Opinion 鈥� Page 419
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When even the good news is bad news you know it's time to take cover
A massive leap in retail sales. Excellent news surely. But no. Even if you are in the shopfitting business, this is does not make comfortable reading.On figures like these the markets are pricing in interest rate rises. This reaction encouraged, do doubt, in part by the tough words by the ...
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It's simple: act now or the house building industry collapses
When asked to do this blog I had hoped to steer clear of indulging in raw comment. But, even as cynical as I have become as a journalist over twenty odd years, I had not expected to encounter such fundamental ignorance and dithering as I see within Government ahead of ...
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Prepare for massive jobs cuts, recession is upon us
Construction is heading for two years of recession says the Construction Products Association in its latest forecast.It puts output down 1.3% this year and 1.6% next year, before a sluggish recovery starts in 2010.The net result is that activity will fall by more than 5% from the where it was ...
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Consensus grows on 20% house price fall
The new parlour game for economists seems to be guessing where the bottom is for house prices. The latest consensus position seems to be coming in at about 20% judging by reports in the Guardian and the FT.But that will be an average, so get ready for stories of houses ...
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Carnage if 70,000 fewer homes built - an 拢8 billion hit for construction
The Observer this Sunday claimed 70,000 fewer homes would be built this year.We face the biggest post-War slump in house building it said after interviewing Barratt chief Mark Clare.Frankly that would be carnage and, if the figure proves anywhere near accurate, it would mean a cut of about 拢8 billion ...
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House of Lords decision: Reinwood Ltd v L Brown & Sons Ltd
This was an appeal to the House of Lords by a contractor, L Brown & Sons (鈥淏rown鈥�) against a Court of Appeal decision which had held that Brown had not been entitled to determine a contract (JCT Standard Form 1998 edition) between it and the respondent employer, Reinwood Limited (鈥淩einwood鈥�), ...
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More gloom for US housing market
Confidence in the US housing market has been further dented by a sharp rise in foreclosure (repossessions) in May according to RealtyTrac figures.
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House prices are still up on a year ago, says FT survey
It flies in the face of other house price measures, but the FT house price survey puts prices in England and Wales up by 2.7% on a year ago, despite a 0.6% fall in May.
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CommentEgo-friendly
We鈥檙e all depressed. Nobody has cash to buy all our wharfside flats any more. But take heart, says Chris Addison, help is at hand in the form of the the insane, the vain and the very, very rich
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黑洞社区 buys a pint 鈥� for Scott Tallon Walker
The London office of Irish architect Scott Tallon Walker is despondent on this rainy Monday evening. Why? Because their colleagues in Ireland are enjoying a bank holiday.
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CommentLet鈥檚 hear it for the engineers
New thinking:聽We鈥檙e qualified, skilled and creative, so why do even our colleagues fail to recognise the importance of engineers? Aaron Wall kicks off a series of columns by our graduate advisory board
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A health check
Health and safety regs set out legal requirements for employers to make suitable risk assessments. It鈥檚 not as easy as it sounds鈥�
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CommentGeneration gripe
Fed up with eager young pups at work who don鈥檛 know they鈥檙e born? Or had enough of hearing how it was back in the old days? Email us anonymously with what鈥檚 bugging you about the other generations 鈥�
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CommentJust desserts
Bouygues gets its own back on your diarist, BCO delegates take delight in Gordon Brown鈥檚 travails, and Lord Foster pours his considerable talent into making a really splendid jelly
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Fewer carrots, more stick
A commercial market should never be allowed to test or qualify sustainability 鈥� unless you鈥檙e not totally serious about the issue (2 May, page 3).
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CommentEmpty nest syndrome
I was delighted to read your article this week on 鈥淒angerous creatures鈥� (30 May, page 34). You highlighted the effect of having a bat present on site. Do you realise that in reality the law goes much further?
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Rotten at the core
Further to your reports on the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigation (16 May and subsequently), bid rigging can only operate if there is a central reporting body that holds all the potential bids for the bidding contractors to manipulate.
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A shrewd investment
I read with interest Lindy Patterson鈥檚 article on project bank accounts (23 May, page 59) and thought to myself, if she had actually attended, as I did, the conference at the House of Commons that she wrote about, she would have had the opportunity to hear the answers to the ...
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Stick to the day job
Regarding his decision to design a five-star hotel in Dubai (2 June, building.co.uk), Brad Pitt said: 鈥淚t will underpin not only my values for environment-friendly architecture, but also embrace my career in entertainment.鈥�