More Focus – Page 166
-
FeaturesSteve Hindley: Mr Happy
The chair of contractor Midas and the CBI’s Construction Council has a smile on his face. What does he know that we don’t?
-
FeaturesShould we work all hours?
Ray O’Rourke has said a 35-hour week would make the industry more attractive to recruits. How realistic is a shorter working week is - and does anyone really want it?
-
FeaturesKisho Kurokawa's Maggie's Centre
Before he died in 2007, the legendary Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa sketched out a swirling, ‘dragon-tailed’ cancer care centre in Swansea. Now the UK’s 13th Maggie’s Centre has been completed in titanium-studded concrete by Garbers & James
-
FeaturesSolving the panel puzzle
The Maggie’s Centre certainly provided a stern test of the capabilities of precast concrete supplier Thorp Precast. The job involved creating 56 precast panels, and although many of these were similar, very few were identical.
-
FeaturesThe ‘cosmic whirlpool’ and other Maggie’s Centres
When writer and garden designer Maggie Keswick Jencks was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993, together with her husband, the architectural writer Charles Jencks, she set about her creating a charity project to provide cancer sufferers with expert support within a more sympathetic built environment.
-
FeaturesThe tracker: One direction
Construction activity has been in continuous decline for 18 months now, and the dearth of residential orders offers little hope of respite any time soon. Experian Economics reports
-
FeaturesTurn on the water work
Will the UK’s water woes lead to a torrent of work for construction companies?
-
FeaturesOlympic marketing rights: Time’s running out
Is it too late for UK construction to benefit from the Olympics?
-
FeaturesBuilding intelligence Q1 2012
A 28% quarterly rise in commercial orders can’t disguise the general downward trend, with output falling in most sectors - even in the safe haven of infrastructure. Experian Economics reports
-
FeaturesWuxi Grand Theatre: Wings of desire
Chinese symbolism and glacial Finnish design work in glorious harmony at PES Architects’ butterfly-roofed opera house in China
-
FeaturesHyder power: Graham Reid
Graham Reid, Hyder’s UK managing director, explains how the firm has found itself with 500 vacancies to fill
-
FeaturesEverybody’s talking…
… and unfortunately the government can’t hear a word they’re saying. It has never been more important for the industry to speak with one voice. Now the chairman of the CPA has a new plan
-
FeaturesCLM's Jason Millett: The view from the finish line
What made the Olympic build such a success? Jason Millett, head of delivery partner CLM, shares the secrets of UK construction’s shining moment – and his one regret
-
FeaturesMy digital life... Rupert Cook
The Architecture PLB director on vintage Macs, his favourite tweeters and the perils of distraction
-
FeaturesStedelijk Museum: Bathing beauty
Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum has a new addition with a seamless facade that is deliberately un-Dutch in its showiness
-
FeaturesLead times April-June 2012
Lead times remain extremely low and static across all trades, with rotary piling and facade cleaning the only packages showing any movement
-
FeaturesMy working day: Nightingale's Stuart Ward
The newly qualified architect works on a converted pig farm at Nightingale Associates
-
FeaturesRetrofit reality check
A test to measure heat loss in refurbished homes shows a worrying gulf between predictions for energy efficiency and reality
-
FeaturesBDP's David Cash: Cashing in
After a miserable 2011, BDP intends to boost profit by growing its international revenue by 20%. In an exclusive interview, the company’s new chairman explains the plan
-
FeaturesAre contractors not up to the job?
Building’s survey shows clients are having trouble finding contractors with the skills they need. Joey Gardiner asks why