Opinion – Page 349
-
Comment
Feelings, wo-o-o feelings…
You don’t often see the words ‘engineering’ and ‘emotion’ in the same sentence, but once the connection is made, it can change lives
-
Comment
Wonders & blunders with Philip Watts
Philip Watts enjoys the feelings of oppression he gets when inside Libeskind’s Jewish Museum. But inside the prison of Sheffield’s Parkhill Estate all he wants is to get out
-
Comment
Hansom: The seat of power
Downing Street is the scene of this week’s tales of the unexpected, as Gordon Brown practises his stand-up routine, Prince Charles is praised for his tact, and a hard-bitten architect gets all gooey-eyed
-
Comment
The (un)luck of the Irish
If I had chosen this week for a relaxing break in some warmer winter weather in Cannes, I would be severely unimpressed by now.Not only has a large proportion of the town (and the bars and restaurants) been taken over by property types, but last night was the France vs ...
-
Comment
House building looks set for growth in 2010
The latest Government house building numbers strongly suggest that a shade more than 100,000 homes will be built in England in 2009.This would represent a 40% drop on the peak year of 2007 and make 2009 a record peacetime low.There are hints of hope in the figures with the starts ...
-
Comment
MAPIC: Europe's big five report a stagnant retail sector
As mentioned in my previous blog, the seminar on retail development in Europe’s big five this afternoon promised news of an “enormous development pipeline”, something I would imagine translating into plenty of opportunities for the construction industry.Well, an enormous pipeline there might be but unfortunately the delegates from the UK, ...
-
Comment
MAPIC dispatches: Argentina bids to join the BRIC pack
The mood so far at MAPIC is hopeful. Seminar and conferences titles are peppered with mention of “the future”, “looking ahead”, “emerging markets” and “strong pipeline”.It seems that for the retail market, like many others, things are finally starting to look up and while no one is predicting a massive ...
-
Comment
Are expectations of inflation too low?
Inflation is now on the way up. That was to be expected. As Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, keeps reminding us, we should expect inflation to be very volatile for some while.But, is it me or do the forecasts for inflation reaching a mini-peak at about 3% ...
-
Comment
New Year stamp duty switchback will have little impact, says RICS
For those interested in what will happen when the stamp duty holiday comes to an end on December 31, the surveyors' body RICS has done a little bit of research among its members.Basically, the results seem to suggest that by and large the effect on property transactions will be muted ...
-
Comment
Christmas sales come to the housing market
It's the run up to Christmas and we're in a recession - well if not technically, we're definitely suffering from the recession - so don't be surprised to see redundancies on the rise and asking prices for homes on the decline. It is the nature of things.And in this regard ...
-
Comment
Half full, not half empty
At the British Council of Shopping Centres conference this week, the talk was of the shortage of retail space and the need to start building fairly soon to meet demand in four years’ time
-
Comment
Stirring sentiments from No.10
The interior decor of No.10 (as you’d expect lots of chintz, 1980s uplighters, a few too many landscapes and Blackpool Ballroom-style chandeliers) might have offended the sensibilities of many of his uber design audience, but the message Gordon Brown delivered couldn’t have gone down better.“British design and architecture are ...
-
Comment
The West is the best
I liked your Dubai leader (“After the goldrush”, 30 October, page 3) and I was interested to read about the future reliance on Indian QSs and off-site services
-
Comment
Train the chain
Regarding Steven Morgan’s article (9 October, page 24) I heartily agree that clear lines of responsibility are crucial for a successful project
-
Comment
Heated debate
The article revealing that the Zero Carbon Hub is suggesting an energy use figure of 30-45kWhr/m2/yr figure for the 2016 Code for Sustainable Homes indicates a lack of vision and seriousness on the part of this organisation (23 October, page 13)
-
Comment
The banks must act
While confidence in the commercial property market is continuing to rise, this is not being matched by the availability of freehold assets for investors to buy
-
Comment
Three simple rules
Further to your “increasingly controversial” safety blunders pictures – yes you should still publish it, but with the following rules: All the blunders need to be in the EU to prevent the “let’s laugh at Johnny Foreigner” school of blunderography. All the blunders should have a name of the contractor ...
-
Comment
Electronic documents: Indecent disclosure
Showing the other side your electronic documents is far more expensive and dangerous than simply putting emails and Word documents on a memory stick
-
Comment
Public procurement: A fresh chance to challenge
Public bodies should tighten up their procurement systems, as the remedies directive will widen the scope for firms to contest their decisions