Opinion – Page 342
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Government intern system: Slow learners
Have you ever logged on to graduatetalentpool.direct.gov.uk?
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My digital life: Niall wright
What are you listening to? Rolf Harris and his didgeridoo. And in particular his Six White Boomers song - a great festive tune.What’s your favourite website? YouTube makes me chuckle. There's a really funny video on there of a man cycling into a puddle. And the one with two cats ...
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Brighter outlook from forecasters, but severe risks remain
The forecasts from Hewes & Associates and Leading Edge sit interestingly against the other winter forecasts for construction output released over the past couple of weeks.They seem to back up the mood among other forecasters that construction workload might not fall as much was feared in the middle of last ...
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We’ll be getting off relatively lightly if the construction workforce drops by 400,000
The latest forecast from the Construction Skills Network (CSN) suggests that the current recession in construction will have led to a drop of about 400,000 in the number employed by the industry once job shedding ends in early 2011.This would mean a drop of about 15% in the workforce. That ...
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Mum: Are we out of recession yet?
You could feel the uneasiness among economists yesterday when the release of official statistics showed that the UK had just scraped enough oomph together in the final quarter of last year to stage a lacklustre return to growth.Most economists had expected the no-growth bar to be cleared by some margin. ...
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The end is nigh?
If two consecutive quarters of declining GDP is most economists’ definition of a recession; how come only one quarter’s growth at 0.1% seems good enough to mark the end of it?Regardless of the semantics; yesterday’s announcement of the provisional return of economic growth does illustrate the remaining fragility of the ...
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Stuck in the middle
The general purpose contractor that turns over £70-200m and bases its success on good relations with local councils and health authorities in a particular region has long been the backbone of Britain’s building industry
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Amanda Levete: why architects know best
Give Britain’s best architects the final say in what gets built. Amanda Levete explains why this modest proposal is neither elitist, utopian, nor politically impossible
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ڶ buys a pint … for BSVP
Sitting sociably round a pub table, nursing our drinks, talk turns quickly to socialising; or rather, social networking. Both Steve and Justin, with their array of social sites (think LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) chide Dave for his paltry cyber friendships
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Exceptional circumstances: Construction Act
A recent decision by Mr Justice Ramsey means that the Construction Act can be applied to more activities than you may have thought
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Hansom: The home front
In Blighty this week, the propaganda machine turns defeat into victory, the government frets about who’s listening in and some of our old friends are (temporarily) missing in action
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Where credit’s due
It was interesting to read the spin put on the discussions between the RICS and the Construction Industry Council (CIC) by Max Crofts, president of the RICS (8 January, page 27)
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Down with this sort of thing
I have been a supporter of the construction industry for over 50 years yet regularly we shoot ourselves in the foot
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A pod for all the people
I was pleased to see that Balfour Beatty implemented the use of pods in the Birmingham hospital project (11 December, page 43)
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Show your working
Regrettably, the money won’t go as far as your article on home improvements suggests (8 January, page 42)
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Not from the horse’s mouth
Your story about Laing O'Rourke (15 January, page 9) could give the impression that the Homes and Communities Agency revealed details to your magazine about this company’s plans for pre-fabricated housing
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Safety in danger
Let there be no doubt about it – accident prevention “corners” are being scaled back (“Experts warn recession may cause on-site danger”, 6 January, building.co.uk)
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Rules of the games: Olympic health and safety
Not content with running one of the biggest projects in UK history, the Olympic Delivery Authority also wants to overhaul health and safety standards