More Focus – Page 176
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FeaturesHigh Speed 2: Jobs on the line
HS2 has got off to a speedy start by appointing its first-phase consultants in just three weeks. But the real wow-factor of this mega-project is that it could employ thousands of construction workers over more than two decades. Building assesses the opportunities ahead
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FeaturesFirst Impressions: Renzo Piano's Shard
Our student panel from the RCA and NTU give their verdicts on London’s tallest building
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FeaturesSustainable supermarket: M&S's new Cheshire Oaks store
At this enormous store in Chester, M&S is putting its Plan A sustainability programme to the test. And from the zero-waste policy to the innovative use of natural materials, all the evidence suggests that this is one plan A that is actually working … Building reports
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Features
Lead times: Oct-Dec 2011
There was very little change in the final quarter, suggesting that the rise in enquiries earlier in the year failed to translate into increased workload. Brian Moone of Mace reports
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FeaturesSpotlight: Major infrastructure
Vast civil engineering projects such as Crossrail are likely to keep concrete producers busy over the next couple of years, and lengthen lead times for diaphragm wall construction, says Brian Moone
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FeaturesLOCOG's James Bulley: The fall guy
As LOCOG’s head of venues and infrastructure, James Bulley has just six months to install 200,000 temporary seats, put up 76 miles of fencing, finish the hockey stadium, weed the rowing lake … and take the rap if anything goes wrong. So why is he so calm? Building finds out. ...
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FeaturesThe London 1948 Olympics: Running on empty
If the preparations for London 2012 have sometimes felt like an uphill struggle, at least we haven’t had to ask the world to bring its own food. Launching our Building Memories series from the magazine archive, Building looks back to the Austerity Olympics of 1948 - the last time the ...
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FeaturesCharles McBeath on Ramboll growth: Why stop now?
For Charles McBeath, head of Ramboll UK, the secret to growth is acquisition and last year he doubled the size of his company by acquiring engineering firm Gifford, boosting turnover from £35m to £58m. But that, he tells Building, was just for starters
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FeaturesCladding the Dorchester extension: The rich kid next door
When you’re building a hotel for the young and fabulously wealthy, bronze cladding may not sound excessive, but it was still proving beyond the means of the team behind the Dorchester’s new extension project - until they discovered a spray-applied alternative … Building reports
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Features
Market forecast: That sinking feeling
Construction output looks set to fall by 5% in 2012 as new work dries up and the UK, like the rest of Europe, slips back into recession. Peter Fordham of Davis Langdon, an AECOM company, reports
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FeaturesWill the Olympics mean other projects in London get delayed?
Traffic restrictions set for the six weeks of the Olympic and Paralympic Games are designed to help cope with unprecedented levels of visitors to the capital. But could London’s other construction projects end up in a jam?
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FeaturesThe Olympic village: architectural review
The Olympic village is the last main 2012 venue to be completed and as a symbol of regeneration its success is crucial to legacy plans. But have its designers played it too safe? Building reports
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FeaturesAndrew McNaughton: A Brit abroad
As chief operating officer of the biggest UK-based European contractor with a £15bn order book and profit north of £300m, Balfour Beatty’s Andrew McNaughton has more reason than most to be bullish. But, as he tells Building, there’s work out there for smaller firms too - if they know where ...
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FeaturesMoD work: Private sector-led plan of attack
The Ministry of Defence’s announcement that it won’t let any new construction contracts this year has left bidders in limbo, but could the imminent appointment of a private sector partner boost morale in the ranks?
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FeaturesThe tracker: A chill wind
Construction activity fell to a nine-month low in November as residential and civil engineering work plummeted, according to latest figures from Experian Economics
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FeaturesBuilding intelligence Q3 2011
Against all expectations, construction output seems to have grown in 2011. Which means that it’s this year that the public spending cuts are really going to start hurting … Experian Economics reports
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FeaturesRaindrops keep falling: The Oxford Natural History Museum's leaking roof
The Oxford Natural History Museum has been plagued by water dripping through its roof since its completion but after years of buckets and botched jobs one architect has finally solved the problem. Building finds out how you fix a 154-year-old leak
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FeaturesExhibition Road: Walkin' & wheels
Dixon Jones’ £28m reworking of South Kensington’s great museum quarter, Exhibition Road, resolves the long stand-off between pedestrians and cars by allowing them to share the same space. Ike Ijeh is knocked over by the simplicity of the design. Photographs by Tim Crocker
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FeaturesStanton Williams: The Attraction of Opposites
Architect Stanton Williams is a company that likes to be different - so when its profit plunged by 90% at the start of the financial crisis it didn’t do what so many other architects are doing and look abroad for work. It decided to stick with what it knows best: ...
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FeaturesIs the Green Deal heading for failure?
The Green Deal is supposed to be the biggest domestic refurbishment programme since the Second World War. But the government’s own figures predict it will be anything but. Joey Gardiner asks if the coalition’s flagship policy could be heading for failure