All Leader articles – Page 31

  • Comment

    Holiday on death row

    2008-08-15T00:00:00Z

    As those of you involved in running a construction firm will know, it’s never easy to enjoy your summer vacation untroubled by thoughts of what’s going on back in the office.

  • Stuart MacDonald
    Comment

    Do the right thing

    2008-08-08T00:00:00Z

    It’s just a coincidence, of course, but the opaque sky over Britain this week accurately reflects the overcast mood in much of the construction industry.

  • Comment

    Innocence abroad

    2008-08-01T00:00:00Z

    Schools are out, summer is here and the mind naturally turns to jetting off (or, for the more environmentally squeamish, catching a train) to foreign climes

  • Thomas Lane
    Comment

    Public madness

    2008-07-25T00:00:00Z

    Not another one! That is the initial reaction to the news that the Rafael Viñoly-designed visual arts centre in Colchester languishes unfinished while its contractor and client squabble over the escalating budget.

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    The path to happiness

    2008-07-18T00:00:00Z

    Happiness, there’s not too much of it around in construction at the moment.

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    Singing the blues

    2008-07-11T00:00:00Z

    What a diabolical week. The swingeing job cuts – 4,000 across publicly quoted companies alone – make painful reading and all the signs are that things are going to get an awful lot worse.

  • Comment

    China goes to town

    2008-07-04T00:00:00Z

    China is ravenous for British expertise. And no wonder: in 20 years’ time it could account for more than half of the global market for construction services

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    The flood plan

    2008-06-27T00:00:00Z

    Amazingly, we’ve got yet another challenge to contend with when we build, but this time it’s long overdue.

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    Being fair to Clare

    2008-06-20T00:00:00Z

    If you’re the best-known name in housebuilding, you get many benefits.

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    State aid

    2008-06-13T00:00:00Z

    So, is the industry about to enter a more enlightened era? That’s the idea behind this week’s launch of an industry–government manifesto for improving construction’s performance in several key areas, from sustainability in the ecological sense to sustainability in training and recruitment.

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    Getting out of the nice business

    2008-06-06T00:00:00Z

    So, the nice decade is behind us.

  • Comment

    Just no more U-turns, OK?

    2008-05-30T00:00:00Z

    Gordon Brown is probably regretting a number of things right now – the 10p tax debacle, Crewe and Nantwich by-election tactics, and the sly assault on gas-guzzling cars in the last Budget spring readily to mind.

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    What happens in the second act?

    2008-05-23T00:00:00Z

    After what has seemed like endless dithering on the part of the government, and endless lobbying campaigns by the interested parties, the reform of the 1996 Construction Act is finally on its way.

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    It just gets worse

    2008-05-16T00:00:00Z

    When the Office of Fair Trading accuses the supermarkets of price fixing, consumers don’t demand assurances at the checkout that the butter they’re buying has been fairly priced.

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    Paradise postponed

    2008-05-09T00:00:00Z

    You don’t hear much about Sir John Egan these days. Integrated teams, lean construction, innovation … all the great doctrines he set out in Rethinking Construction back in 1998 have faded with the years. It’s not hard to see why.

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    Market testing sustainability

    2008-05-02T00:00:00Z

    Is sustainability going to be the next casualty of the credit crunch? With houses recording their first annual fall for 12 years, and Tony Pidgley describing the crisis as worse than the nineties, it’s hard to imagine consumers squandering their angst on solar panels.

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    In urgent need of repair

    2008-04-25T00:00:00Z

    What a shabby week it’s been for construction. In fact, one of the shabbiest weeks in living memory.

  • Stuart MacDonald
    Comment

    Squashed flat

    2008-04-18T00:00:00Z

    So farewell to Erinaceous, possibly the most bizarrely named company in the construction sector: the hedgehog has finally curled into a ball and rolled out of the door.

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    Survival of the fittest

    2008-04-11T00:00:00Z

    At the start of the year we carried a comment piece from David Pretty, the former Barratt chief executive, detailing two scenarios that housebuilders would have in place in the run-up to the spring selling season.

  • Denise Chevin
    Comment

    A big ask

    2008-03-28T00:00:00Z

    One of the hallmarks of this government has been its determination to push through changes even when what’s gained seems fairly modest in comparison with the effort expended and the anger created.