Opinion 鈥� Page 423
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Keeping them keen
Staff retention is and has for a long time been a major issue in the construction industry.
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CommentRogue Customers
Clients who don鈥檛 pay can ruin small businesses and wreck the lives of their owners. James Clegg and Roxane McMeeken listen to the stories of three builders who think it鈥檚 high time something was done about the rogue customer
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CommentWhat happens in the second act?
After what has seemed like endless dithering on the part of the government, and endless lobbying campaigns by the interested parties, the reform of the 1996 Construction Act is finally on its way.
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Comment
A fall but no collapse in buy-to-let borrowers
The latest figures on buy-to let mortgages from the Council of Mortgages Lenders do provide some comfort for house builders tackling an increasingly tough market.There were fears that buy-to-let borrowing would collapse with the first whiff of a slowdown in house prices, but the figures suggest otherwise. The figures suggest ...
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Comment
Council of Mortgage Lenders forecasts house prices to fall by 7%
As a new consensus appears to be forming that house prices will fall between 5% and 10% this year, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has updated its forecast for house price growth with a prediction of a 7% fall.CML is also expecting to see repossessions grow from 27,100 in 2007 ...
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Comment
Pay growth slows in construction
The latest official figures on average weekly earnings suggests a slowdown in pay earned in construction.Average weekly earnings in the first quarter of 2008 were a shade down on the final quarter of last year and the monthly figures suggest a drop in the rate of growth in earnings, ...
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Comment
Latest property transaction figures confirm slump in house sales
The official figures for property transactions worth more than 拢40,000 (mainly houses) show a drop of 31% in the four months to April compared with the same period a year ago.The data shows just how hope of a spring bounce in the housing market have been dashed.
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Comment
How many foreign workers in UK construction?
The Office of National Statistics has released a paper based on Labour Force Survey data that estimates the number of foreign workers employed in the UK and makes a stab at how many work in various industry sectors, including construction.Leaving aside the assumptions and definitions the figures work out roughly ...
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Comment
Job cuts high on the agenda as house building slides
Taylor Wimpey's move to axe a third of its offices and about 600 jobs in the UK is the clearest sign yet of the pain in the house building sector.It may not be the first cut so far announced, but it is the deepest. And it follows weeks of discussion ...
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Comment
Soros gives bleak warning for UK economy
George Soros, the man who made a $1 billion profit in 1992 from anticipating Black Wednesday, says that the US recession is likely to be longer and more serious than currently expected and economic prospects are "in some ways" worse for the UK.Speaking to BBC's Robert Peston he said that ...
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Comment
Accountants see confidence drop in property and construction
When accountants start to get twitchy it is worth sitting up and taking notice. So, the latest business confidence survey by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) showing the impact of the credit crunch is spreading is worth taking seriously.Figures of note are that property has ...
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Comment
RICS revises down house price forecast
Transactions are to plunge by 40% this year and prices will fall about 5%, says the latest Housing Market Forecast from the surveyors body RICS.The latest forecast shifts RICS from it position of last September when it was predicting house prices would remain flat. But for the industry at large ...
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Comment
"Wrong tactics" by sellers stoke asking prices for homes
The rise in Rightmove's asking price index to a new record high is the result of out-of-touch discretionary sellers testing the spring market with unrealistic prices, according to the property website's commercial director Miles Shipside.Despite the almost overwhelming gloom in the market, Rightmove posted a rise of 1.2% in asking ...
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CommentFirst impressions: Projects by Make and Sheppard Robson
Another veteran First Impression panellist, this time from Nottingham University, returns to comment on recent images of new projects on the 黑洞社区 website
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CommentLegal special: The OFT and us
Mark Jones and Victoria Slater kick off the analysis by explaining the background to the OFT鈥檚 interest in the building industry 鈥� which shows no signs of subsiding
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CommentIt just gets worse
When the Office of Fair Trading accuses the supermarkets of price fixing, consumers don鈥檛 demand assurances at the checkout that the butter they鈥檙e buying has been fairly priced.
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Comment
Joint names insurance: Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions vs Rolls Royce Motor Cars
Rolls Royce Motor Cars Ltd built a new manufacturing plant in West Sussex. Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions (UK) Ltd was contracted to provide fire protection services, including a sprinkler system.Unfortunately, during construction, one of the mains supply pipes burst and caused a flood, damaging both the construction works and ...
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CommentYour questions answered: Julia Barfield discusses design and BSF
Last month architect Julia Barfield took part in our webinar on Builidng Schools for the future, here she responds to questions sent in by readers at the time
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Your questions answered: Bidding for BSF schemes
After last month's 黑洞社区 Schools for the Future webinar, EC Harris' James Bowyer responds readers queries on tendering, whole life costs and resources