More Focus – Page 432
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Features
Space 160
Nostalgia has already set in for the nuclear family. The semi-detached suburban utopia of 2.4 children, plus dog – not to mention the gas-guzzling car in the driveway – now only exists in the sweetly sentimental works of the poet John Betjeman. Today's image of the typical family appears dystopic ...
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Features
Environment 160
Life on the edgeWe think of global warming the way a smoker thinks about lung cancer. We know, in a distant, abstract way, that what we are doing could have some serious consequences for our health, but we solve the problem by refusing to think about it. Smokers shy away ...
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Features
Business 160
Extract from ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø, 18 July 2033:So, after all the speculation, the shortlist for main contractor on London One, the world largest office complex, has been narrowed down to two candidates. It's no surprise that the global powerhouse of Bechtel Beatty made the cut for the *8bn project – it has ...
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Features
Society 160
"… and on BBC9, Harlan Davis' How Did We Get Here examines social change in the first three decades of the 21st century; this week its the turn of the built environment". A 3D image of Harlan, looking a bit of a prat in his trademark leather trousers, appears on ...
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Features
Meades 160
Go to a fully accredited tourist village in any European country – Ireland, Germany, France, wherever. We all know these places – steeped in the romance of history, sweating heritage, foetid with feudal associations and so on. We will certainly find examples of the vernacular architecture peculiar to their area, ...
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Features
The dark side of construction
Every two days, a construction worker commits suicide – which is higher figure than any other professional sector. We explore what lies behind this disturbing statistic.
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Features
Dermot Gleeson
The chairman of MJ Gleeson may look like he's sitting pretty as he takes over the hot seat at the Major Contractors Group. But the question everybody's asking is, can he stop its members from leaving?
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Features
Empty promises?
Prescott's plan to build the homes that southern England so desperately needs is not going to work without a huge increase in funding. So far, there is little sign that he has the money or the political support to make it happen.
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Features
Easing off the gas
In this month's survey, Experian Business Strategies reports that growth in construction activity continued to lose momentum in April and that it is expected to maintain its slightly cautious pace until July
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Features
Focus on the regions
A closer look at activity levels and order books in 11 regions around the UK reveals that things have been looking up in the North-west, the Midlands, Wales and the South-west
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Features
Respect yourself
Two years after John Prescott launched his construction safety drive, the industry is coming under renewed pressure to improve its dreadful accident record.
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Features
Need an energy boost?
As the tired old commercial sector flags, a bright and bouyant industry sneaks up from behind and overtakes it. We jog alongside
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Features
Hew Tittensor
Being sued is every partnership's nightmare, but there's a novel way to limit your liability
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Features
Trading up
Gary Redman of NOW recruitment shows how to respond if you are wooed by a headhunter
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Features
Three-part harmony
Designing a housing estate can get a bit monotonous so Feilden Clegg Bradley brought in a couple of chums to swing along with
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Features
Bravo to zero
The Peabody Trust's BedZED carbon-neutral scheme has been hailed as a triumph of sustainable community design (take a bow, Bill Dunster). But what is it like actually living there? Thomas Lane met two of the residents – and took their niggles to the innovator himself …
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Features
The dealer
Chief executive of Harvest Housing Group Ian Perry has spent three years slogging to pull off the first housing PFI pathfinder project. It's entailed some pretty deft diplomacy and some hard bargaining, but it's finally paid off. Josephine Smit tell the inside story.
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Features
Planning approvals
May was a quiet month for planning approvals with fewer than 2000 consents granted, well down on last month's 3500. Essex-based Wickford Developments tops the private housebuilder table.
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Features
New-build completions
Although planning consents were down dramatically in May, housebuilders were maintaining their build rates and the number of completions in May was over the 12,000 mark. Housing association completions, however, remained at very low levels.