Opinion 鈥� Page 364
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Partnerships for Schools: How to get our fingers burnt
It may be more the season for barbecues than bonfires, but the trail of lighter fuel moved a bit closer to one of the most influential quangos in construction this week.Pressure has been mounting on Partnerships for Schools, the body in charge of more than 拢50bn of the education budget, ...
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CommentWaterworld
Liquid leisure is the order of the day this summer, whether it鈥檚 sailing the ocean waves, watching a play in the pouring rain or quaffing ale. Some people are even spending their hols designing WCs
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Copy-cat consultancy
McBains Cooper is a very happy construction consultancy this week. After all, we鈥檝e just been handed the biggest piece of flattery I think we鈥檝e ever had
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One giant leap for womankind
The work of organisations such as Women in Property may represent 鈥渙ne small step鈥� (31 July, page 3), but the strides have got noticeably longer
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Martial bliss
Great to hear about the rise of women in the RIBA, RICS, RSPCA, etc (31 July, page 3) but the one thing you missed was that women are far better than men at getting money paid at a contracting business
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A fracas on the home front
Jon Neale (7 August, page 19) reaches the very doubtful conclusion that building homes for owner occupation will set the scene for a domestic version of the US sub-prime debacle
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CommentEU Energy Performance of 星空传媒s Directive: The writing on the wall
The EU will soon be changing its directive on the energy performance of buildings. All well and good, says David Strong, but its plans for display certificates make no sense at all
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CommentIf at first you don鈥檛 succeed: Adjudication
Adjudication works best when each chunk is bite-sized, but that doesn鈥檛 mean you can keep bringing the same piece back again until you get the decision you want
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Much obliged: Infrastructure contributions
Many local authorities are demanding standard infrastructure contributions when they are not due at all. So can developers question this?
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CommentBeing a sport
Cricket and rugby have much to teach construction. Not least, as the last Ashes test so abundantly demonstrated, how to lose with dignity
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Comment星空传媒 buys a pint 鈥� for 39 essex street chambers
This is my first 星空传媒 Buys a Pint, but I learn quickly: if you want to get a group of people together and talk about something other than work, don鈥檛 pick barristers or a bar which one of the senior partners part-owns
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Hold on to your cash
You know you are too old for a recession when you measure how well we are doing not by profit versus loss, but by the speed at which we are approaching the abyss. It really does not matter, because whatever the scenario, things are still getting worse. Yet somehow ...
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Recession deeper than we thought says Bank of England
The recession is proving to be deeper than the Bank of England expected when it previous produced an inflation report in May.That in part explains the extension of the quantitative easing programme that rather surprised many commentators.I have cut and pasted below some words of Bank of England Governor, Merveyn ...
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Redundancies in construction jump to 170,000 over 12 months
The latest employment figures show a continued shocking rate of redundacies in construction with another 42,000 jobs shed from the industry in the second quarter of this year.That makes a total of 170,000 recorded job losses over the past 12 months.The number of redundancies was slightly down on the previous ...
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How to stop suicidal bidding: punish the abusers
Let's start with an assertion: Suicidal bidding in construction is not consistent with fair trade and is not in the best interests of the consumer, the client, the industry or the long-term prosperity of the nation.It's a view. It has merit, particularly in the eyes of those who witnessed the ...
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CML provides further evidence of the housing market becoming more buoyant
The Council of Mortgage Lenders today adds yet more weight to the view that the housing market is in a period of stability if not growth.Its June figures show a 23% increase in the number of home loans over the past month taking the total to a level not seen ...
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Survey shows widening North-South house price divide
The latest RICS survey out today adds yet more evidence to suggest a widening north-south gap in the housing market.Prices are now rising robustly in the equity-rich, high housing-demand south, while for most of Britain house prices remain on a downward slope. The exception to the north-south split is Scotland, ...
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Construction trade survey confirms worsening slump
The latest trade survey covering both the contracting and materials sectors underlines both the depth and the rate of decline in the construction sector with pessimism rampant across all sectors.As in all surveys there are glimmers of light and hope. The survey, compiled by the Construction Products Association, showed that ...