Opinion 鈥� Page 377
-
Comment
Off-site really is the answer
So the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is launching a drive to boost the private rental sector. As residential property prices fall, rental yields are starting to look more attractive to investors and pension funds, so the opportunity is there for the taking
-
Comment
The usual victims
The Verry debacle (8 May, page 24) is just the same old, same old 鈥� look at Eugena, Wiltshire and the others. Who gets hurt? Yes, you guessed it, the 鈥渟pecialist trade contractor鈥� and the small subbie
-
Comment
More egg baskets required
I worked for Taylor Woodrow International from 1975 to 1980 in various parts of the world and its geographic and sectoral diversification was one of its greatest strengths
-
Comment
Ten into six doesn鈥檛 go
It was a shame to see that CNP has become the first big-name QS/project management casualty. At the end of the day consultants are all about people and my sympathy goes out to all who have and will lose their jobs, shareholdings, and so on. Consultants have been hanging in ...
-
CommentArchitects, take a bow
Prince Charles didn鈥檛 say he鈥檇 employ Lord Foster to make over Highgrove 鈥� that would really have been a great way to make up with the modernists
-
Comment
Traders see a brighter future for house prices - but still expect a further 17% drop
Follow the money they say. Well the money punted in the futures market suggests that average house prices still have at least 17% to fall.That puts the peak-to-trough drop at more than a third.But the good news for those selling homes is that the mood among the traders has perked ...
-
Comment
If it's growth you want, start looking again at house building
I received a bit of a teasing prod this morning from my good friend the editor of CJ, Aaron Morby, when he rang me up to quiz me on house building targets."Don't you think we are seeing a recovery in house building?" Which he followed with: "I hope you don't ...
-
Comment
Bovis restructure: The recession's wake up call
Searching for a silver lining to recession for construction isn't easy. But there's growing evidence that, dire as the industry's current situation may be, the tough conditions are providing parts of the industry, just like the financial sector, with a much needed wake up call.Bovis Lend Lease's business overhaul, announced ...
-
Comment
Redundancies ravage the construction workforce - 141,000 jobs gone in the past 12 months
The numbers made redundant in construction over the past 12 months have mounted to 141,000, according to the latest set of figures released by the official statisticians at ONS.Almost 100,000 of those redundancies were made in the six months from October last year to March this year.These figures will grossly ...
-
Comment
Look east to find some shelter from the storm
My good friend Martin Hewes has just past me some details of the latest Hewes & Associates forecast for new work construction output. It will not make for comfortable reading if you happen to be trading heavily in Yorkshire & Humberside.That region is set to be the hardest hit by ...
-
Comment
Surveyors feel a stronger pulse in the housing market
The latest survey of the housing market by the surveyors' body RICS has provided yet more evidence that the rate of decay in the housing market may be easing, with the average surveyor busier than at time since last November.The uplift in buyer inquiries seems to be driving the strengthening ...
-
Comment
Google's favourite architects
Who is the starriest of all the starchitects? Frank, Norman or Zaha? Or maybe Daniel Libeskind or Richard Rogers of Chelsea Barracks fame?Well according to Google the most searched for living architects are Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid.The search engine reckons that there are 135,000 searches for these two architects ...
-
Comment
The prince and the profession
So is he about to aim another missile at the architectural profession? Or will he finally offer it an olive branch? As the red carpet is rolled out at the RIBA next Tuesday in preparation for the Prince of Wales' lecture to mark its 175th anniversary, speculation about what he ...
-
Comment
Watch out for snake oil salesmen purveying good news
There are few things more odious than selling false hope to desperate folk.But I am seeing ever more evidence of this sad occupation.I would have posted a blog on the latest new orders figures yesterday, but I was out of the office either in meetings, on the train or socialising ...
-
CommentWonders & blunders
Charles Saumarez Smith simply adores the Royal Academy鈥檚 Burlington Gardens building, but abhors Battersea鈥檚 design desert
-
CommentAccidents will happen
Spare a thought for those singled out by fate for special treatment, like the chairman who lost his bag, the woman who preferred injury to dishonour 鈥� and the union man who invented a new way to protest
-
CommentWhat would Taiichi Ohno do?
As the Japanese say, waste is futility and failure. But, in the form of overconsumption, it has also been the bedrock of our industrialised economies. Here鈥檚 how we can do without it
-
-
CommentWhy Tesco is a good client
When prices are falling so quickly, owing to lack of workload and competition to secure projects, it is disingenuous to hear clients such as Tesco being criticised for taking advantage of their position
-
Comment
Spitting in the wind
What options are we exploring, apart from wind farms, as alternative energy sources?