All Features articles – Page 613
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Features
Are European design competitions a fait accompli?
The winner of the competition to masterplan the European Parliament Quarter admits having friends on the jury and says this is normal. In fact, it seems cronyism is endemic in European competitions.
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Features
Who’ll pay for this?
The fourth in the series of articles on collateral warranties looks at what is at stake in negotiations over net contribution clauses and professional indemnity insurance.
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Features
Team spirit
Teamwork 2000 s designers are putting on the mantle of Egan and Latham and working together to create a 3D model of an office development. But are they ready for the real world?
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Features
Loopholes 'R' us
A thriving legal industry has arisen in the past year or so, dedicated to dreaming up contract terms that deny subcontractors their right to adjudication. Luckily, though, parliament has a simple remedy.
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Features
Turning up the heat
A heating maintenance company cannot, under the terms of the Construction Act, call in an adjudicator to settle a contractual dispute. Or can it? After all, the act sets out to tackle mischief-makers.
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Features
Five steps from home
Steel frames doesn't have to be difficult option for housebuilders. The new system is as cheap as timber and can be put together in five easy stages.
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Features
Silence in court
In the latest in a series on dispute resolution procedures, we look at why the number of cases reaching the Technology and Construction Court has fallen by about one-third.
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Features
Services whole-life costs Heating
The fourth in this series on the lifespan costs of engineering services compares four heating systems.
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Features
Robert Steer, trainee design-and-build co-ordinator at Willmott Dixon
One of Robert Steer s ambitions is to meet the person who built the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, the world s tallest. This is the kind of enthusiasm coveted by construction firms. The 22-year-old has been fascinated by tall buildings since he was a child so much so ...
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Features
Contractors and housebuilders by remuneration of highest paid director
Whereas staffers saw their pay rise 6.2% on average last year, the bosses enjoyed 15.7% increases. Top of the rich list and way ahead of the competition was Bowmer & Kirkland's highest-paid director, who took home £1.6m, including bonus. Housebuilding bosses got some of the biggest rises. Prowting's highest-earning director ...
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Features
How we can compete
In the battle to attract graduates, how do you compete with sexy industries offering starting salaries 10k higher? The last of our recruitment specials reports that training may be the key.
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Features
Robert Syms: The builder from the old school
Picture yourself on the Tory back benches, two years into your Westminster career, when you re suddenly appointed to a junior role on the shadow environment team. The transport brief is ideal for perfecting your soundbites for the Daily Mail, but then there s the construction portfolio, which everyone knows ...
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Features
Breakfast of champions
A diet of missed breakfasts and rushed lunches at the desk washed down with cups of coffee isn t good for you or your employees. A healthier workforce will lead to enhanced performance.
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Features
The one that got away
Julia Smith had no burning ambition to be a management consultant. In fact, she was a civil engineering masters student at Birmingham University and being sponsored by a major contractor when she went to a milk-round interview with Andersen Consulting. When I went, I had no idea what they ...
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Features
Contractors and housebuilders by employees' average pay
Fit-out and construction management firm Interior Services Group was a lucrative place to work for most employees last year. Earlier this month, it announced pre-tax profit up 91% to £4.2m on a slightly reduced turnover of £370m. The company actually paid its staff less than it did in 1998, but ...
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Features
Appointments
Contractors Nigel Marks, formerly of Taylor Woodrow, has been appointed development director for Ballast Wiltshier s South-east region. Civil engineering and construction group May Gurney has appointed Bob Drew business development manager, based in Cambridge. Kvaerner Construction has appointed Sunil Shah Singh (right) managing director of Kvaerner Cementation India. Housebuilders ...
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Features
They’re back
A combination of shrewd populism and a government with more leaks than a sea-going sieve has pulled the Tories back from oblivion. So meet Archie Norman and Robert Syms, the men who must convince construction that now might be a good time to get to know the next government. Additional ...
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Features
Archie Norman: Why the Tories’ business plan will work
Archie Norman is worried. He has seen the new offices he will soon inhabit at Portcullis House and is unimpressed. It s a funny set-up, he says. The furnishings are expensive but the actual accommodation is very modest. There are a number of small offices with ...
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Features
Who’d employ an architect?
At least, who d employ one if they are using the new standard contract, SFA/99? It unreasonably limits an architect s liabilities and weighs down a client with onerous obligations.
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Features
It’s good to talk
Rob Smith of Hays Montrose explains why managers have to keep their lines of communication open.