All Features articles – Page 402
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Features
Britain’s new front door
St Pancras station is about to become the last vital part in the 186mph link that connects London with the rest of Europe. So just as well that it’s an architectural and engineering triumph, then. Martin Spring looks at how it was achieved
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FeaturesConcrete lattice structures: How do you like my fishnet building?
Fashion giant Monsoon is used to setting trends, so it is no surprise that the design of its new London headquarters breaks new ground. Stephen Kennett unpicks the concrete net holding up the building
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FeaturesLeadbitter, the champions
The Oxfordshire contractor wins the cup in Building’s inaugural charity five-a-side tournament
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FeaturesNo contractors that way …
Shetland is a 13-hour ferry ride from mainland Britain and is closer to the Arctic Circle than to London, so when its main school fell into disrepair, the islanders faced a struggle finding someone to build a new one.
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Features‘There is no question of cost overruns on this job’
After 18 years, the £16bn Crossrail project has finally got the go-ahead. Now chairman Doug Oakervee, in his first interview, explains how he will fulfil his promise not to go a penny over budget.
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FeaturesThe planning gain supplement is dead. Long live the roof tax?
Developers have won a famous battle with the government over the introduction of the PGS. But as infrastructure still has to be paid for, it looks like we’ll be moving to a system based on the Milton Keynes roof tax. David Parsley asks what this means
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Features
Designs for life
European structural design codes will introduce the concept of ‘design working life’ to British engineering. Peter Mayer of Building LifePlans explains exactly what that means.
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FeaturesWhy a good employer is a green employer
That big purple balloon over there symbolises the amount of carbon that your office produces. If you want to boost staff morale, all you have to do is shrink it.
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FeaturesMy employer helped me
Lydia Stockdale met three people who made lucky choices when they picked a firm to work for
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Features
Lafarge: Strong stuff
Building materials giant Lafarge operates in 70 countries around the world.
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FeaturesThe way we work now
Ten years ago, UK construction companies resembled the French foreign legion in their treatment of workers. But the harder they’ve fought to recruit staff, the more they’ve developed their soft skills.
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Features
While the sun shone
The improved weather conditions in August perked up contractors across the country, although demand has yet to live up to their enthusiasm. Experian Business Strategies reports
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FeaturesWhat the table tells us
So do contractors do more inspiring work than architects? Who hands out the most motors? Are engineers more generous with holidays than consultants? Which firms give you the most maternity benefits? The best pensions? Which is the most fun to work for? David Rogers analyses the data
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FeaturesTop 250 Consultants 2007: The age of expansion
With all the talk of credit crunches and stalled projects, it’s possible to forget what a staggeringly successful time this is for consultants – as our annual league of the top 250 makes clear.
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FeaturesPoker Kings 2007
Fed up with the humdrum world of work? Looking for excitement and the possibility of winning some hard cash? Well, Building’s new poker tournament is rushing to your rescue. Come and take a chance – and it’s all in aid of charity, so you’ll go home with a warm glow ...
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FeaturesCeiling lining board
British Gypsum has introduced a ceiling lining board that it says combines high levels of thermal insulation with 30 minutes’ fire resistance.
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FeaturesBoom over?
Business might well be ballooning for the UK’s top 250 consultants, as our cover suggests, but the global credit crunch has led some well-informed voices to predict a slide in demand, particularly in the London commercial market. Stephen Kennett looks at whether they’re right
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FeaturesSustainability — Embodied carbon
Your client’s low-energy building has a wind turbine and photovoltaics, the insulation uses sheep’s wool and there’s no PVC.But just how much carbon has been used in assembling the building – and should we worry? Davis Langdon report on an initiative to rate the embodied carbon of buildings.
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FeaturesNaughty school
Just because these Stuttgart classrooms make the most of light, colour and ‘the way children walk’ doesn’t mean they can’t break a few rules …