Opinion 鈥� Page 393
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Comment星空传媒 buys a pint 鈥� Balfour Beatty鈥檚 birthday
The cold snap hasn鈥檛 broken yet and I鈥檓 shivering beneath the magnificent arch at the entrance to the Natural History Museum.
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CommentGet the mechanics right
The delays to the Learning and Skills Council鈥檚 拢5bn programme to upgrade further education colleges is a stark reminder of the reality gap between the government鈥檚 desire to accelerate public programmes and its ability to actually make this happen
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Comment
NHBC figures show new home starts down 47% in 2008
The number of NHBC registrations to start building new homes fell to 106,894 in 2008, a drop of 47% on a year earlier.But it is the comparison of the final quarter of 2008 with that of 2007 that brings the true scale of the trauma in the house building market ...
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Construction output to fall to 1996 levels by 2011, says forecast
Remember the pleasure and pain of Euro '96, the rise and rise of the Spice Girls, This Life and Chris Evan's TFI Friday on TV, John Major as Prime Minister and Swampy digging in against the road builders?Well some of it came flooding back to me when I realised that ...
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Mortgage lending at 2001 level spells more bad news for home sales
Mortgage lending last year was down about 30% on the 2007 figures and in the final quarter was running at well below half the peak level, according to the latest figures from Council of Mortgage Lenders.CML expects the level of lending to drop further in coming months, which may well ...
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Comment
Construction job vacancies collapse
Record redundancies may be the headline in today's news bulletins and tomorrow's papers as the ranks of the unemployed creep towards 2 million.But in the detail of today's labour market figures of more concern to the thousands of redundant construction workers now looking for new jobs is that vacancies are ...
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Plunging sales rates in 2008 and the threat to new housing development
The latest figures show that home sales in 2008 were down 43% compared with 2007, but scarier than that is the drop in level of property transaction over the second half of last year.This poses a real threat to even "technically" viable housing schemes.Sales are running well below half of ...
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Comment
Will construction win or lose from collapsing hope in the UK economy?
We are heading into the worst peacetime economic slump since the 1930s, according to the latest forecast by the highly regarded ITEM Club.This marks a massive collapse in hope for the UK economy. Just three months ago the ITEM Club's autumn 2008 forecast carried the sub headline "...the recession in ...
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CommentWhatever possessed you?: Early partial possession
Ann Minogue聽If you鈥檙e lucky enough to have a tenant lined up, you might be tempted to give them partial possession so they can make an early start on their fit-out. That way madness lies鈥�
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CommentNot a problem, a solution
Like collaborative working, being sustainable was a child of the boom years.
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CommentThat was then, this is now
The recession gives us the opportunity to explore new ideas, says Gus Alexander. And, who knows, we might even get to think beyond the certainties of our home-owning democracy
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Every man needs protection: Financial security
These days, it takes nerve to enter into ordinary commercial relations. But luckily for all you cowards out there, what you lack in courage you can make up for in paperwork
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CommentGreen Tape: Sustainability regulation
To keep up with environmental regulations, contractors must build sustainability into their contracts
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Most local builders are now shedding jobs as workload collapses
The latest survey of local builders by their trade body FMB paints a grim picture with workload, inquiries and employment plunging.This throws into question how focused the Government is on saving jobs in the construction industry.If saving jobs is top of the agenda it should think a lot more about ...
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Comment
Did monthly new orders really hit an all time record low in November 2008?
I have been seeing a lot of "worst ever" and "worst since at least" stories about the November new orders figures.I am conscious that so many statistics are being thrown around at the moment that it is confusing. And there is enough distress out there as it is.So I thought ...
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CommentMy digital life:Kai Midgl
What is your favourite website? Travelsupermarket.com because I like weekends away and I use it a lot for getting flights and deals on hotel rooms
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CommentDing dongs merrily on high
The season of goodwill to all men is well and truly over and it鈥檚 back to the usual name-calling, back-stabbing and top-level fist-fighting. A sigh of relief all round, then鈥�
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CommentWonders & blunders
David Mann tells a tale of two shopping malls, one in the friendly North, the other in the grim South
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CommentFancy a brew?
Hugh Wilson and Lewis Womersley鈥檚 design for the Arndale was begun in 1972 and when it was completed in 1979 it was the largest covered town shopping centre in Europe, attracting 750,000 shoppers a week