All Comment articles 鈥� Page 674
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CommentIt鈥檚 bad news, I鈥檓 afraid
Project managers and clients beware: under certain circumstances, you may fall under the Inland Revenue鈥檚 CIS scheme 鈥� with unpleasant consequences
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Tweaking the act
I have just read Tony Bingham鈥檚 article in this week鈥檚 星空传媒 (8 October, page 54). I am aghast at the indecision of review panel number one 鈥� the looking at changes to the Construction Act鈥檚 payment rules 鈥� which surely must have the sense to recognise injustice and abuse when ...
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CommentProblem, solved
Andrew Hemsley -聽Wrong contract rates are a classic construction conundrum, to which the courts have provided a beautifully simple answer. So everyone should learn it
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No need to rush
It is most refreshing to read a thoroughly independent and objective analysis of construction management. Ashley Pigott is correct in saying it is for the professional client that builds regularly, and by definition, knows what he wants and does not change his mind (8 October, page 56).Who then advises clients, ...
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Can I interest you in insurance?
Antoinette Jucker - Next year, draconian regulations are going to be imposed on any firm that so much as thinks about arranging insurance. Here鈥檚 how the system will work
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Time to go 鈥�
Jon Rouse聽The question hanging over much of northern England is: how bad does a neighbourhood have to be before the only thing that can improve it is a bulldozer?
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Hackney residents need not fear
Further to your article on 8 October (page 18), entitled 鈥淛ohn Laing quits troubled Hackney estate scheme鈥�, while John Laing has withdrawn from the regeneration scheme in Haggerston West & Kingsland, the council and London & Quadrant remain firmly committed to the project. The reason for leaving the scheme that ...
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Shifting earth
This was an appeal by Mowlem against an arbitrator鈥檚 award. Mowlem was main contractor on a development of retail premises and had subcontracted the earthworks and associated design and construction of retaining walls to PHI. PHI鈥檚 work essentially entailed construction of terracing to form suitably level areas which could when ...
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CommentDon鈥檛 panic
The housing market. It鈥檚 a national obsession. Doubly so if you work in the construction industry and your memory stretches back to the early 1990s, the big crash and the grisly business of cutting people out of the wreckage of their homes and jobs.
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Don鈥檛 twist my words
Open mike: Ashley Pigott鈥檚 attack on construction management鈥檚 drew on statements made at the Fraser inquiry into Holyrood. Here, the man who made them explains what he meant 鈥�
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鈥� designers need more guidance
Mr Allan is correct; there can be no implication that he had failed to comply with the CDM regulations, as he was found not guilty. The question of what amounts to 鈥渁dequate information鈥� that designers must include with their design still remains as a knotty problem. Perhaps the professional ...
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CommentSafety deposit
Tony Bingham -聽The use of trust funds to protect against client insolvency is a very good idea. So why did parliament reject the idea 10 years ago? And is it ready to reconsider?
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The wrong kind of demand
Nick Lane is right to sound a warning (3 September, page 52) about using winding-up petitions to make debtors cough up. However, his explanation of what the recipient of a statutory demand needs to do is not quite correct as far as a company is concerned. Before issuing a statutory ...
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A loss of confidence
Be warned: anyone who acts as an expert witness, instructs lawyers or prepares documents in support of claims can no longer take legal privilege for granted
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My safety record is clean 鈥�
Gillian Birkby (24 September, page 72) refers to my prosecution as an 鈥渋llustration of how designers need to implement the CDM regulations鈥� and of how designers 鈥渃ould avoid accidents by providing more information about hazards鈥�. However I feel sure that she could not have intended to imply that I failed ...
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Amphibious thinking
Is our industry taking the recent shock announcements of rises in carbon levels, and its potential impact upon global warming, seriously enough? The social and moral responsibility of the construction industry to engage in sustainable construction is two-fold. First, we must take measures to protect, and if possible enhance, the ...
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Way off
Although I鈥檓 a strong advocate of off-site manufacture (OSM), I have to take issue with your Offsite supplement (1 October). OSM will only succeed if it can match the design quality and cost effectiveness of traditional building. Few of the featured projects showed any of John Prescott鈥檚 鈥榳ow鈥� factor, and ...
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CommentSeduced by simplicity
Last week Ashley Pigott used the Holyrood fiasco to take a pop at construction management 鈥� but easy targets don鈥檛 help us understand complex problems
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Rouse 鈥� to Simmons
Succession is a tricky proposition, especially when your predecessor has made the job his own. Witness the plight of Jonny Wilkinson, the wunderkind of English rugby, who has been handed the captaincy of his national side last week after an eight-month injury. He has the small challenge of getting the ...