Opinion 鈥� Page 421
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Comment
Cutting corners: a warning
I read with interest your Open Mike column about ditching the main contractor (9 May, page 41). As head of development monitoring at Malcolm Hollis, I have also seen developers appointing works packages or trade contractors directly to save the main contractor on cost 鈥� and it is not just ...
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CommentWonders & blunders
Tony Benn finds peace and tranquility in the heart of New York, before going on the warpath against an old foe
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Comment
Halifax figures confirm house prices are plunging
The average house prices has been falling by 拢4,000 monthly over the past three months as the pace of decline in the market has accelerated, according to HBOS figures. In May house prices were down 2.4%.So, if you had your house valued at 拢199,600 last August (the peak reached by ...
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Comment
Wave of job cuts spells more gloom for construction
The Government's confidence booster of "we'll be okay look at our strong labour market" is now starting to look rather shaky.The last pillar of hope for those keen to stop a collapse in house prices was strong employment. That prop appears to be wobbling.They say that the last thing companies ...
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Comment
Batten down the hatches here is a construction recession warning
The buyers body CIPS registered the fastest monthly fall in construction activity since it began surveying the industry in 1997. The figure for activity in the housing market was pitifully low.The survey of purchasers sets "no change" at 50, below that is decline, above increase. Well at 43.9 in May ...
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Comment
20% hike in two years in cost of home improvement work
Figures from the cost information service BCIS point to an inflation-led threat to the housing repair and maintenance market, as prices rise 20% over two years.Energy inflation, skills shortage and rocketing global materials prices are combining to pump up inflation just at a time when may households are considering staying ...
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Comment
Bleak Bank figures confirm downward trend in homebuyers
More desparate news for house building as the evaporation of homebuyers in the UK housing market is further underlined with the release of the Bank of England figures showing mortgages approvals for house purchases in April diving to a new low.Just 58,000 loans were approved to homebuyers, half the figure ...
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CommentRomancing the stone
With fewer and fewer people opting for careers in stonemasonry, it could soon become a dying trade. It鈥檚 time we did our bit to attract today鈥檚 youth
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CommentWeb watch 鈥� Warren street
As Alice in Wonderland knew, following rabbits can lead you down a hole. But online you鈥檙e just as likely to be followed by the rabbit. Alex Smith introduces the surreal world of construction鈥檚 Twitters
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Comment
Exclusion clause: Regus (UK) Ltd vs Epcot Solution Ltd
This was an appeal from a decision that an exception clause in its standard terms was unreasonable and unenforceable under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (鈥淯CTA鈥�). The judge鈥檚 decision was reported in a previous briefing.Regus (UK) Limited (鈥淩egus鈥�) supplies serviced office accommodation. Epcot Solutions Ltd (鈥淓pcot鈥�) provides professional ...
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CommentSwallow hard
Open mike聽鈥� Yes, moving to zero-carbon homes is going to be strange at first, but then again we鈥檙e living through strange days, says Matt Bell. Pretty soon it will all seem perfectly normal 鈥�
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Comment黑洞社区 buys a pint 鈥� for WSP
We鈥檙e only a few minutes into this week鈥檚 鈥淧int鈥� and already disaster has struck 鈥� 黑洞社区鈥檚 camera is on the blink.
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CommentNew adventures 鈥�
... of construction鈥檚 own Indiana Jones, the strange case of the incredibly hairy bedfellow, and two very good reasons to turn down a job on the Southbank 鈥�
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Comment
Joint-names insurance: Capital punishment
Stuart Pemble explains how capitalisation of a single letter caused two of the highest courts in the land to issue contradictory rulings
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Comment
The lesser of two evils
Thank goodness for the common sense shown by Tony Bingham in drawing a clear distinction between bid rigging and cover pricing (16 May, page 64).
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Comment
What women want
What does a woman look for in a career? Security, a good working environment, prospects for progression.
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Comment
A load of hot air
The argument that spare office cooling capacity could be the solution for overheating on the London Underground (23 May, page 11) is fatally flawed.
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