Opinion – Page 341
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Hansom: The meaning of life
As Monty Python so clearly showed, our worlds comprise just a few basic elements: learning, work, sex, war, recreation and wondering what on earth it’s all about anyway. And construction’s got the lot
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A wiser course for busy fools
When times are desperate, there’s a temptation to grab anything that might boost our turnover. The game now should be to prepare for the upturn and increase margins
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ڶ buys a pint: Eckersley O’Callaghan
We’re in the King’s Head in Islington, north London, on the day that Britain officially declared its deepest recession since the thirties over – by a whisker
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Brian Green: This is your new playground
Relying on clients to create demand won’t work any more – construction firms need new, sophisticated business models that tie their profit to places rather than one-off projects
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Tube PPP: Mind the gaping hole
A £1.75bn chasm has emerged between what Transport for London is willing to pay to upgrade the Northern line and what Tube Lines is willing to do the work for. Could this be the end of the line for the tube PPP?
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Government burglars
As Brian Green points out in his column on drumming up work, the government has pretty much kept the industry in business during the recession
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God damn it, don’t you just feel richer...
When I see the house price indexes rising I can’t stop myself. I have to do a sum that estimates how much richer we are as a nation.Here’s how I do it. I head straight for the Blue Book (a set of the nation’s annual accounts, if you like) and ...
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Will we see the return of mobile classrooms, or can construction firms find a better solution?
In a chat yesterday it was suggested I should make a note of the rapid increase in the number of babies being born and the implications for construction, or not as the case may be.This chimed with me, as I had recently been told that they will need two more ...
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We’re still in recession says CIPS, despite official figures showing construction output growth
Here’s a question I ponder quite a bit. Why do the official figures show that construction grew in the second and third quarters of last year when to everyone else construction has remained mired in the slough of a nasty recession?Puzzling isn’t it. Even more puzzling that the estimates for ...
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Is an inaccurate measure of foreign workers messing up the construction data?
Here’s a couple of graphs for stat-spotters I thought worth placing together.For some while there has been unease about both the workforce jobs figures and the repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) sector figures in the official construction output statistics.The two sets of data are linked and there's been some concern ...
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Affairs to remember
A £9bn property tycoon’s brief encounter with Mace, the latest conspiracy theories over RMJM’s dalliance with Fred Goodwin and one architect’s abusive relationship with the English language
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Lessons from history
Amanda Levete says: “What we need is something like an architectural Supreme Court, made up of architects and advisers whose pre-eminence is undisputed, that passes binding judgment” (22 January, page 22)
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Vive la révolution!
Will Foster’s first hospital, the Circle Bath, revolutionise healthcare design (15 January, page 38)?
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Up, up and away
I would like to take issue with a recent leader, which expressed the view that rising house prices are somehow a good thing
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Planning: The campaign
I totally agree with the need to oppose changes to the planning system (Developers and housebuilders to fight Tory planning proposals, 4 January, building.co.uk)
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Experts on tap
I read Paul Donnelly’s article (15 January, page 50) on expert witness testimony with interest
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Unjust deserts
I have more sympathy with bankers’ bonuses than with the £30m paid by the Learning and Skills Council to its staff
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Why can’t we have boulangeries?
The French have mastered the art of nurturing individual shops and businesses, whereas here, civilised life is leaking out of our town centres. Gus Alexander has an idea…
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Wonders & Blunders with Geoff Capes
Shot-putter and budgie breeder Geoff Capes coos over Burghley House but has strong opinions about the childhood home of one Margaret Roberts
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What’s going wrong at Skanska?
Sweden’s biggest contractor has been in the UK market for 10 years. During that time it has pulled off some remarkable jobs, but now it seems to be running into difficulties finding work