Opinion 鈥� Page 563
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Comment
Time to go 鈥�
Jon Rouse聽The question hanging over much of northern England is: how bad does a neighbourhood have to be before the only thing that can improve it is a bulldozer?
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Comment
Don鈥檛 twist my words
Open mike: Ashley Pigott鈥檚 attack on construction management鈥檚 drew on statements made at the Fraser inquiry into Holyrood. Here, the man who made them explains what he meant 鈥�
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CommentProblem, solved
Andrew Hemsley -聽Wrong contract rates are a classic construction conundrum, to which the courts have provided a beautifully simple answer. So everyone should learn it
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CommentSafety deposit
Tony Bingham -聽The use of trust funds to protect against client insolvency is a very good idea. So why did parliament reject the idea 10 years ago? And is it ready to reconsider?
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Comment
Can I interest you in insurance?
Antoinette Jucker - Next year, draconian regulations are going to be imposed on any firm that so much as thinks about arranging insurance. Here鈥檚 how the system will work
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Comment
A loss of confidence
Be warned: anyone who acts as an expert witness, instructs lawyers or prepares documents in support of claims can no longer take legal privilege for granted
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Comment
Amphibious thinking
Is our industry taking the recent shock announcements of rises in carbon levels, and its potential impact upon global warming, seriously enough? The social and moral responsibility of the construction industry to engage in sustainable construction is two-fold. First, we must take measures to protect, and if possible enhance, the ...
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Comment
Hackney residents need not fear
Further to your article on 8 October (page 18), entitled 鈥淛ohn Laing quits troubled Hackney estate scheme鈥�, while John Laing has withdrawn from the regeneration scheme in Haggerston West & Kingsland, the council and London & Quadrant remain firmly committed to the project. The reason for leaving the scheme that ...
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Comment
My safety record is clean 鈥�
Gillian Birkby (24 September, page 72) refers to my prosecution as an 鈥渋llustration of how designers need to implement the CDM regulations鈥� and of how designers 鈥渃ould avoid accidents by providing more information about hazards鈥�. However I feel sure that she could not have intended to imply that I failed ...
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Comment
鈥� designers need more guidance
Mr Allan is correct; there can be no implication that he had failed to comply with the CDM regulations, as he was found not guilty. The question of what amounts to 鈥渁dequate information鈥� that designers must include with their design still remains as a knotty problem. Perhaps the professional ...
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Comment
No need to rush
It is most refreshing to read a thoroughly independent and objective analysis of construction management. Ashley Pigott is correct in saying it is for the professional client that builds regularly, and by definition, knows what he wants and does not change his mind (8 October, page 56).Who then advises clients, ...
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Comment
The wrong kind of demand
Nick Lane is right to sound a warning (3 September, page 52) about using winding-up petitions to make debtors cough up. However, his explanation of what the recipient of a statutory demand needs to do is not quite correct as far as a company is concerned. Before issuing a statutory ...
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Comment
Unfair penalty
NSV carried out work on the instructions of Consafe on heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment at a plutonium chemical waste plant at Drigg, in Cumberia. Consafe counter-claimed for liquidated damages. NSV said that liquidated damages could not be levied because they were a penalty. As the judge said, if the ...
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Comment
Above financial persuasion
Tony Bingham (24 September, page 70) says that adjudicators should not be given the power to decide on their own jurisdiction as they have a financial interest in the outcome.Come off it, Tony! Arbitrators have the power to decide on their own jurisdiction, and the courts encourage parties to refer ...
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Comment
Way off
Although I鈥檓 a strong advocate of off-site manufacture (OSM), I have to take issue with your Offsite supplement (1 October). OSM will only succeed if it can match the design quality and cost effectiveness of traditional building. Few of the featured projects showed any of John Prescott鈥檚 鈥榳ow鈥� factor, and ...
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Comment
One-eyed jock
Lord Fraser鈥檚 report on Holyrood appears to me to be one-eyed, ignoring as it does the plight of the trade contractors involved. The building may well have cost its owners 鈥� the taxpayers 鈥� 拢431m but I surmise the cost to its builders, trade contractors and the professional team is ...
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Comment
On different tracks
I don鈥檛 claim to be an expert in construction project management, or indeed public transport, but to attempt to compare the state of the railways with construction, as Paul Morrell does (3 September, page 40), is surely wrong. Railways provide a service to the clients 鈥� the passengers 鈥� who ...
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Comment
Gone with the wind
The objections to on-shore wind farm schemes (24 September, page 70) are classic nimbyism. Would the objectors prefer a nuclear power station on the green fields? At least with wind farms, when they are removed you wouldn鈥檛 know they had even been there.
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CommentGive us our money back
Colin Harding聽The government鈥檚 Pensions Bill is proof that it is waging a war against small employers. It is time to take our savings out of the Treasury鈥檚 hands
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