Opinion 鈥� Page 627
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Who'll protect us from our protectors?
As firms spend more and more money to buy less and less insurance cover, the industry and its clients are lurching towards a crisis. Is there any relief in sight?
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The PFI booster
The new Guidance on Standardisation of PFI Contracts is something of a mixed bag for building contractors, but may succeed in giving the PFI a vital shot in the arm 鈥�
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What a relief!
Insolvency law in the UK has always been very kind to banks and the crown, and very cruel to unsecured creditors. Now parliament is about redress the balance 鈥�
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No more surprised parties
In adjudication, the referring party must present both sides of the story. If it doesn't, the other side can shout foul 鈥� but can't suddenly come up with new arguments
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A bit of strategic thinking
Meet Peter Rogers, the new Mr Construction. Like his predecessor Sir John Egan, he is a top client and, although not exactly one of Tony's cronies, he's in the New Labour loop. But that's where the similarity ends. Egan, who made his name at Jaguar, was always the outsider; Rogers ...
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Stop passing the buck
The industry is coming to realise that, by the end of next year, every site worker will have to be trained. Just don't leave the training to your competitors
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Take them to the vets
The trouble with adjudication is that the referees often aren't up to much. We need a new system of choosing them and a better way to keep them on their toes
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Self-inflicted injuries
Two stories about contractors who got themselves into deep trouble because they failed to take some simple precautions before signing on the line
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Get on with it
The key to planning reform is not to wait around for top-down change, says Gareth Capner. It is the people on the ground who need to get the ball rolling
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Life should mean life
What's the point in paying for long-life products if you can't sue when they fail after the limitation period? Not much 鈥� but fortunately, a new law is on the way
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We're sadder, but are we wiser?
So, has the worst building collapse in history changed construction? Everyone, including this magazine, seemed to think so in the aftermath of 11 September. As Sainsbury's cancelled its twin 40-storey towers in London, we suggested that skyscrapers would lose their mystique, and that the generational shift from building outwards to ...
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Cities of joy and shame
Why is Salisbury closer to Santa Fe than Manchester is to Leeds? Well, you'll have to go to Birmingham in the autumn to answer that question 鈥�
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Knockout argument
The received wisdom nowadays is that adjudication is better than going to court. But sometimes the court can offer a quick victory at a bargain price
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Can't get no satisfaction
'Merchantable quality' in contracts is still talked about, but it is 'satisfactory quality' that we should be focusing on
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Putting an end to it all
An employer who wishes to terminate a deal had better not take the contract too literally, as sometimes its most important rule is an unwritten one
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Just say no
You've got your dispute, you've got your adjudicator 鈥� and you've got your adjudicator's unreasonable terms of appointment. What should you do next?
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Base motives
Starting from this month, anyone who repays a debt late is liable to an additional 12% per annum interest. So, how will late the late payers try to wriggle out?
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Desecration row
Iconoclasts have come a long way from Byzantium to Brockhampton, but they're still smashing up 拢7m of church property a year. Here's a solution 鈥�