Opinion 鈥� Page 423
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Comment
Fewer carrots, more stick
A commercial market should never be allowed to test or qualify sustainability 鈥� unless you鈥檙e not totally serious about the issue (2 May, page 3).
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CommentEmpty nest syndrome
I was delighted to read your article this week on 鈥淒angerous creatures鈥� (30 May, page 34). You highlighted the effect of having a bat present on site. Do you realise that in reality the law goes much further?
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Comment
Rotten at the core
Further to your reports on the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigation (16 May and subsequently), bid rigging can only operate if there is a central reporting body that holds all the potential bids for the bidding contractors to manipulate.
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Comment
A shrewd investment
I read with interest Lindy Patterson鈥檚 article on project bank accounts (23 May, page 59) and thought to myself, if she had actually attended, as I did, the conference at the House of Commons that she wrote about, she would have had the opportunity to hear the answers to the ...
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Comment
Stick to the day job
Regarding his decision to design a five-star hotel in Dubai (2 June, building.co.uk), Brad Pitt said: 鈥淚t will underpin not only my values for environment-friendly architecture, but also embrace my career in entertainment.鈥�
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CommentMy Digital Life - Wayne Hemingway
The fashion guru, housing designer and all-round renaissance man loves to use the internet to buy northern soul and pick up artefacts for his museum, but reckons you still can鈥檛 beat a bit of fresh air
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CommentState aid
So, is the industry about to enter a more enlightened era? That鈥檚 the idea behind this week鈥檚 launch of an industry鈥揼overnment manifesto for improving construction鈥檚 performance in several key areas, from sustainability in the ecological sense to sustainability in training and recruitment.
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Comment
Unemployment jumps but no sign yet of slump in construction jobs
Employment in the wider economy continued to grow but there was a jump of 38,000 in the number of unemployed in the three months to April, official figures show.Rising unemployment is seen as a key factor in determining the shape of the economic slowdown and if it rises sharply may ...
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Comment
Mervyn King warns banks on binge drinking
I have a lot of time for Mervyn King's comments. Here's one from today that I think is worth a look. It is from his speech to the British Bankers' Association on "Banking and the Bank of England"."It is often said that the role of a central bank is to ...
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Comment
Thousands of homebuyers in negative equity
Figures provided to the BBC by the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that 23,000 homebuyers took out 100% mortgages in the 12 months to March this year.With house prices as measured by HBOS (Halifax) back to the level of January last year, this means that many if not most of ...
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Comment
House price falls - but not 'alf
The Guardian yesterday reported that traders were pricing in a 50% drop in house prices over the next four years. Firstly and personally, I think prices may fall quite deeply. But I don't think they will drop by 50% in "real" terms, unless the economy takes a pretty freaky turn ...
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Comment
Big freeze in the housing market threatens the wider economy
The May survey from the property body RICS once again points to house price falls - not deep, but widely spread. But the real threat claim its economists is from a freezing up of the market.Official figures point to a drop of about a quarter in the level of transactions ...
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CommentWeb watch - In your face
If people want to build big horses in Kent towns or vast pylons in city squares, all in the name of art, then good luck to them, says Alex Smith. Of course, it helps that these schemes look good on the web too 鈥�
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Comment
Commencing arbitration: Taylor Woodrow Construction vs RMD Kwikform Ltd
This was an application under sections 32 and 45 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (鈥渢he Act鈥�) to determine a preliminary point of law in relation to arbitral proceedings.The claimant engaged the defendant for the design, supply and erection of scaffolding. In 2000 the scaffolding collapsed onto adjoining roads and onto ...
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CommentOne for all
Sir Michael Latham聽An overall site agreement for the Olympic park would help bring the project in on budget. But it鈥檚 going to be up to contractors and unions to see if they can set one up
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CommentOpen mike: Sun seeking
Instead of relying on small-scale on-site renewables, Europe could benefit from importing solar power from countries that have plenty of it, says David Weight
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Comment
Ignorance is bliss: but it鈥檚 no defence
With the OFT breathing down our necks, it would be wise not to get caught out on competition rules because you didn鈥檛 know they existed
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CommentVAT: Gimme a break
With margins being squeezed in the current economic climate, developers cannot afford to ignore valuable tax breaks. But, Jackie Richmond asks, what are they and where do you find them?
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Comment
Construction recession looks likely this year
On the face of it things look fairly steady in construction land. Thanks to a strong showing from publicly-funded work and a timely rise in private non-housing repair and maintenance, construction output remained steady in the first quarter of 2008, despite falls in private housing and commercial work.It is no ...