All Features articles – Page 566
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FeaturesAn urban renaissance has arrived at paddington and it's wearing bicycle clips
For centuries Paddington has been paralysed by high-speed transport, and many are the developers who've looked at it and despaired. Now adroit planning, distinguished architecture and the humble bicycle are delivering a model regeneration.
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Tender price forecast: Remaining immune
The UK stock market slumped in May and then launched itself on a rollercoaster ride. But this hasn’t affected building tender prices or new orders, which on the whole are continuing their inexorable rise. Davis Langdon & Everest explains why, and what will happen next
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FeaturesPeter Gershon
Hired to overhaul government procurement, Peter Gershon is a huge fan of the PFI. But, as Marcus Fairs found, the chief executive of the Office of Government Commerce is uncomfortable singing its praises.
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FeaturesHouse of horrors
Converting an 18th-century mansion into a luxury hotel is almost bound to be a hairy encounter with the past. But when centuries' worth of slapdash extensions and interventions have taken their toll on the building's structure, then even a crack in the wall can spook you …
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Just the job
Louise Frostick, senior designer at Inspace Complete, tells Victoria Madine about the highs and lows of working for a fledgling interior design company
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FeaturesCost model: 21st-century university building
The government wants 50% of 18-30-year-olds to be educated to degree level by 2010, and expects universities to compete in international research markets. So what buildings are required to help meet these objectives? In its latest cost model, Davis Langdon & Everest examines the 21st-century university building
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Brushing up
David Hill, managing director of building services engineer Hills Electrical & Mechanical, takes Building through his experience of gaining a CSCS card
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FeaturesDangerous visions
Three years ago, Amey reinvented itself as a support services firm. This was hailed as a visionary move, and many in the industry scrambled to follow suit. Now that it is in desperate straits, the question arises: was the idea flawed, or just the way Amey went about it?
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FeaturesOn easy street
This year's Hays Montrose/Building executive salary guide reveals that top professionals have manoeuvred out of last year's salary cul-de-sac onto streets paved with gold.
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FeaturesGreen Haus
The headquarters of the Norddeutsche Landesbank in Hanover is a startling building in a boring city. But, says Marcus Fairs, the one thing it isn't shouting about – its green technology – is its most impressive feature.
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FeaturesLiquid sky
This raised, glass-bottomed lake is the centrepiece of a city park in Japan, and will cast a flickering light to soothe visiting nine-to-fivers below
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FeaturesMichael meacher
The minister has a few modest targets for you to meet: like eliminating carbon dioxide emissions, beating the Germans, making Part L even tougher, rescuing pandas, preventing floods – and saving the world … Matthew Richards finds out more.
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FeaturesA special relationship
Reebok was so set on making its flagship UK sports club the mirror image of its US chain that it insisted its fit-out contractor use American workers and materials. Cue much head scratching, jargon translation and getting used to strange building practices – like no tea breaks … Thomas Lane ...
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FeaturesWhere did Atkins go so wrong?
After five years of extraordinary growth, consultant Atkins had become so big that nobody really understood the whole business. So in a bid to create a coherent structure, its new chief executive introduced a centralised accounting program – and a year later its shares were almost worthless. The question is, ...
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FeaturesGood, bad and just plain ugly
At next week's urban summit, deputy prime minister John Prescott will be called to account for his regeneration policy. To show the kind of problems he faces, Mark Leftly examines three exemplary schemes that met very different fates
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FeaturesDoctors and purses
When the contractor building a hospital in Leeds decided on a new structural support system, the cost of the fire protection threatened to spiral. But, writes Alex Smith, a computerised fire-analysis tool took the heat off the specifications team and left the client with money to burn
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Features
Fire door hardware
Control over the supply and installation of fire doors has, in the past, been haphazard and therefore dangerous. Graham Hulland, product marketing manager for Dorma Door Controls, explains how you can avoid the pitfalls
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Features
Fire protection
How well structural steelwork is protected against fire can mean the difference between life and death. Peter Fordham, cost research associate at Davis Langdon & Everest, outlines the three main types of fire protection, along with their pros and cons
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Features
The heat of the moment
In this month's Tracker, Construction Forecasting and Research reveals that activity levels across the construction industry heated up in August, although the outlook remains rather more lukewarm