All Comment articles 鈥� Page 500
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CommentPut on a happy face
What鈥檚 the best way to keep cheerful through the downturn? A quick game of golf, a few fireworks and then a glass of bubbly back at the in-office bar sounds good to me
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CommentMy digital life: Philip Turner
This architect carries his love of cycling into the digital world, to track down bike parts, get technical information and watch the Tour de France. That doesn鈥檛 leave much time for Facebook or his phone
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CommentDangerous defects
The CaseBirmingham Development Company (鈥淏irmingham鈥�) was a property developer. Birmingham developed a site next to land owned by Michael Jacob Tyler (鈥淭yler鈥�). Tyler had a factory on his land. During the development demolition of the gable wall of the building on Birmingham's site exposed part of the flank wall of ...
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CommentGetting paid: If the mountain won't come...
Here鈥檚 a clever way of getting your claim paid: go straight to those who owe the payer money. Unfortunately, it can be a little tricky to navigate
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Dreaming of a warm Christmas
Well, it鈥檚 a freezing morning here at Wolseley head office and Rob 鈥渓ook at the size of my bonus鈥� Marchbank has just held a business review meeting for the benefit of the staff left here (we lost 73 last month).
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Comment星空传媒 buys a pint 鈥� for Whitelaw Turkington
Chosen venue: The Prince of Wales, Kennington, South London Ambience: Cosy cricket lovers鈥� pub near Paddy Ashdown鈥檚 home Topics: Credit crunch denial, meeting Jonathan Ross, tartan vs plaid ...
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Contractors' insolvency: Clean break
If your contractor becomes insolvent, you may need to terminate its engagement and finish the job some other way. But how do you make sure it doesn鈥檛 get messy?
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Electricity vs biomass
Why is electricity given such a negative loading in the Code for Sustainable Homes?
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CommentBest buys for the taxpayer
Now we鈥檙e all Keynesians again, public money is going to be spent on stimulating demand. But in the case of social housing, what should it actually buy? Nick Raynsford has some suggestions
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Comment星空传媒 demolished to avoid empty property tax
A landowner explains to drivers on the A40 how Gordon Brown's new tax on empty property forced it to demolish its building
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In praise of a happiness
Naturally we wish the new US President Barack Obama well in the tough job he has ahead and in his commitment to boost the nation's construction industry in a bid to improve the massive yet increasingly tatty infrastructure.From the news there would appear to be an international surge in happiness ...
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Orders for new construction work evaporate
The September figures for new construction orders are truly shocking and extremely worrying.In the past I have tended to treat the orders figures with a bit of disrespect because they bounce around to the point where you can't make sense of them.Not now. Put bluntly from May onward, the industry ...
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House prices 16% down and falling faster
House prices fell 2.2% in October to the level they first reached more than three years ago, according to the latest Halifax figures.But how far can they fall?That was a question put to me yesterday. I hate doing prediction, not enough gypsy blood I guess.But I obliged with a suggestion ...
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Skyscrapers and economic crises
I recently mentioned the "skyscraper index" to a colleague. He hadn't heard of it. I deduced he has better things to do than keep up with quirky economic indicators - what, I can't imagine.Anyway, it occurred to me that, if he hadn't heard of it, others also might not have. ...
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Rok: are you still a believer?
When Rok's messianic chief executive Garvis Snook told the Stock Market this morning that the credit crunch would knock 拢12m off its bottom line, some were quick to mutter "I told you so" under their breath.The company's business model has always divided opinion; does a network of sub-contracted tradesmen under ...
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Threat of more job cuts as credit crunch contagion spreads to commercial work
The recession in construction is looking increasingly desperate as the giant commercial sector appears to be heading for a nasty fall.The latest round of data will be a massive body blow to those who sought comfort in the notion that the recession in construction might limit itself mainly to housing.The ...
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Interim Management Statements: Why bother?
Balfour Beatty's market update this morning made fairly unexciting reading.Apart from the news that a couple of PFI schemes have been pushed back due to the current market malaise, the 354 words didn't add much to its interim results eight weeks ago.Same story for Carillion a fortnight ago - whose ...
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Read the body language
After the inaugural meeting of the CBI Construction Council this week, the demeanour of the construction bosses who lined up to talk about the future said as much about the state of the industry as their words did.John McDonough, the Carillion chief exec, spent much of the time reclined in ...