More Focus – Page 398

  • Externally, the original Portland stone was cleaned and repaired and the original bronze windows were waxed and polished.
    Features

    An inside job

    2004-10-08T00:00:00Z

    Breaking into the former NatWest HQ was the easy part. Ripping the heart out of it to create state-of-the-art offices while preserving the listed facade, banking hall and directors’ suites, and shifting 1000 lorry-loads of rubble without disturbing the heavyweight neighbour – well, that needed something like a plan … ...

  • Features

    Blocking out the pain

    2004-10-07T12:17:00Z

    Construction manager Tony Bennett is planning to run 250 miles while holding a brick, a feat that will earn him a place in the Guiness Book of Records.

  • Features

    Off site and off piste: Bob the Builder takes to the slopes

    2004-10-05T16:55:00Z

    Bob the Builder premiers latest movie at the ICA and unveils a glamourous new leading lady.

  • John Tebbit, Construction Products Assocation
    Features

    L of a challenge

    2004-10-04T15:04:00Z

    Industry has less than a month to respond to the ODPM’s radical proposals for Part L of the building regs. John Tebbit, industry affairs director at the CPA, picks out the highlights.

  • Features

    Ask Edward

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    The right to employee status and the right to a pay rise are this week's points of legal confusion

  • Features

    Appointments

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    Movers and shakers this week

  • Tricky business
    Features

    Tricky business

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    In the fourth of five monthly articles, ǿմý, in association with ConstructionSkills, investigates why construction operates so inefficiently – and asks what can be done to improve performance.

  • Banner's company has benefitted from IiP status – and it's given him more confidence
    Features

    B-Trac Services: A business success story

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    Paul Banner is managing director of B-Trac Services, a small maintenance company in the West Midlands working for housing associations. He explains how his firm achieved Investor in People status

  • Features

    IT workshops: How builders are updating their skills

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    Robin Hood-Leeder explains how the Federation of Master Builders is trying to help its members improve their performance by setting up IT workshops

  • Holyrood reaction
    Features

    Holyrood reaction

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    The Fraser Report may have passed down its judgment on the Scottish parliament building, but the mud is still flying. Here, ǿմý’s readers join the fray and Rob Smith, senior partner at Davis Langdon, defends his firm’s decisions as cost consultant on the project

  • Features

    Are parliaments inherently unmanageable?

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    Solicitor Matthew Bell argues that Holyrood was always going to be a problem – but at least it is in good company …

  • Blob on the Tyne
    Features

    Blob on the Tyne

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    Foster’s Sage music centre in Gateshead is positively puffed up with pride. And justifiably so thanks to a dramatic riverfront setting and its promise to put the city on the cultural map

  • MISS
    Features

    PFI in limbo

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    Ten years after it burst on the scene, PFI has become bogged down in project delays. As research published this week reveals yet more missed PFI targets, We report on how contractors are upping sticks and taking their expertise abroad

  • Monsters Inc
    Features

    Top 200 Consultants 2004: Monsters, Inc

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    This year’s consultants league table ranks the 200 biggest, scariest practices in the UK – and then breaks them down into bite-sized top 100 architects, engineers and surveyors charts. So who are the Godzillas and the Godzukis of the industry this year? We report from under his desk, Tables compiled ...

  • Urban Splash's Moho apartment scheme in Manchester is using volumetric modular construction to create desirable homes for private sale
    Features

    Inside off-site

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    Modern methods of construction are now being used on all manner of projects, from restaurants to naval bases. Mark Faithfull looks at the latest developments and asks: could this be the age of off-site?

  • Features

    OSM experienced

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    For many project teams, using OSM means embarking on a scarily steep learning curve involving substantial changes to their traditional building processes. So how can they be sure of getting it right? At Mtech Group, we apply this simple checklist, nominally aligned to the RIBA workplan, that focuses the project ...

  • Features

    Language skills

    2004-10-01T00:00:00Z

    Learning the right words and phrases is the key to understanding a new culture. So, here with “Off-site manufacture: Lesson one” is Mtech Group

  • Features

    Products

    2004-09-30T11:58:00Z

    The latest products to help you comply with all those regulations, from sound-insulating blockwork to prefabricated wheelchair ramps – plus how a Docklands office is fighting fire …

  • Features

    Regulations roundup

    2004-09-30T11:49:00Z

    A brief guide to recently issued regulations with pointers to upcoming changes in regulations and consultation documents

  • Features

    Five tips for complying with the DDA

    2004-09-30T11:33:00Z

    By today, organisations that deal with the public should have complied with the Disability Discrimination Act by making their services accessible to people with disabilities. What constitutes a fully DDA-compliant building has yet to be decided, as this will be determined by a body of case law. In the meantime, ...