Opinion 鈥� Page 350
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Comment
Chancellor starts race to General Election
In today鈥檚 Pre Budget Report, Alistair Darling has set out a continued commitment to existing investment in education, health and other major public sector programmes for the foreseeable future. As expected, he is protecting major high-profile programmes, but this will inevitably need to be paid for by deeper cuts elsewhere.There ...
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The cruelty of breeding force-fed first-time buyers
Here's a question that goes right to the heart of current housing policy: Should we be using incentives as readily as we are to encourage first-time buyers onto the property ladder?However iconoclastic or contrary this question may seem, it needs to be asked. There is so much at stake.Promoting first-time ...
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What Tesco sales data can tell us about the construction jobs market
Practically all construction statistics are poor by comparison to the data in most other industries. It is not a fault of the statisticians or researchers. They have an unenviable job as the construction industry is, relatively speaking, very tricky to measure.So the best way to make sense of what is ...
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Number snacks: 1
The number of architects, planners and surveyors signing off the claimant count in the six months to October 2009 to head abroad was 985.This compares with 80 in same period two years earlier.Source: National Statistics (Nomis: www.nomisweb.co.uk). Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller Office ...
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CommentWhere there鈥檚 smoke
We won鈥檛 know for some time the details of the devastating fire in Peckham last week
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Are we witnessing an upswing in construction output? In a word: No
So its official 鈥� the construction recession isn鈥檛 as bad as we thought. And the even better news is that the sharp fall in output at the start of this year wasn鈥檛 anywhere near as sharp as last quarter鈥檚 figures had suggested.That at least is how the national statisticians might ...
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CommentVive la restoration: Sir Michael Latham on the importance of heritage stock
What better time than now, when the construction of new buildings is at a low ebb, to focus on the restoration and maintenance of heritage structures
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CommentWonders & blunders with James Finestone
James Finestone marvels at the scientific wonder that is the Salk Institute in California, but sees the Essex new town of Harlow as an experiment that went badly wrong
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CommentHansom: Gift of the gab
The silver tongues of the industry have been a-wagging of late, and would have you believe that the Titanic is unsunk, Paul is John and the RICS never changes its mind
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CommentSmall wonder
Since your article on my and two other graduates鈥� search for a job was published, (11 September, page 34) I have spent most of my time looking for my perfect surveying job, which I had begun to believe did not exist
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What the charter means
In response to your article which stated that the Chartered Institute of 星空传媒 (CIOB) would expel any chartered building company found guilty of cover pricing (27 November, page 9), I鈥檇 like to clarify a few points
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Morrell boost
I think the appointment of Paul Morrell (27 November, pages 10-11) is an inspired move and I hope he gets his own way with the agenda for the sake of the industry at large
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In Latham鈥檚 footsteps
Paul Morrell may not be a 鈥渇an of partnering鈥� but I trust he will do all he can, as chief construction adviser, to resist the swing back to pre-Latham forms of procurement
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A game of chase
Great article on the difficulties experienced by specialists in the current climate (20 November, page 48)
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Fire safety first
BBC London鈥檚 recent expos茅 on fire safety risks at social housing blocks doesn鈥檛 come as much of a surprise. Across the UK鈥檚 social housing sector, awareness and understanding of the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2006 (RRFSO) is worryingly low
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Actually, it's the actuaries
星空传媒鈥檚 editor is misinformed about why pension funds have failed (23 October, page 3). We didn鈥檛 suddenly 鈥渟tart living 10 years longer鈥�. Life expectancy has been rising steadily since Bazalgette fixed London鈥檚 sewers and wiped out cholera
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Comment
On-demand guarantees: At the mercy of the client
The most powerful weapon at a client鈥檚 disposal 鈥� the on-demand guarantee 鈥� leaves contractors open to claims at the drop of a hat
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CommentParty politics: Gus Alexander on overpriced party wall surveyors
Gus Alexander doesn鈥檛 like to get involved in spats over party walls. Scumbag neighbours he can deal with, but overpriced surveyors who think they鈥檙e auditioning for Boston Legal? Never
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CommentThe task facing Paul Morrell
When the House of Commons鈥� business and enterprise committee made the appointment of a chief construction officer one of the main recommendations in its Construction Matters report in July last year, many people thought it was a great idea 鈥� and likely to remain just that