All Letters articles 鈥� Page 94
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Comment
The price of CSCS
I read with amazement that the CSCS scheme is 拢5m in the red (3 December, page 9).
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Comment
Mr BTEC responds
As a course director (鈥淢r BTEC鈥�) at the College of West Anglia in Norfolk, I would like to reassure readers that Della Madgwick鈥檚 unfortunate experience, recounted in her letter of 3 December, need not be universal.
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Comment
The name鈥檚 Bond 鈥� retention bond
A number of British Constructional Steelwork Association members may choose to give bonds in place of accepting cash retention (26 November, page 63), but I hope you don鈥檛 think I鈥檓 being too pedantic if I remind you that this is no longer a BCSA matter but one for individual companies.
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Comment
Jack鈥檚 blunder
Jack Pringle鈥檚 comments (3 December, page 34) demonstrate how out of touch with reality the RIBA remains in 2004, with its obsession for style before function.
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Comment
All in the forecast
Further to Malcolm Taylor鈥檚 letter (10 December, page 29), it may well be puzzling that the services element of a building does not receive the same level of prescriptive design as the architectural elements.
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Comment
Perfect 10 (well, almost)
I was interested to read Rudi Klein鈥檚 recent article about the benefits of single project insurance to the construction industry (26 November, page 51).
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CommentWhat was going on there then?
Two weeks ago, we published this photo from the days when architectural models were hand-carved out of wood and nothing said steely determination quite like a well-appointed pipe. We asked you to provide as much information as you could about what was going on and such was the response that ...
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Comment
It鈥檚 not either/or
The article on 鈥渘ew urbanism鈥� (26 November, page 41) pitted two extreme and opposing views of architects. On the one hand, we are asked to believe that a bunch of icon-obsessed egos is working in the interests of self-promotion rather than for the benefit of our towns and cities; on ...
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Comment
CSCS is working
As the employers鈥� side of the CSCS board, 黑洞社区鈥檚 news article on 3 December dismays us (鈥淯nions attack CITB over 拢5m deficit in CSCS scheme鈥�, page 9). It is worth remembering that the 鈥淨ualifying the Workforce鈥� initiative, led by employers with enthusiastic support from the unions, has resulted in more ...
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Comment
Chiding Charlie
In your article 鈥淲hitehall gets a royal warning over fast-track housebuilding鈥� (26 November, page 16), Prince Charles is quoted as saying: 鈥淭he fast building movement will strangle the world unless we look at diversity above mass production.鈥� Whoever is supplying the prince with information about the design flexibility of homes ...
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Comment
House of cards
I read with some amusement about the power struggle between CSCS and the CITB (26 November, page 24).The views of John Smith more than adequately reflect the real world. Despite the willingness of many legitimate contractors and specialist contractors to apply the scheme, the whole thing will degenerate into even ...
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Comment
Jobs for the boys
I always read with interest your articles bemoaning the lack of women in the industry. Like Helen Sanders (26 November, page 36), I don鈥檛 always agree with this philosophy.Setting my rather cynical opinion aside and working under the assumption that construction does need more women to help fill the skills ...
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Comment
Backing the bill
Despite objections from certain camps, government backing for more stringent punishments in order to reduce the level of workplace death and injury (鈥淨ueen鈥檚 speech heralds corporate manslaughter bill鈥�, 26 November, page 15) is largely matched by the corporate world鈥檚 level of concern.
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Comment
Costing the 鈥榖lack art鈥�
Although Chris Haley may well be right in pushing for greater QS involvement in costing services, he misses a vital point (26 November, page 38). A fundamental reason why the costing of services is so poor is that the 鈥渢rade鈥� traditionally designs a large part of the services elements in ...
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Comment
UK shares Europe鈥檚 guilt
As reported in 黑洞社区 (19 November, page 15), Alan Wood has exposed the unfair practices that European governments use to exclude British companies from their public sector contracts.
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Comment
A BTEC in boredom
Having enjoyed a reasonably successful career in construction and having a 16-year-old son with the prospect of 10 good GCSEs and no particular idea what he wants to do, I persuaded him to apply for a BTEC in construction.
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Comment
A tricky treaty
Greg Trickey misunderstands the European Union constitution (12 November, page 37), the legal threat of which will be no greater to the UK鈥檚 鈥渞oyal鈥� chartered bodies than to the Crown Prosecution Service, the Royal Mail or indeed the royal family itself.
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Comment
Target practice
In the article 鈥淔atality rate overshadows HSE鈥檚 healthy living plan鈥� (15 November, page 17), some confusion crept in, which resulted in the views I expressed being misrepresented.