Opinion 鈥� Page 374
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Construction shrinks at the fastest rate ever recorded
It was with genuine shock that I looked at the latest output figures. I was busy finishing something off when Noble Francis of the Construction Products Association called to ask if I'd seen the figures.I thought he was pulling my chain when he read over the numbers.I'm regarded as gloomy, ...
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Why you might want to raise a glass to building homes?
As we rage about the cost to the taxpayer of 80p bath plugs and the construction of elaborate duck houses, here's a figure to contemplate.For every new home built in recessionary times, each taxpayer is about 10p to 15p better off.Not a lot maybe, but see 20 homes being built ...
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CommentHansom: Rock, paper, scissors
It鈥檚 a dead heat for who鈥檚 had the worst week: a load of rockery-dwelling statues, the man faced with a mountain of company records, or a client forced to delay a 鈥� ahem 鈥� delicate procedure
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CommentThe true aim of architecture
Robert Adam鈥檚 rant (22 May, page 24) about architects and how 鈥渢hey like to pretend they know best about what鈥檚 good for society ... 鈥� reminded me of a talk Buckminster Fuller gave at the school of architecture at Bristol university in 1965
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A cable to the sun
In reply to Hugh Bantin鈥檚 query about wind energy (8 May, page 32), yes, it is fickle and average output is about 30% of maximum
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Noises off
In my experience, good acoustics in schools are still viewed as a nice-to-have rather than a must-have (鈥淐an you hear me at the back?鈥�, 15 May, page 40)
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Good health
Regarding your article on a health scare prompting regulation change (29 May, page 13), hats off to NHBC for producing a report that takes the real world into account
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The third amendment
The Standing Joint Committee for The Standard Measurement of 星空传媒 Works has prepared amendment three to the Seventh Edition, effective from 1 June.
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Messing about near boats
I work for a charity called the Waterway Recovery Group (www.wrg.org.uk) which restores the derelict canals of England and Wales
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CommentThe disaster area
Open mike:聽The latest data from purchasing managers confirms that construction has been one of the worst afflicted areas of the UK economy. Roy Ayliffe peers into the gloom for signs of hope
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CommentSometimes a great notion...
They say great ideas have three phases: first, they鈥檙e ludicrous, then they鈥檙e wrong and finally they鈥檙e obvious
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CommentHuman sacrifice won't help us
Kicking out apprentices and slashing training is not going to cure the recession, but it will kill the recovery. What firms need to do is keep their nerve 鈥� and their staff
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CommentWonders & blunders
Martin Playford revisits two grand schemes from the seventies, one a gleaming symbol of the might of the City, the other a sad leftover from a best-forgotten motorway project
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The disaster area
The latest CIPS/Markit Purchasing Managers鈥� Index (PMI) data shows that global forces continue unremittingly to batter all UK industries, with the ailing construction industry the sick man of the economy.Indeed, construction firms鈥� purchasing managers say the slight improvement in operating conditions in the past month only reaffirms how bad things ...
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CIPS construction index bounces back, but what does that mean?
The latest survey by the buyers' body CIPS shows a remarkable bounce back in the broad construction index towards the magic 50 no-change mark.The index has risen from 30.9 in April to 38.1 in May and up to 45.9 in June. This will no doubt be taken as a sign ...
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Relief on the home front, but are we really on a road to recovery?
The relief among those connected with the house building and selling industries must be enormous at the moment.Following on from a set of more encouraging sales data and a fall in pessimism among estate agents, we had figures from Nationwide at the end of last week saying that house prices ...
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CommentThe bridge on the river Tees
Its parents were Eric Fletcher and Margaret Thatcher. Assisting at the birth were 500 midwives. It is now being cared for by the 187,000 people of Stockton-on-Tees
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CommentThe general purpose specialist
If we want to make it through the recession with our highly trained staff intact, we have to carry on doing what we do well, and start doing a lot of things that we don鈥檛
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Why nobody wants to buy
Tumbling fees, dwindling workloads and payment periods stretching beyond the horizon. In the last recession this led to a frenzy of mergers and acquisitions. This time, it's different.According to a report by researcher Corpfin, corporate activity in the first quarter of this year has ground to a virtual halt. There ...