More Focus – Page 548
-
Features
All for one, and one for all?
There are rumours that the JCT plans to produce a partnering contract. A good idea, but it would mean a fundamental rethink of the way construction contracts are drafted. Is the JCT serious?
-
Features
Sacking offences
If employees cannot do their jobs because they become disabled, they now have new rights and, from April, a commission to enforce them. What does this mean for employers?
-
Features
Tender price forecast
A combination of escalating labour costs and workload growth pushed tender prices up an average of 5% across the country and 7% in London last year, and all the signs are that the trend is set to continue for at least the next two.
-
Features
Love on the job
Don't declare your passion for a colleague this Valentine's Day before reading our tips for the perfect office romance.
-
Features
Appointments
Contractors Martin Burton has joined Nottingham-based SOL Construction as projects director.EBC Construction has appointed Alan Jones senior project manager in the design-and-build division of its Bristol office. Martin Courtney joins the office as senior contracts manager.Ballast Wiltshier has appointed Gordon Wright construction manager in its West Midlands division.HousebuildersJulia Chapman, previously ...
-
Features
The great sack race
Growth is stable, order books are bulging and good times are here for contractors. But it’s not enough for the City, which is why Laing, Mowlem and Taywood have axed hundreds of jobs. And there are more to come …
-
Features
Sir Steve Robson
This Treasury man has three years to change the way state and industry do business. Not everyone thinks he can. How on earth is he going to make it happen?
-
Features
Under £1m: Aston Martin Owners Club - Auto barn
A dilapidated 14th-century tithe barn may seem like an unlikely home for a classic-car club. But in Architecture plb’s design, modern minimalism and medieval austerity make for a surprisingly happy fit.
-
Features
The e-biz has landed
Brian Moran and Mark Suster reckon e-commerce can cut building cost 20%, and they’ve set up a web site to prove it. Will they be construction’s first Internet millionaires?
-
Features
As green as it gets
Self-sufficient for its supply of water, gas and electricity, this Millennium Commission-funded centre incorporates a variety of sustainable technologies.
-
Features
Morrison’s ripe banana
This is the latest dispatch from the battlefield that is adjudication enforcement. Morrison, back before the beak for a second time, tried to argue that there wasn’t even a dispute. Which brings us to bananas …
-
Features
The battle of Brompton
Contractor meets client, contractor sues client, client sues rest of the team: a typical story of multimillion-pound multiparty litigation – and how difficult it is to sort out. This is how one judge is going about it.
-
Features
Do you really want to know?
If you lose an adjudication, do you want to know why you lost? If you do, you have to agree to it before you get into the contract. Here are some things you should be aware of.
-
Features
Appointments
Contractors North Midland Ðǿմ«Ã½ has promoted Mike Catlin to commercial director. John Latham has been promoted to contracts director.Hull-based PDR has appointed John White purchasing manager. Paul Uter has joined as project manager and Paul Charstone has been made project quantity surveyor. Peter Farnan has joined FM Contract Services, ...
-
Features
Services whole-life costs Air-conditioning
A new series on the lifespan costs of engineering services starts with a comparison of four air-conditioning systems.
-
Features
Cost study: Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre
Government, academia and business have come together to develop premises for start-up high-tech businesses in Plymouth. The alliance’s first building, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre, provides light and airy research and production units for £639/m2
-
Features
Culture shock
From 1 April, councils are legally obliged to procure on the basis of best value. This is great news for contractors – if councils are up to making the change. But are they?
-
Features
The wow factor
Tom Wright designed a jaw-dropping hotel at Dubai's Jumeirah Beach. Now he's putting WS Atkins Architects on the map all around the world – even in the UK.
-
Features
The instant office
Serviced offices no longer mean a few desks plonked in a spec office block. A new generation of purpose-designed serviced office buildings has arrived.
-
Features
Case study 1: No 8 The Square, Stockley Park
No 8 The Square is hailed as the UK's first purpose-designed serviced office building, even though it is the fourth in a new generation of office buildings designed by Arup Associates at Stockley Park, the self-styled “leading business park in Europe”. As in the earlier three buildings, Arup Associates has ...