All Letters articles 鈥� Page 98
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The last of the tradesmen
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 ...
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Phone a fraud squad
What the industry needs is a hotline to report bogus companies that the Inland Revenue actually takes notice of!
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That sinking feeling
Andy Carter asks why the RAC buildings at Bristol and Walsall harbour a nautical theme (Letters, 13 August, page 28).
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Paying for a faulty system
Last week鈥檚 editorial on construction鈥檚 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.
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Credit where it鈥檚 due
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 黑洞社区 Regulations or the important role played by the staff of our central London office.
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Safety鈥檚 come a long way
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.
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Name that tree
To the timber industry, the names of timber, wood, hardwood and softwood are fundamental.
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Before BUMA
You state that the Hyde Housing Association scheme in south London by Polish company BUMA, which cost 拢1260/m2, 鈥渂rings prefabrication within Housing Corporation budgets for the first time鈥� (23 July, page 12).
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Ships that pass on the motorway
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鈥檚 Ark (when not attracting divine thunderbolts, causing the computer system to shut down!) and ...
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Quality is key
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).
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Stuck in first gear
I read with interest your leader article 鈥淎ssisted Suicide鈥� and 鈥淲atts: BRE is on a precipice鈥� (23 July, page 12) on the DTI鈥檚 proposal to end the practice of ringfencing money for construction research and development.
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Charity begins at home
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鈥檚 about time Britain stopped being such a 鈥渂leeding heart鈥� and actually concentrated on solving our own ...
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The Holyrood treatment
Cary Grant could have given a valuable lesson in construction procurement to the 鈥渃lient鈥� for the Scottish parliament building (23 July, page 50) 鈥� or the client for any large or complex development, come to that.
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A fair point
I was reading the article 鈥淏eauty is but skin deep 鈥︹�� (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 ...
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Dear Tony ...
I think the 鈥渁nswer on a postcard鈥� to Tony Bingham鈥檚 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 ...
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鈥� or, perhaps, Dear Diary
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 ...
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It鈥檚 just cement to be
With the introduction of the European Landfill Directive, the UK鈥檚 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).
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A binding non-binding decision
Tim Elliott (16 July, page 51) applauds the decision of His Honour Judge Thornton in William Verry Ltd vs North West London Communal Mikrah.
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Counting all the costs
In the issue of 16 July, your leader referred to 鈥渃onsistently reduced construction costs鈥�, and Alistair McAlpine commented that 鈥渁 cheap price and a silver tongue鈥� were generally accepted as 鈥渁n alternative to expertise鈥�.