All Comment articles – Page 55
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CommentSocial housing: Locked out
Families living in social housing rely on subsidies to make ends meet, but with higher rents and reduced benefits affordable homes are becoming anything but
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CommentTory conference Q&A: the construction minister
Emily Wright cornered the construction minister Mark Prisk, at the Tory party conference this week…
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CommentHadid's Evelyn Grace Academy: Gove won’t like it
Zaha Hadid’s school runs counter to today’s politically austere mood, but this inspiring piece of design is a worthy winner of this year’s Stirling prize
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CommentUncertainty will only hurt the NHS
The coalition has made a mess of its restructuring of the NHS, creating confusion and waste when what it needs is steady, incremental modernisation
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CommentEconomic crisis: The battle for Britain
The business secretary reckons we face a crisis that is the economic equivalent of war. Shame then that politicians have all but surrendered our future to the pluck of bankers
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CommentConstruction and finance: Where's the money?
Construction’s recovery depends on finding finance for major projects and infrastructure. But the banks are risk averse and investors are lacking in long-term vision
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CommentMonitoring is answer to Stunell's green fears
Monitoring buildings’ energy performance is essential to achieve our low carbon goal – if we fail in reducing emissions it will have serious consequences
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Comment'Upbeat' Vince sees no sunny uplands for the economy
The mood of the Liberal Democrat conference is matched by Birmingham’s leaden skies
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CommentPFI: Going private
PFI has had a bad press, but with its combination of risk put on the private sector, predictable cashflow and growing demand, you could be seeing a lot more of it around
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FeaturesThe free schools programme: Fancy free
Rachel Wolf, at 26, is in charge of delivering the government’s free schools programme. In the week the first of these schools open, she tells Sarah Richardson about how construction firms can get involved, and the importance (or not) of good design
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CommentProviding schools: Creative classes
We don’t have enough places for kids in the schools their parents want. A new approach is needed: adapting other public buildings for education and bringing in private help to show us how
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CommentReading the riot act
If your project suffered a loss as a result of the riots this August you may be able to claim compensation under a JCT contract or even from the police through a 125 year old statute
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CommentThe case for skyscrapers: Scaling new heights
The 9/11 attacks made us nervous about erecting tall buildings but actually we need them more than ever - after all, they offer a more sustainable solution than urban sprawl
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CommentRocky financial markets: Tread carefully
The turbulence of the financial markets will rock construction when what it most needs is stability - but with sovereign debt crises in Europe and the US, how likely is that?
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CommentPFI doesn't have to be 'poor value'
PFI is ’poor value’ say MPs but they ignore the benefits such as risk transfer, predictability and maintenance of the public sector estate
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CommentIt's all pants: Unreliable economic indicators
We keep being fed confusing, contradictory, even wrong industry figures - often based on something as haphazard as the sale of underwear. You may as well ask Mystic Meg
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CommentBeach volleyball stars distract Cameron from quelling riots
Volleyball replaced the mob in central London this week as Olympic organisers shifted tonnes of Surrey sand to Horseguards Parade
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CommentInfrastructure: A thing of beauty?
Infrastructure can be seen everywhere so it’s a shame it’s often so ugly. Let’s hope for some inspired entries in the energy department’s competition to update the UK’s pylons
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NewsWhatever happened to localism?
The draft National Planning Policy Framework may give the planning system the “teeth” developers have been looking for
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CommentWining contracts: Confidence trick
Winning contracts is no longer a matter of being a big company, or even offering the lowest price. What bidders must offer clients is a sense of security