More Focus – Page 263

  • Features

    Lead times May-July 2008

    2008-07-11T00:00:00Z

    Four packages have gone down this week and four have gone up, as the downturn pushes from one end and the steel shortage from the other. Brian Moone of Mace reports the numbers

  • Spotlight on steel
    Features

    Spotlight on steel

    2008-07-11T00:00:00Z

    Rocketing steel prices have affected a wide range of industries – not least construction, says Brian Moone. How far are availability problems implicated in the price rises, and will contractors’ lead times be affected?

  • 2008 Construction Industry Dragon Boat Challenge
    Features

    Smoke on the water

    2008-07-11T00:00:00Z

    Forty industry teams dodged the showers to compete in the 2008 Dragon Boat Challenge last week – raising more than £25,000 for charity.

  • Workload, lead times and orders remain solid for lifts and escalators but the sector expects the downturn to affect it by 2009
    Features

    Specialist cost update: Services

    2008-07-11T00:00:00Z

    Luxury residential and public sector projects are keeping the M&E, ICT, lifts and escalators markets buoyant but the rising costs of materials are starting to have an effect.

  • Tim Laurence
    Features

    The line of duty – Tim Laurence, Defence Estates

    2008-07-11T00:00:00Z

    Tim Laurence has commanded warships, sailed the world and held top positions in the government. But taking the helm at Defence Estates is perhaps his greatest challenge.

  • Charrettes are the new face of collaborative planning
    Features

    We did it our way - Charettes

    2008-07-11T00:00:00Z

    Charrettes are the new face of collaborative planning, bringing together artists, architects and town planners to thrash out a development plan for an area. But do they work?

  • The Wates family have had their business for 111 years. Pictured are Andrew (left) and James Wates with little Emily
    Features

    Keeping it in the family – Construction dynasties

    2008-07-11T00:00:00Z

    When family-run businesses are handed down from one generation to another, all manner of issues come into play, not least of which is ownership. Roxane McMeeken looks at how to keep a construction dynasty going

  • Rochester Temporary Custodial facility
    Features

    Rochester prison reuses materials for new road

    2008-07-10T16:22:00Z

    Wates uses materials from demolished buildings to construct car park and on-site roads

  • Rochester Temporary Custodial facility
    Features

    'Cut and fill' at Rochester young offenders prison

    2008-07-10T15:54:00Z

    Wates recycles existing spoil at the Rochester Temporary Custodial facility to optimise difference in gradient

  • Features

    How is that possible?: Beijing’s CCTV Tower

    2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

    Arup and OMA’s gravity-defying overhang on China’s television headquarters had to be joined without the legs toppling over. Stuart Macdonald reports on the surprisingly simple solution

  • Features

    The road to recovery: Rebuilding after China’s earthquake

    2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

    British engineering and construction firms are on the front line of China’s efforts to repair the devastation left by May’s earthquake. Stuart Macdonald reports

  • Features

    The best china: 10 of the most spectacular new Chinese buildings

    2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

    Even without the Olympics China is producing some of the finest architecture on the planet – with a little help from the Brits. Martin Spring chooses 10 of the best

  • The pyramidal glass block set into the facade of this multipurpose building in Aurillac, France, intensifies the coloured lighting
    Features

    The alternatives: Interactive facades

    2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

    Here are three alternative facade systems to bring your buildings to life

  • Features

    The only way is up: China’s airport building programme

    2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

    China will spend £44bn on airports in the next five years and there is plenty of opportunity for British firms to get in on the aviation action. Victoria Madine explains what it takes to break into the market

  • Features

    Causes of failure: Profiled sheeting

    2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

    Corrugated steel sheets are more sophisticated than ever, and used in everything from schools and museums to hospitals. But Peter Mayer of ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV LifePlans discovers things can go wrong

  • Features

    Is China’s boom over?

    2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

    With Olympic-driven development about to end and inflation rising, is growth going to slow?John Ward of the Centre for Economics and Business Research analyses the macroeconomic picture, and overleaf EC Harris looks at the recent past and likely future of construction in the People’s Republic

  • The Chinese market is likely to cool after the Olympics are over
    Features

    China in detail

    2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

    Rising inflation is forcing the Chinese government to restrict foreign investment in development, but strong – albeit slightly slower – economic growth is bound to continue. Investors who are patient and flexible will be rewarded, says Simon Baxter of EC Harris

  • Features

    The man with the toughest job in construction

    2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

    So what’s it like having most of the weight of the Beijing Olympics resting delicately on your shoulders? Stuart Macdonald asked Arup’s Michael Kwok, who ought to know

  • Features

    One hot bird

    2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

    More than just a stadium, the Bird’s Nest will be a permanent attraction, says Mark Whitby

  • Features

    Race to the finishing line

    2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

    As Beijing rushes to complete its Olympic venues Graham Watts asks how impressive they are