All Letters articles – Page 83
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… but a fan gained
If the main problem faced by the industry is attracting young people (16 September), then the solution is right there on page 46.
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Early warning
Your article (26 August) on land designated for employment use being bought for affordable housing in London raises some interesting considerations.
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Risky business
I refer to the articles on the PFI in your 23 September issue, and wonder whether the UK contracting industry will ever learn. PFI is not working as it could, agreed. But there’s no point blaming the public sector clients – that’s just too easy. It is the market that ...
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Taxman tales
With reference to JT Emanuel’s letter on plans to revise the CIS (9 September), he says “part of the blame for the Revenue not taking any notice [of industry complaints] lies in the fact that the industry’s negotiators are not builders”.
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Short on time
Your opening statement “Ask anyone in construction what the biggest problem they face is and there is just one answer: the skills shortage” (16 September) caught my attention. Is the skills shortage really the biggest problem for construction people?
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How to get paid
After reading the article on proposed reforms to the Construction Act to address payment abuse (2 September), I’d like to draw attention to a simple solution – the Late Payment of Commercial Debt (Interest) Act 1998: Agree payment terms at the outset of a deal and stick to them;Explain your ...
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True colours
As a 26-year-old building surveyor working for a large contractor, I had hoped that your graduate article (16 September) would have addressed all the issues the construction industry faces.
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Oi! Mr Blitz! No!
Perusing the September edition of Regenerate, mainly to note how the South-east is going to “cock up” the London Olympics, I read with interest the article by Roger Blitz concerning the Muslim community.
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A load of hot air
With reference to your article about the failure of natural ventilation systems (9 September), we can identify with many of the points made in the article.
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Why retentions must go
I read your article “Blood and money” (2 September) with great interest.
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Recruitment faces dire future
Your article outlining the current recruitment problems in Essex (9 September, page 110) failed to mention three other developments that will “make high demands upon the local construction industry”. These are the Thames and Haven Gateways projects, both of which provide for thousands of homes and huge industrial and commercial ...
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Watching the defectives
Regarding your piece on defects in new homes (9 September): the research undertaken within the School of the Built & Natural Environment, at Glasgow Caledonian University, is based on more than 100,000 pieces of data relating to defects in a broad range of house types, constructed by more than 200 ...
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Partners in crime
I sit and wonder whether Egan’s theory of partnering “twice as much for half the price” will ever be as famous as Einstein’s formula for the relationship between mass and energy, E=mc2. Partnering is the new “in thing” and at least 50% of local authorities are attempting to do it. ...
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Recycling centre is rubbish
I was astonished to read in Specifier (9 September) that one of the North London Waste and Recycling Centres is described as “an absolute Rolls-Royce of a job”.
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We’re not using CDM right
Any attempt to get the industry to recognise the financial and other benefits to be gained from improved logistics is to be applauded.
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Stop sobbing, subbies …
I think subcontractors complain too much about retentions. From experience, I think the subcontractor is often its own worst enemy.
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A logistical twist
There is far too much carbon dioxide-emitting traffic on the road, and the government is trying to address the issues through initiatives such as EcoHomes. But one is tempted to think that the authors of such systems have never been outside the Home Counties. Certainly, they do not appear to ...
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Local jobs for local people
In the 12 August issue of Building there is an article entitled “Ethnic minority firm gets helping hand in Burnley” (page 18 - see related articles). The implication of this article – the same implication as contained in a separate recent article in Building about social enterprises – is that ...