More Focus – Page 315
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Features
The tracker: Growth is growing
The infrastructure sector’s revival is likely to continue, whereas it has been a quiet period for the residential and non-residential sectors. According to the Experian Business Strategies survey overall growth will be moderate, but it will remain robust
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FeaturesDoing justice to the law
Michael Wilford’s law academy in the Hague is a judicious mix of the traditional and the avant-garde
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FeaturesNever again
In the past four months accidents involving tower cranes have left three people dead, including a member of the public. To prevent further fatalities Building is calling for rigorous checks, better supervision and public accountability for these potentially dangerous pieces of equipment.
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FeaturesYou wait all year for a green initiative ...
Sustainability Having introduced a raft of sustainability measures just before Christmas, the government must allow them time to develop into a clear strategy.
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Features
Building intelligence Q3 2006: Perfect poise
It’s almost like they planned it this way. As the government was forced to scale back its ambitious spending plans, commercial and industrial output picked up. And, as Experian Business Strategies reports, this all adds up to a modest recovery in the first three quarters of 2006
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FeaturesIf at first you don’t succeed ...
Lift has had trouble taking off in England. But that hasn’t deterred the Scottish executive from dusting off the healthcare initiative, giving it a few design tweaks, and seeing whether it will fly.
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FeaturesDone to a turn
Architect Clague’s curvaceous extension to the Strode Park Foundation brings something that most housing for disabled people has never even heard of – glamour.
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FeaturesAdam family values
Many go into the construction industry because their dads did, but only a handful have one as famous as Robert Adam. Emily Wright met him and son Jamie to find out whether the agony outweighed the ecstasy
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FeaturesNo more trouble at the top
Few things are more galling than having your penthouse office suite shaken by high winds or the odd overgrown ape. Arup’s solution to wobbly building syndrome is dependable and cost-effective – though we’re not sure if it’s been tested on animals.
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FeaturesSpecialist cost update: Structures
In our latest specialist update, the experts from Gardiner & Theobald outline lead times, costs and the issues most likely to cause sleepless nights for the piling, concrete frame and structural steelwork sectors
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FeaturesDry stone flooring
Stanhope was sick of waiting around for screed to dry, so it asked some suppliers to work out a way of doing without it. Thomas Lane kicks off a flooring special by explaining how they did just that.
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Features
What to specify: flooring
Everything you could possibly want to do to a floor is covered this week, from laying it, carpeting it, heating it, colouring it and protecting it, to fixing balconies and inserting sockets into it.
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Features
What to remember: Floor screed
Don’t want to lay your fancy finish on that bumpy, lumpy sub-floor? You need a decent screed – but there’s more to applying one than mixing cement and sand, says Peter Caplehorn of Scott Brownrigg
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FeaturesDome improvements
WHO FITS IT - Mark Holden of 4m tells Building about the intricacies of laying down resin flooring in the Millennium Dome
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FeaturesSporting chance
WHO MAKES IT - Gerflor’s French staff were sick as parrots when London won the 2012 Olympics. But the UK office was over the moon – it had big plans to supply floors to the new arenas.
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FeaturesWillkommen zurück, pet (Welcome back, liebchen)
Our league of Europe’s top 300 contractors and materials producers kicks off with an analysis of the German market, which has just had its first year of growth in a decade. Mark Leftly looks at what’s caused the change – and what it means for British firms considering a trip ...
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FeaturesThis is Year Zero
In 10 years’ time, the home pictured is going to be the industry’s standard product, if the government’s call for a zero carbon ‘revolution’ is successful. Vikki Miller assesses its chances
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FeaturesThis professor has been brought to you by ...
If your lecturer spends more time with private firms than with you, should you a) Complain, b) Be glad they’re keeping up with the latest thinking, or c) Get them to wangle you a job?
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FeaturesGreen ticks all round
Health and safety Sonia Soltani reports on how the BCSA is coming to the rescue of small contractors and explains why the Steel Construction Institute’s Trojan Horse is a welcome gift
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FeaturesWho’s going to drive this?
There is only one place in Britain where crane operators are trained: the National Construction College in Norfolk. Now a decision by the local council has thwarted plans to prevent it sliding into dereliction. Sarah Richardson and Angela Monaghan look at what, if anything, can be done to retrieve the ...