More news – Page 3893
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News
Hyder’s profit leaps 81%
Engineer consultant Hyder Consulting this week revealed an 81% hike in pre-tax profit, despite reduced margins on water work in the UK.
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CommentWatching their own backs
Designers have been terrified into assuming responsibility for site safety – so much so that they now have to spend more time saving themselves than the workers
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News
ODPM set to rethink housing targets in the South-east
Opinion polls indicate that most householders in the region reject higher building levels over the next 20 years
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FeaturesConstruction: no place for women!
You’d think the industry would have moved into the 21st century by now, but when it comes to recruiting women it seems more like a 1950s Harry Enfield spoof. So does the industry not want women or is it they who aren’t interested?
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CommentIt’s down to the developer
A half-baked rethink of the law is unlikely to increase project safety. Placing the burden of responsibility at clients’ doorsteps is a much more effective solution
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CommentThe Dickens of a case
Mr Bumble had a point when he said the ‘law is a ass’ – as was borne out recently by a High Court battle that could have been settled with a phone call
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Comment
How to sing like a canary
The Office of Fair Trading is putting firms who operate cartels in a dilemma: do they keep shtoom and hope nobody finds out – or blow the whistle first?
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CommentGo back to square one
The law dealing with negligence and defective buildings is a mess, and every time the courts look at it, they make things worse. We need to start again …
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NewsMace director quits to set up fit-out firm with old boss
Operations director Matt Bray leaves after six months to start Paragon Management with ex-Bellwater chief
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News
Arcadis set to buy consultant AYH for £16m
International consultant Arcadis has made a recommended offer to buy UK quantity surveyor and project manager AYH for £16m.
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Comment
Bingham bashing
I was the architect involved in the case that Tony Bingham wrote about in his article “Too much to ask for” (27 May, page 48).
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Comment
Nice NEC does it
Ann Minogue (27 May, page 47) wrote: “At last, someone has produced a consultancy agreement that applies the same terms for each member of the team.”
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Comment
Conspiracy theory
Stephen Ratcliffe, chief executive of the Construction Confederation, suggests that my article on the ailing CSCS scheme amounts to an outlandish conspiracy theory (20 May, page 17).
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Comment
Standard bearer
I find it difficult to understand why Alan Thomas (Letters, 29 April, page 39) doesn’t think the BRE certification scheme could work for modern methods of construction, particularly as he quotes Peter Hewlett’s paper detailing the methodology of the British Board of Agrément’s approval scheme.
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Comment
When the wind doesn’t blow
You have asked for opinions on starting a new nuclear power station program (20 May, page 13).
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Comment
English: a construction skill
Your feature on immigration from the new entrants to the European Union (20 May, pages 26-29) chimes with the findings of the RICS’ UK construction industry survey earlier this year.
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CommentFlexibility is your friend
Flexible working and construction aren’t natural stablemates. Job-sharing or part-time professionals are by and large an anathema, and paid leave for new fathers and mothers is often no more than the statutory minimum.
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News
Prescott targets suppliers in drive to cut housing costs
Deputy prime minister indicates that bills for labour and plant are too high and need to be ‘sorted out’