Opinion 鈥� Page 341
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CommentA cock and ball story
Tony Bingham聽If your little mistake turns out to be a massive mistake because of my little mistake, can you be made to pay the whole of the bill? Over to the Court of Appeal 鈥�
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The job鈥檚 in the blag
Guy Guinan聽As competition for jobs gets tougher, more candidates are embellishing their CVs. But it鈥檚 the employer who鈥檒l be for the high jump if one of them subsequently messes up
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The road to recovery
Jeff Brown聽Here鈥檚 some good news for firms that are pursuing claims against insolvent defendants: a new bill should make it easier for you to get your money 鈥�
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What problems with housing?
It was good to see some reflection in last week鈥檚 issue on the state of housing quality (22 January, page 20)
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These problems with housing
The recent problems with the Homes and Communities Agency鈥檚 Kickstart programme highlight an uncomfortable truth: many of the new homes being built in the UK aren鈥檛 good enough
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These problems with Kickstart
Homebuyers quite rightly are the best judges of private housing quality
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Return to sender
Last week鈥檚 story on Concentra said incorrectly that Durkan Holdings sold its 51% stake in Durkan Pudelek to Gombe Holdings
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Ditch the old buildings 鈥�
In response to 鈥淢orrell: Older buildings must be torn down鈥� (building.co.uk, 25 January): not only were many sixties and seventies public buildings constructed with minimal resources, they were often planned to government handbooks that specified the maximum internal area that could not under any circumstances be exceeded
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鈥� and new ones, too
Regarding Morrell鈥檚 views on older buildings: Immediate postwar construction can be equally shoddy
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Dear Amanda 鈥�
Amanda Levete鈥檚 22 January column suggesting a committee of architects be put in charge of planning was discussed by the online community 鈥�
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CommentHansom: The meaning of life
As Monty Python so clearly showed, our worlds comprise just a few basic elements: learning, work, sex, war, recreation and wondering what on earth it鈥檚 all about anyway. And construction鈥檚 got the lot
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CommentA wiser course for busy fools
When times are desperate, there鈥檚 a temptation to grab anything that might boost our turnover. The game now should be to prepare for the upturn and increase margins
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Comment好色先生TV buys a pint: Eckersley O鈥機allaghan
We鈥檙e in the King鈥檚 Head in Islington, north London, on the day that Britain officially declared its deepest recession since the thirties over 鈥� by a whisker
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CommentBrian Green: This is your new playground
Relying on clients to create demand won鈥檛 work any more 鈥� construction firms need new, sophisticated business models that tie their profit to places rather than one-off projects
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CommentTube PPP: Mind the gaping hole
A 拢1.75bn chasm has emerged between what Transport for London is willing to pay to upgrade the Northern line and what Tube Lines is willing to do the work for. Could this be the end of the line for the tube PPP?
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CommentGovernment burglars
As Brian Green points out in his column on drumming up work, the government has pretty much kept the industry in business during the recession
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God damn it, don鈥檛 you just feel richer...
When I see the house price indexes rising I can鈥檛 stop myself. I have to do a sum that estimates how much richer we are as a nation.Here鈥檚 how I do it. I head straight for the Blue Book (a set of the nation鈥檚 annual accounts, if you like) and ...
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Will we see the return of mobile classrooms, or can construction firms find a better solution?
In a chat yesterday it was suggested I should make a note of the rapid increase in the number of babies being born and the implications for construction, or not as the case may be.This chimed with me, as I had recently been told that they will need two more ...
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We鈥檙e still in recession says CIPS, despite official figures showing construction output growth
Here鈥檚 a question I ponder quite a bit. Why do the official figures show that construction grew in the second and third quarters of last year when to everyone else construction has remained mired in the slough of a nasty recession?Puzzling isn鈥檛 it. Even more puzzling that the estimates for ...
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Is an inaccurate measure of foreign workers messing up the construction data?
Here鈥檚 a couple of graphs for stat-spotters I thought worth placing together.For some while there has been unease about both the workforce jobs figures and the repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) sector figures in the official construction output statistics.The two sets of data are linked and there's been some concern ...