All Features articles – Page 442
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FeaturesLook at me!
Want to grab a client’s attention? And keep it? In an fiercly competitive market, you have to offer something extra if you are going to win that juicy contract. Mark Leftly looks at the increasingly inventive ways companies are pitching for work and talks to clients about what they look ...
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FeaturesInnovation of the year
Coleman’s second category win of the evening was gained by a simple idea: washing the spoil dug up by its excavation business and recycling it.
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FeaturesHidden talents
Specialist contractors have the skills that can make or break a project, yet they are still overlooked by those higher up the supply chain. Now, according to new research, the industry – and particularly the design sector – is starting to realise the benefits of tapping into specialist knowledge.
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FeaturesFlooring specialist of the year
WinnerTwintecA runner-up last year, Twintec has clinched the gold medal this time thanks to an 83% leap in turnover to £18m and its status as a world leader in the production of steel-fibre-reinforced concrete floor slabs. It is not resting on its laurels, though, but investing £45,000 in research to ...
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FeaturesDecoration specialist of the year
It sounds like Mission Impossible: roll out 150 driving test centres in locations from Stornoway to Penzance in 16 weeks.
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FeaturesClient of the year
You – the specialists – picked Stanhope for this award, and no wonder: it is one of the country’s most high profile clients, having developed more than 12 million ft2 of workspace over the past 20 years, including offices for the HM Treasury and the London Stock Exchange.
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Features
A fresh twist on a modern classic
The library at the University of East Anglia represents the architecture of Sir Denys Lasdun at its unadulterated, domineering best. So how did Shepheard Epstein Hunter go about adding an extension to it 30 years on?
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FeaturesCladding specialist of the year
It’s been quite a year for Lakesmere: turnover rose 43% to £27m and profit almost doubled to £886,900.
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FeaturesThe year of the carrot
In 2005 executives have enjoyed unprecedented bonus packages, as companies search for ways of getting peak performances from their upper echelon, according to the Building/Hays Executive salary guide. But they’re also making them harder to collect …
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Features‘It’s important to look to yourself and what you believe in’
HLM’s Chris Liddle has put his house on the line to save his architectural business. Twice.
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FeaturesTraining award
The fact that Eastbourne-based ductwork contractor Hotchkiss has archives that record taking “Frederick George Scarlett as an apprentice for a term of four years from the 20th day of January 1911 to the 20th day of January 1915” gives an indication of its longstanding commitment to training.
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FeaturesAppointments
ContractorSouth-east contractor Diamond Build has employed six apprentices. Stephen Boniface is taking an Advanced Modern Apprenticeship in ICT, Scott Lovell, Ferdi Ahmet and Dean Keys are apprentice carpenters and joiners, Mark Lawrence is an apprentice plumber and Bruno Peixoto and Mukarramma Mason-Williamson are undertaking apprenticeships in painting and decorating.ConsultantsInternational quantity ...
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Features
‘400 sets of regulations’
Who will set definitive sustainability targets? Nobody really knows because there are many different rules – one imposed by the Building Regulations and the rest by local planners. The result is likely to be widespread confusion.
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FeaturesThe response
From Jersey to Carlisle, readers have been sending in their support for Building’s Reform the Regs campaign. Backing has come from across the industry. Here, we publish a selection of readers’ letters.
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FeaturesJust the job: RICS in Norfolk
Jon Nelson and Tim Boucher talk about setting up a network for young RICS members in Norfolk
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FeaturesHot topic: Impact of oil prices
Following on from last week’s energy issue, Davis Langdon examines the impact of oil prices – and therefore petrol prices and transport costs – going through the roof
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FeaturesGlobal reach
‘The summit of world architecture has been conquered by a tiny class of signature architect who peddle a brand of designer egotism to desperate clients with no regard to context, placemaking or local needs. Discuss.’
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FeaturesThe father trap
As if babies didn’t create enough havoc in the lives of their dads, they are now threatening to disrupt their employers, too. The government wants to give new fathers three months’ paternity leave on £106 a week. But in the macho world of construction, how many would actually ...
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Features
Market forecast: Infrastructure explosion
Davis Langdon looks at the state of the construction economy, including energy price rises, the Olympics, current public spending and the exploding infrastructure sector. Plus, why everybody’s talking about oil …