More Focus – Page 182
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FeaturesCost update Q3 2011
Never a dull moment: average earnings have improved but inflation is still at a 15-year high, and industrial relations remain tense. Peter Fordham of Davis Langdon, an Aecom company, reports
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FeaturesThe Building Good Employer Guide: Pathfinders
If companies are to navigate through the downturn and out the other side, they need to make some crucial strategic and staffing decisions. Building asks some of the most forward-thinking firms where they’re heading and how
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FeaturesThe Building Good Employer Guide: What’s the winning combination?
Employers have a dilemma: the pressure is on to reduce staff costs but also to retain the best talent to bolster business. Our guide reveals new trends in benefits offered by the firms that are ahead of the game
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FeaturesMcLaren factory: Driving force
White, pristine and streamlined – McLaren’s sports car production centre is like no factory you’ve ever seen. Ike Ijeh goes for a spin at the Foster-designed facility
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FeaturesStone unturned: Crest Nicholson interview
Two years ago Crest Nicholson almost came a cropper under a deluge of debt. Chief executive Stephen Stone tells Building how its buy-out, and some sheer nerve, has enabled it to stay around
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FeaturesPublic sector cuts: Client feedback
Public sector clients slashed projects in response to the chancellor’s swingeing cuts. But as the results of the Constructionline Building Index show, the pain is by no means over
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FeaturesCountry focus: China
China’s GDP outstrips almost everyone else’s, but, says Philip Darby from EC Harris, there are concerns about inflation, bank lending, house prices and construction safety
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FeaturesSurvival of the fittest: Courses to improve your CV
Is your CV as good as it could be? With 2012 looking tough, now’s the time to upskill and gain knowledge to win the race for jobs and further your career. Here are three courses that could put you in the fast lane
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FeaturesArts-led regeneration projects: Join the culture club
These days museums, art galleries and concert halls are built not for their own sake but in the hope they can transform deprived urban wastelands into vibrant communities. Ike Ijeh looks at the resounding successes - and some abject failures
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FeaturesQ&A with the RICS: The new qualification
The RICS’ new AssocRICS qualification has been met with scepticism and accusations of devaluing the profession. Building talks to executive director Mark Walley about why a creating a new path into the institution is a good thing for everyone
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FeaturesFlood-proof house: Home and dry
Would you build a house on the Norfolk Broads, one of the most flood-prone areas of the UK? LSI Architects did and its sophisticated design meant getting the project through planning was plain sailing.
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FeaturesQ&A with a roofing specialist: To top it all
How has roofing design been affected by the pressure to reduce costs while providing environmentally-friendly solutions? Brent Tyrrell, business development manager at Lakesmere, talks about the latest developments in the sector
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FeaturesTurner & Townsend interview: Vince Clancy and Steve McGuckin
As more UK consultancies are snapped up by international giants, Building hears from global boss Vince Clancy and UK MD Steve McGuckin about why Turner & Townsend isn’t budging on its independence
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FeaturesRetail market report: the impact of online shopping
Forget shopping trolleys. You’ll soon be able to buy something by pointing your mobile phone at it. But what impact is this, and the inexorable rise of online shopping, going to have on retail construction? Building looks at this fast-changing sector
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FeaturesThe tracker: Autumn wipe out
September offered little cause for cheer as activity declined across all three sectors: residential, non-residential and civil engineering. Experian Economics reveals the extent of the bad news
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FeaturesFirst Impressions: Kapoor's ArcelorMittal Orbit
The student panel is not too impressed with Anish Kapoor’s controversial spiralling Olympic ArcelorMittal Orbit
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FeaturesThe rise of the BIM consultant
With its clear government backing and success stories in the press, construction firms realise that BIM is a Very Important Thing. The question is, how to do it? Thomas Lane meets the new wave of BIM consultants who may have the answer
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FeaturesAre we experiencing the second great depression? Into the vortex
Reports out this week warn of five more years of economic decline, soaring unemployment and the threat of widespread social unrest. Could we be experiencing a second Great Depression? Building travels back in time to predict construction’s future
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FeaturesThe consultancy sector: Little and large
Consolidation is now the name of the consultancy sector game - except some clients still like a more individual touch. Joey Gardiner asks if uneasiness over the new giants is spawning small startups
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FeaturesThe Tom Bloxham interview
For 20 years, renowned regeneration company Urban Splash grew and grew. Then in 2008 the bottom fell out of the market and soon after the firm found itself on the ‘brink of collapse’. Its founder tells Emily Wright how it changed everything - and nothing