More Focus – Page 288
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Features
Lafarge: Strong stuff
Building materials giant Lafarge operates in 70 countries around the world.
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FeaturesPoker Kings 2007
Fed up with the humdrum world of work? Looking for excitement and the possibility of winning some hard cash? Well, Building’s new poker tournament is rushing to your rescue. Come and take a chance – and it’s all in aid of charity, so you’ll go home with a warm glow ...
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Features‘Architects are lower down the pecking order now ...
...when we came out of college, people used to sweep the site before we went to visit’
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FeaturesNo contractors that way …
Shetland is a 13-hour ferry ride from mainland Britain and is closer to the Arctic Circle than to London, so when its main school fell into disrepair, the islanders faced a struggle finding someone to build a new one.
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Features
Building intelligence Q2 2007: Holding strong
With the office and retail sectors bearing up well, it looks as though the tightening credit market will not be enough to destabilise the industry’s growth, says Experian Business Strategies
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Features
While the sun shone
The improved weather conditions in August perked up contractors across the country, although demand has yet to live up to their enthusiasm. Experian Business Strategies reports
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Features
Britain’s new front door
St Pancras station is about to become the last vital part in the 186mph link that connects London with the rest of Europe. So just as well that it’s an architectural and engineering triumph, then. Martin Spring looks at how it was achieved
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Features‘There is no question of cost overruns on this job’
After 18 years, the £16bn Crossrail project has finally got the go-ahead. Now chairman Doug Oakervee, in his first interview, explains how he will fulfil his promise not to go a penny over budget.
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FeaturesThe planning gain supplement is dead. Long live the roof tax?
Developers have won a famous battle with the government over the introduction of the PGS. But as infrastructure still has to be paid for, it looks like we’ll be moving to a system based on the Milton Keynes roof tax. David Parsley asks what this means
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FeaturesLeadbitter, the champions
The Oxfordshire contractor wins the cup in Building’s inaugural charity five-a-side tournament
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FeaturesSustainability — Embodied carbon
Your client’s low-energy building has a wind turbine and photovoltaics, the insulation uses sheep’s wool and there’s no PVC.But just how much carbon has been used in assembling the building – and should we worry? Davis Langdon report on an initiative to rate the embodied carbon of buildings.
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FeaturesTop 250 Consultants 2007: The age of expansion
With all the talk of credit crunches and stalled projects, it’s possible to forget what a staggeringly successful time this is for consultants – as our annual league of the top 250 makes clear.
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FeaturesPoker Kings 2007
Fed up with the humdrum world of work? Looking for excitement and the possibility of winning some hard cash? Well, Building’s new poker tournament is rushing to your rescue. Come and take a chance – and it’s all in aid of charity, so you’ll go home with a warm glow ...
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FeaturesNaughty school
Just because these Stuttgart classrooms make the most of light, colour and ‘the way children walk’ doesn’t mean they can’t break a few rules …
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FeaturesBoom over?
Business might well be ballooning for the UK’s top 250 consultants, as our cover suggests, but the global credit crunch has led some well-informed voices to predict a slide in demand, particularly in the London commercial market. Stephen Kennett looks at whether they’re right
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FeaturesCeiling lining board
British Gypsum has introduced a ceiling lining board that it says combines high levels of thermal insulation with 30 minutes’ fire resistance.
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FeaturesSweden's green utopia
This new Stockholm suburb demonstrates how simple, robust, centralised systems can outperform flashy designs bristling with turbines. But can it work as a model for Gordon Brown’s eco-towns?
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FeaturesThe invisible client
Repair work for insurers can be a lucrative income stream for small builders. But first, you have to unravel the enigma of who your real client is.
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FeaturesCost model: Student residences
The academic year has started and a fresh intake of students is moving into brand new housing. Simon Rawlinson of Davis Langdon explores this dynamic and price-conscious market
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Features‘Yeah, near enough’
Councils’ building control departments are facing big changes to the way they do business, with many predicting a wholesale switch to self-certification. But what will be the consequences of that? Thomas Lane took a peek at the future, and it doesn’t look good …