-08-06T00:00:00Z

    Cary Grant could have given a valuable lesson in construction procurement to the “client” for the Scottish parliament building (23 July, page 50) – or the client for any large or complex development, come to that.

  • Comment

    A fair point

    2004-08-06T00:00:00Z

    I was reading the article “Beauty is but skin deep …” (18 June, pages 26-28) and noticed that you show a photograph of the Saga headquarters in Folkestone, Kent, to illustrate the leaky windows that it has been cursed with. I would just like to point out that the photograph ...

  • Comment

    Dear Tony ...

    2004-08-06T00:00:00Z

    I think the “answer on a postcard” to Tony Bingham’s question of how to gather evidence of site disruptions at the time they occur (16 July, page 52) is to keep a site diary. A well-kept and detailed diary is invaluable to anyone having to prepare or determine claims for ...

  • Comment

    … or, perhaps, Dear Diary

    2004-08-06T00:00:00Z

    The answer has to be site diaries maintained by all supervisory staff from trade supervisor upwards. There should be an item in the bill for them, their content specified in the spec and, for programmes using the Society of Construction Law protocol, a withholding of a percentage of the account ...

  • Comment

    It’s just cement to be

    2004-08-06T00:00:00Z

    With the introduction of the European Landfill Directive, the UK’s remediation industry must face the fact that it has to find an alternative to a dig-and-dump strategy for contaminated land (16 July, page 14).

  • Comment

    A binding non-binding decision

    2004-07-30T00:00:00Z

    Tim Elliott (16 July, page 51) applauds the decision of His Honour Judge Thornton in William Verry Ltd vs North West London Communal Mikrah.

  • Comment

    Counting all the costs

    2004-07-30T00:00:00Z

    In the issue of 16 July, your leader referred to “consistently reduced construction costs”, and Alistair McAlpine commented that “a cheap price and a silver tongue” were generally accepted as “an alternative to expertise”.