Opinion 鈥� Page 367
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Comment
Recession may cost 800,000 construction jobs - that's one in three
The latest forecast from the Construction Products Association puts the annual peak to trough fall in construction at a shade above 20%.That probably translates to a 22% to 23% fall peak to trough on a quarterly basis, which compares with the 15% seen in the 1990s recession.This is a sharp ...
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Comment
What can you get for 拢1.5bn?
Hard to say how many votes it will win him, but Gordon Brown鈥檚 拢1.5bn contribution to the Homes and Communities Agency deserves a few cheers from the construction industry. The money is intended to deliver 20,000 affordable homes and build the infrastructure to stimulate another 10,000 private ones. The government ...
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CommentRead all about it
Tories鈥� Olympic cash axe plot exposed 鈥� Fury erupts over Mandelson letter snub 鈥� Minister missing presumed frightened 鈥� Quango nepotism probe shock 鈥� and boss has breakfast with Jordan
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CommentWho鈥檚 the fairest of them all?
Housing ministers have come and gone faster than a weaver鈥檚 shuttle 鈥� some doing better than others. Michael Gove gives us the best and the worst and reveals the secret of a successful tenure
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CommentWonders & blunders
George Clarke considers Newcastle鈥檚 Swan House an unforgivably ugly duckling. However, the new courtyard in the British Museum is the epitome of elegance 鈥�
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CommentSummertime and the living is bloody tough
But when did doom and gloom ever get us out of a mess? We have to do whatever is necessary to survive the recession, and that means keeping morale up
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Comment
Bless this our heat pump
The Bishop of Leicester during his Lent pilgrimage blessed the new environment-friendly heating system in All Saints church in Somerby, Leicestershire
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Comment
What does it matter?
I read with interest the article written by Tony Bingham in your 26 June edition concerning the decree by the Office of Government Commerce that only one form of contract should be used for all public work, namely NEC3. In the recent past, I have delivered a number of training ...
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Comment
Too many contracts spoil the job
Tony Bingham is clearly unhappy with the use of the NEC for all government contracts
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CommentWhat can you get for 拢1.5bn?
Hard to say how many votes it will win him, but Gordon Brown鈥檚 拢1.5bn contribution to the Homes and Communities Agency deserves a few cheers from the construction industry.
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Comment
How to get rid of a chief exec. Part I.
It would take three or four months to find a new chief exec for a company like Wolseley.So it's arguably no coincidence that it was three or four months ago Wolseley went cap in hand to investors to fund a 拢1bn rights issue.鈥淗ere鈥檚 your money,鈥� the big institutions could well ...
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Comment
Education is flourishing
It was uplifting to see so many fantastic examples of school design recognised at the awards last night hosted by the British Council for School environments. Also great to share the upbeat mood of those in a sector that is still flourishing 鈥� for now at least 鈥� who ...
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Comment
Global forecasts getting less dreary, but looming black cloud of government debt
With all the talk about increasing signs of economic 鈥済reen shoots鈥� in recent months, it was perhaps too easy to suddenly relax and think that the good times are just around the corner.The OECD鈥檚 Economic Outlook published this week provided a much more sober picture of recovery prospects and was ...
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Comment
Is partnering dead?
鈥淚t took 12 years to put together and 12 weeks to dismantle.鈥� That was one of the more wry comments on BAA鈥檚 decision to turn its back on framework agreements for a good chunk of its work.The decision was taken by Steven Morgan, the man brought in by the airport ...
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Comment
Pidgley hands over keys to kingdom if not the crown
Around eighty bankers, analysts and lawyers squashed into a meeting room at UBS this morning to hear Tony Pidgley's swansong as managing director of Berkeley.Despite speaking for 45 minutes there was still enough energy in the room for a round of applause at the end. "It's been a while ...
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CommentHansom: Songs of love and hate
In the nice corner this week we have wine-waiting estate agents, relatively honest MPs, optimistic housebuilders and self-critical contractors 鈥� and in the nasty corner: Cliff Jones of Procure 21
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