星空传媒

100
The number of MPs that have so far signed an early day motion supporting the abolishment of retentions. It is estimated that some 拢3bn is locked up in retentions, damaging the profitability and competiveness of the construction industry, in particular for small- and medium-sized contractors. Members of the 30 trade bodies in the Constructors Liaison Group are being asked to lobby for their local MP's support for the Early Day Motion 428 that calls for central and local government clients, which account for 40% of spend in the construction industry, to set the example and move away from adversarial practice and take immediate steps to abolish retentions.

71
The percentage of Londoners that would like to see giant banner advertisements covering bare scaffolding hoardings. Megaposter, which commissioned the survey, hopes the research will encourage council planning departments to relax their tough stance against granting permission for giant banner adverts. The survey found that just 9% of Londoners would prefer to see bare scaffolding hoardings, with 20% expressing no preference either way, with age and gender making little difference. "We always believed the public find giant ads preferable to looking at a mass of bare plastic sheeting," says Ian Bohn, sales and marketing director of Megaposter.

57
The percentage of companies that ended up not taking on a contract they'd won because they thought it too risky, according to Ernst & Young's Real Estate, Hospitality & Construction Group. In January, Ernst & Young surveyed representatives from the top 75 construction companies in the UK. Of the companies surveyed only 62% had a risk management policy in place and 21% did not have a designated board director with responsibility for risk. The results indicate that companies believe risk is linked to their people, with 57% of respondents citing adequately trained staff as a high risk factor and 35% citing loss of key people.

38
Well, 37.7 actually. This is the percentage of workers on Major Contractors Group sites carrying cards demonstrating an appropriate skill, according to an MCG survey of 90,000 workers conducted in January. This slightly misses the 40% target the MCG set for the end of 2001. MCG chairman Colin Busby expressed disappointment and added that there was much work to do to meet the MCG's further target of 80% by the end of 2002. The overall goal is to have a fully qualified workforce by the end of 2003. Intermediate targets are designed to measure their progress towards that target.

25
The percentage of staff in the construction sector who leave their jobs within a year. With the cost of labour turnover at around 拢3,546 per employee, businesses are loosing millions of pounds a year by not screening employees. Compared to the energy/water industry figure of 14.1% staff turnover in the construction sector is around 24.9%. Datapol Group, which conducts reference and screening, says that in their haste of fill vacancies, firms are not screening job applications adequately, which means that a number of unsuitable candidates are being offered jobs. Datapol says that across all sectors, over a quarter of staff who leave their jobs have not been with the organisation for more than six months and a similar number leave within two years.

0
The number of UK firms left in the global premier league of contractors within a few years, according to a Salford University professor. Martin Betts, head of the School of Construction and Property Management, blames poor management, training and investment. He warns that only five or six companies will soon be capable of major projects around the world. They'll likely be US, French, German, Japanese or Swedish companies which already control much of the UK's current 拢65bn worth of annual construction. Betts used his warning to push for more IT training. Salford hosts Construct IT, a technology research and practice centre.