All Comment articles – Page 60

  • Comment

    Maglev's inflexible

    2010-09-17T00:00:00Z

    The only problem with maglev (and the reason it is not being adopted widely, even in China) is its inflexibility and inability to handle the passenger flows moving between cities (3 September, page 38).

  • Comment

    How much wood?

    2010-09-17T00:00:00Z

    I found the words in Building’s leader (27 August, page 3) and the article on timber frame fire risk (page 9) incredible

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    Comment

    Hansom: Leaping lizards

    2010-09-17T00:00:00Z

    There’s much hurling this week as industry leaders chuck themselves off buildings, press officers throw themselves into their work and Ann Widdecombe launches herself into the highland fling

  • microphone
    Comment

    The industry that played with fire

    2010-09-17T00:00:00Z

    David Hayhow gives an insurer’s-eye view of the row over whether timber frame is a safe construction material. As you might expect, he has some fundamental concerns

  • Amanda Levete
    Comment

    Donkey work and urban planning

    2010-09-17T00:00:00Z

    A Kenyan island with an unusual freight-transportation system has inspired Amanda Levete to think again about designing for cities without cars

  • Comment

    Tradition be damned

    2010-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Ah, the past, how it used to be (Inbox, The silent QSs, 10 September, page 22).

  • Sizeable populations of great crested newts have been rehoused for their own good
    Comment

    Great crested newts!

    2010-09-17T00:00:00Z

    As your recent article describes (27 August, page 36), the scale of the London Gateway Development - and the fact that the site lies at the heart of one of Europe’s most important estuary and wetland habitats - presents unique challenges

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    Features

    The collapse of Connaught

    2010-09-17T00:00:00Z

    The Sidmouth concrete specialist that morphed into a £600m social housing contractor was one of the greatest success stories of the past 30 years, and one of the landmarks of the industry. Andrew Hankinson reports on why it fell - and if the banks should have saved it

  • Comment

    The big squeeze

    2010-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Connaught’s difficulties have highlighted what most of us who work in the social housing repairs sector are already aware of

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    Comment

    Beware Greeks bearing gifts

    2010-09-17T00:00:00Z

    One lesson the Connaught story tells us is that clients are too ready to accept prices that aren’t sustainable

  • Sarah Richardson
    Comment

    Kicking out the jams: Academies framework

    2010-09-17T00:00:00Z

    If contractors were peeved at not being on the academies framework before, they’ll be shedding some tears after the latest piece of news…

  • Richard Williams
    Comment

    What can be saved from Connaught's collapse?

    2010-09-15T13:02:00Z

    Options for salvaging contracts with the failed social housing firm

  • Coin
    Comment

    The silent QSs

    2010-09-10T00:00:00Z

    Are Building readers aware of the implications of the takeover of Davis Langdon by Aecom?

  • Comment

    The worst-laid plans

    2010-09-10T00:00:00Z

    Your excellent Brickonomics blog entry (23 February, building.co.uk) highlights the sheer naivity of those putting forward this New Utopia planning system.

  • hansom ipod
    Comment

    Hansom: Move over Sherlock

    2010-09-10T00:00:00Z

    Building’s supersleuth uncovers the truth behind celebrity interviews, appeals for help in identifying a missing person, tails the RICS/QS row and meets a double murderer

  • Comment

    Turning the heat on fire report

    2010-09-10T00:00:00Z

    In your article “Insurers call for urgent probe into timber-frame fire risk” (27 August, page 9) you state that the UK Timber Frame Association dismissed the findings of the government’s report on fire safety

  • Comment

    Count the costs

    2010-09-10T00:00:00Z

    I read with interest the article by Mr Justice Akenhead (3 September, page 47)

  • Pascal Shreurer
    Comment

    Why I'm convinced by free schools: Free-range children

    2010-09-10T00:00:00Z

    Now the dead hand of central government has been prised from our throats, we can build schools in a way that is excitingly new - and strangely old-fashioned

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    Comment

    International schools market: If you build it, they will buy it

    2010-09-10T00:00:00Z

    If you want to carry on building schools for the future, develop a cheaper product that you can sell to poorer countries that are desperate for decent classrooms

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    Comment

    Wonders & blunders with Jonathan Foyle

    2010-09-10T00:00:00Z

    Jonathan Foyle adores the back-of-an-envelope creativity that led to Lincoln cathedral, but is worried about the people who move to the nascent city at Salford Quays