Opinion 鈥� Page 416
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A cynic writes 鈥�
The government claims it will make a 拢100bn investment in wind power over 12 years (26 June, www.building.co.uk).
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Discrimination is bad
Regarding Harriet Harman鈥檚 plans for positive discrimination (26 June, www.building.co.uk), many of these laws are reasonable but surely the government is allowing ethnic minorities the opportunity to claim racial discrimination if a white person with a similar set of skills and qualifications is selected for a position that they have ...
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Discrimination is good
There is currently a great deal of misinformation in the press about the review of the Association of British Insurers鈥� (ABI) guidance document, Fire Performance of Sandwich Panel Systems.
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CommentMy digital life: Tim Broyd
Tim Broyd is an online shopaholic. The web is his clothes store, television, supermarket, noticeboard, travel agent and, most importantly, a refuge for the hopelessly car-obsessed.
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CommentHansom: Spooky
Lovesick phantoms, a paranormal ability to rewrite the past and a man who can talk to the animals (to the animals) 鈥� recently, construction has been getting decidedly weird
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CommentChina goes to town
China is ravenous for British expertise. And no wonder: in 20 years鈥� time it could account for more than half of the global market for construction services
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CommentChongqing express
You may never have heard of it, but the Chinese city of Chongqing is the largest on the planet. What鈥檚 more, says Li Shirong, it鈥檚 growing at a hell of a rate
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CommentWebmaster review: Beijing Olympics website
Surf your way to en.beijing2008.cn, then see if you agree with our analysis of the website for the Beijing Olympics
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CommentWonders & blunders
IM Pei鈥檚 Suzhou Museum is a masterly modern take on Chinese traditional buildings, says Pak Hung Lai, whereas the Shanghai Convention Centre is just, well, balls
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Housing rescue plan? What housing rescue plan?
Caroline Flint has just announced the much talked of rescue plan for the housing market - couched in terms of affordable housing, but in essence an attempt to bolster the crumbling house building sector.It has been welcomed by the National Housing Federation, so it must be good. And I am ...
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If this is recession - here's what not to do
Given the slew of shocking data and the seemingly inevitable fate that awaits construction I thought it worthwhile casting my mind back to the horrors of the early 1990s and to try to recall the mistakes firms made in reacting to recession.So here is my: Top five mistakes in a ...
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If this is not recession - what is?
However much you may have been expecting it, the pace of bad news is overwhelming. Back to back, undiluted and dismal.The buyers body, CIPS, today reports on construction and unsurprisingly, given the current wave of shocking statistics, its Purchasing Managers Index for the industry plunged to unchartered depths - from ...
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Workload and job prospects crash, confidence plummets - RICS
A dramatic reversal of fortunes saw confidence in the future of construction workload plunge in the second quarter of this year to the lowest level ever recorded by the chartered surveyors body RICS.The figures suggest that more than 11 years of almost uninterrupted growth has come to a shuddering halt, ...
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House prices down 8%, but where is the bottom of the market?
The Nationwide's latest stats for June on house prices confirmed what everyone knew: house prices are still falling. The figures put the average house price down 0.9% on the month, 6.3% on the year and 8% down from the peak in October.If the current rate of fall continues for the ...
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Rich ditch their homes as US plays celebrity foreclosures
Bored with the subprime homesick blues, the US press has turned to tracking down the rich who have handed back the keys on their multimillion dollar homes. It's "celebrity foreclosures" folks!That couldn't possibly happen here...
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Poll shows confidence at new lows
More news to spoil your breakfast came in today. The latest consumer confidence barometer reading taken by GfK NOP shows consumers expectations of economic prospects in the coming 12 months at the lowest level since the pollster began asking the question in 1982.What does this mean for construction? Well what ...
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First quarter national accounts figures provide cause for concern
The latest quarterly national accounts provide yet more worrying reading for the construction industry.Firstly, the revisions made by the statisticians have just made the pretty poor figures originally released look worse.GDP growth in the first quarter is now officially 0.3% compared with 0.4% (to put that in context 0.1% ...
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Is there a contract in writing?: T & T Fabrications vs Hubbard Architectural Metalwork
The Claimant applied for summary judgment under Part 24 of the Civil Procedure Rules for immediate enforcement of an Adjudicator鈥檚 Decision. There was a contract between the Second Claimant and Hubbard, the Defendant. It related to atrium bridges, staircases and metalwork items for a development in London in ...
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CommentTime to plot a new course?
If the UK economy continues to stutter, maybe you should consider taking your skills to Europe鈥檚 emerging economies