All Leader articles – Page 43
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Tunnel but no light
Kent council drew guffaws of disbelief recently by suggesting its residents might like to help solve its housing shortage by upping sticks, moving to France and commuting to their jobs in England via the Channel Tunnel. Well, perhaps we should all start learning French.
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Gordon plays house
Gordon Brown found himself in the opposite position this week of Captain Yossarian, Joseph Heller's cursed hero of Catch-22
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The enemy within
There was quite an outcry last year when Building revealed Jarvis' claim that sabotage may have been to blame for the Potters Bar rail tragedy
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Options run out
Deciding the colour of the tiles on the bathroom walls used to be the biggest choice a homebuyer had to make. Now housebuilders are producing optional extras catalogues, offering everything anyone could want. In the USA buyers spend about 10% of a new home’s sales price on extras, and although ...
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Enough to make you sick?
The story of the £87m Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle should be triggering sirens and blue flashing lights at the Department of Health, Number 10 and the Treasury
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Be very, very careful
Given the predicament of the UK market, it's no surprise to learn that fidgety construction bosses are turning their gaze overseas
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Miliband's terms
Education minister David Miliband describes his mission to bring every secondary school in Britain up to scratch as "provocative" and "challenging". So it will be – and not just for educationalists and local authorities, but for their suppliers in construction, too. On the face of it, Miliband's timing couldn't be ...
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CABE on the threshold
One of the more remarkable British success stories since the millennium has been the rise of CABE, whose leading lights feature on this week's cover.
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Adios Amey, hola Ferrovial
Imagine how happy Amey's shareholders felt when their £1bn investment (2002) was knocked down to £81m last Wednesday (see news).
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Tear down the wall
It was just a throwaway line in Gordon Brown's excruciatingly prolix Budget speech, but its impact on contractors may be immense.
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Not a holiday camp
A decade after it was launched, journalists have finally been given their first glimpse of Britain's biggest and most awesome building project, Heathrow Terminal 5. There's not much to see yet – just a few cranes and the odd dumper truck rumbling through the dirt (pages 24-27). But this is ...
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Bombs on a budget
This week, our attentions shift to the damage that the war is causing on the home front (pages 22-23). It would be a cruel irony if investment in public services was halted to pay for Iraq just when the contracts are starting to flow. But nobody is under any illusions ...
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Homes comfort
Whenever housebuilders meet nowadays, they can be seen staring intently at one another and muttering, "this is going to be an interesting year". Never ones to talk down business, what they are really saying is: life is pretty damn difficult. The industry is facing more demands than ever before, with ...
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One or two points …
Wouldn't it be glorious if London could have a rail terminus to rival New York's Grand Central?
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Fight Ken’s development tax
Today, we launch a campaign to win construction an exemption from Ken Livingstone’s congestion charge.
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War: What it is good for
There's a stockbrokers' adage about trading in times of conflict: "Sell on the sabre-rattle, buy on the battle".
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The devil's bargain
John Prescott can't cut a deal with the firefighters, but he's found more compliant negotiating partners in housebuilders.
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The pleasures of privacy
If there was ever a moment for firms to consider going private, this is it.