All Open Mic articles – Page 3

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    Green retrofitting: Home help

    2011-07-22T00:00:00Z

    The government’s aim to make housing greener is laudable, but imposing ever more stringent regulations won’t help. Linden Homes’ idea of a central fund for retrofitting may do

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    Employment and parenthood: Bringing up baby

    2011-07-15T00:00:00Z

    Tell a prospective employer that you’d like children or prefer to work part-time so you can look after your child and they’re likely to roll their eyes. So is it best not to mention it?

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    Development: The cashless society

    2011-07-08T00:00:00Z

    Yes, money is tight, yes, the challenges are many, but local authorities that work with others and use their assets creatively can still build great places to live

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    Enter the Pimby

    2011-06-24T00:00:00Z

    Forced to choose between economic stagnation and new development in their backyards, communities are abandoning the nimbyism of the boom years

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    More than the tea run: Construction graduates on the dole

    2011-06-03T00:00:00Z

    Too many construction graduates are on the dole. This is talent that our industry is going to need when the upturn comes. So let’s nurture it

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    BIM: Designing tomorrow

    2011-05-27T00:00:00Z

    BIM is the word on everybody’s lips - but do we really know what it is? David Light says we won’t make the most of building information modelling until we start asking the right questions

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    Security threat

    2011-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Never mind government targets and legislation; the risk that energy supplies may simply dry up is becoming the key driver in the sustainability agenda, says James Gray

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    Great leaders of our time

    2011-04-08T00:00:00Z

    The industry, and indeed the world, is on the move and to stay on top chief executives have to predict where it’s going. The successful could even win a ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø Award

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    Once upon a time in the West

    2011-03-25T00:00:00Z

    We live in turbulent times, with the ascendancy of the East our most direct challenge. But reports of the death of the West have been greatly exaggerated

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    Asking for the moon

    2011-03-11T00:00:00Z

    A lot of offices designed pre-recession and waiting to be built won’t meet the toughest environmental standards. Once we start building again, we have to aim higher

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    Open mike: One for all

    2011-02-25T00:00:00Z

    Each profession in this industry has at least one body to represent it, which just widens the gulfs between us all. What if we set up a collective body instead?

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    Features

    Open mike: Early learning

    2011-02-18T00:00:00Z

    If you care about school design, you’ve probably thrown up your hands in despair by now. But John Lyall is optimistic we can build on the achievements of recent years

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    Open mike: Stop the world – I want to get off

    2011-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Most architects find new work through word of mouth. So the more circles you move in, the more people will talk – and the dizzier you’ll become

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    Housebuilding needs to learn the lessons of the 1930s

    2011-01-27T14:15:00Z

    In the 1930s we built around 300,000 homes a year in the face of a worldwide recession. Why are things so different this time around?

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    Open mike: The good old days

    2011-01-21T00:00:00Z

    The Property Services Agency did more good than harm, despite what its detractors - and the state of public sector procurement - may suggest. What we need now, says Steve Hale, is a new, streamlined version

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    Back to schools

    2011-01-07T00:00:00Z

    With Sebastian James’ review of school procurement due imminently, Richard Simmons sets out his hopes and fears for the future of school design

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    Local authorities and housebuilding

    2010-11-26T00:00:00Z

    Local authorities are using their new powers to cancel planned housing schemes, but that doesn’t mean housebuilders should just sit back, says Chris Cobbold

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    The grim reality of life as an architect

    2010-10-29T00:00:00Z

    Watch programmes like Grand Designs and you’d think architecture was a glamorous, highly paid and creative profession. Rot, says Susanna Clapham

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    The RICS: Are we being served?

    2010-10-22T00:00:00Z

    Open mike: QSs have little in common with estate agents yet we share the same professional body. We have to break free and form an organisation that truly represents us

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    News

    Two arms tied behind our back

    2010-10-01T00:00:00Z

    Open mike It is in the interests of both landlords and tenants to improve a property’s energy efficiency - but they won’t until we change the law that constrains them