Opinion 鈥� Page 361
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Martial bliss
Great to hear about the rise of women in the RIBA, RICS, RSPCA, etc (31 July, page 3) but the one thing you missed was that women are far better than men at getting money paid at a contracting business
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Comment
A fracas on the home front
Jon Neale (7 August, page 19) reaches the very doubtful conclusion that building homes for owner occupation will set the scene for a domestic version of the US sub-prime debacle
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CommentEU Energy Performance of 黑洞社区s Directive: The writing on the wall
The EU will soon be changing its directive on the energy performance of buildings. All well and good, says David Strong, but its plans for display certificates make no sense at all
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CommentIf at first you don鈥檛 succeed: Adjudication
Adjudication works best when each chunk is bite-sized, but that doesn鈥檛 mean you can keep bringing the same piece back again until you get the decision you want
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Much obliged: Infrastructure contributions
Many local authorities are demanding standard infrastructure contributions when they are not due at all. So can developers question this?
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CommentBeing a sport
Cricket and rugby have much to teach construction. Not least, as the last Ashes test so abundantly demonstrated, how to lose with dignity
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Comment黑洞社区 buys a pint 鈥� for 39 essex street chambers
This is my first 黑洞社区 Buys a Pint, but I learn quickly: if you want to get a group of people together and talk about something other than work, don鈥檛 pick barristers or a bar which one of the senior partners part-owns
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Comment
Hold on to your cash
You know you are too old for a recession when you measure how well we are doing not by profit versus loss, but by the speed at which we are approaching the abyss. It really does not matter, because whatever the scenario, things are still getting worse. Yet somehow ...
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Recession deeper than we thought says Bank of England
The recession is proving to be deeper than the Bank of England expected when it previous produced an inflation report in May.That in part explains the extension of the quantitative easing programme that rather surprised many commentators.I have cut and pasted below some words of Bank of England Governor, Merveyn ...
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Redundancies in construction jump to 170,000 over 12 months
The latest employment figures show a continued shocking rate of redundacies in construction with another 42,000 jobs shed from the industry in the second quarter of this year.That makes a total of 170,000 recorded job losses over the past 12 months.The number of redundancies was slightly down on the previous ...
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Comment
How to stop suicidal bidding: punish the abusers
Let's start with an assertion: Suicidal bidding in construction is not consistent with fair trade and is not in the best interests of the consumer, the client, the industry or the long-term prosperity of the nation.It's a view. It has merit, particularly in the eyes of those who witnessed the ...
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Comment
CML provides further evidence of the housing market becoming more buoyant
The Council of Mortgage Lenders today adds yet more weight to the view that the housing market is in a period of stability if not growth.Its June figures show a 23% increase in the number of home loans over the past month taking the total to a level not seen ...
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Comment
Survey shows widening North-South house price divide
The latest RICS survey out today adds yet more evidence to suggest a widening north-south gap in the housing market.Prices are now rising robustly in the equity-rich, high housing-demand south, while for most of Britain house prices remain on a downward slope. The exception to the north-south split is Scotland, ...
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Comment
Construction trade survey confirms worsening slump
The latest trade survey covering both the contracting and materials sectors underlines both the depth and the rate of decline in the construction sector with pessimism rampant across all sectors.As in all surveys there are glimmers of light and hope. The survey, compiled by the Construction Products Association, showed that ...
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Comment
Forecasters call the bottom of the house price slump
The increasing stretch of stable house prices is leading forecasters to call the bottom of the slump.The Nationwide late last month tentatively said it may be time to think the unthinkable that house prices may exit 2009 higher than they entered it.Last week much was made of the RICS saying ...
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Could the torment almost be over?
After 17 months of unrelenting torment, it looks like the UK construction sector is finally a step closer to recovery as the July CIPS/Markit Purchasing Managers鈥� Index highlighted the slowest pace of decline since March last year (see index).This progress is largely on the back of an improvement in the ...
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CommentProve your worth: Net worth test
Money matters聽Banks looking to safeguard funding have a new test for construction projects鈥� guarantors, but how will it affect contractors?
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Comment
Let control take control
Your leader column (24 July, page 3) illustrates both the increasing complexity of trying to improve the energy efficiency of buildings and the growing potential role for building control in ensuring that this is done
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Comment
As a matter of tax
As somebody who has spent 47 years in the industry, with every penny earned being subject to PAYE, I think we are missing a fundamental point in this debate (24 July, page 9)
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CommentWe have a problem
It鈥檚 interesting that you have a health and safety blunders section highlighting, visually, people doing crazy things that put their and others lives in danger