More news – Page 4223
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FeaturesDo you know this man?
The enigmatic John McDonough has given his first interview since taking over at Carillion two years ago, and in it he tells Tom Broughton how he's turned the contractor into a lean, PFI-powered speedboat.
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FeaturesA designer rampage
London's trendiest new celeb eaterie was dreamed up by 80 (yes, 80) mostly French designers as a heady mix of retro-baroque and ultra-kitsch
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Comment
A voyage to Psychotropia
"Art deco was kitsch and camp and gently surreal, and architects who take themselves too seriously have always taken it too seriously, too." Discuss …
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Comment
So much energy, so little time
I am writing in response to your piece on the government's energy white paper (28 February, page 15), which outlined targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from buildings. A few days later, the government announced a much-needed £20m grant aid programme to stimulate the installation of photovoltaic cells in buildings.Fronted ...
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In safe hands
Philip Harris' article on the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (14 March, page 54) is an interesting approach to the question of how to enforce what he calls "unpopular and ineffective legislation". But if CDM is unpopular, who is going to bother enforcing it if the Health and Safety Executive ...
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There's no such smell
I have just been catching up on last week's edition of Building and enjoyed the collection of interviews entitled "The children's crusade" (21 March, page 44). However, Jonathan Manser confused me in saying that the smell of wet concrete was one of his earliest memories. In my 35 years in ...
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Features
What goes around …
… comes around, as discovered by those graduates who've had their pockets stuffed with cash by paranoid employers, some of whom have given themselves pay cuts … Matthew Richards reports on the 2003 Building/Hays Montrose consultants' salary guide.
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Features
What Gordon's going to do
Helen Demuth outlines how Wednesday's Budget is likely affect VAT, National Insurance, stamp duty and corporation tax
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Comment
We're all taxmen now
The Inland Revenue intends to introduce a new scheme for policing tax collection, and once again it shifts the onus onto you, dear reader
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Comment
Pleasure and punishment
What has compensation for the mental anguish caused by a holiday from hell got to do with the construction industry? Rather more than you may think, alas
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FeaturesCapping the tip of the gherkin
Cladding specialist Schmidlin is responsible for the facade of insurance company Swiss Re's tower in the City of London – but only up to level 38. For the top two floors, it hands over to Austrian steelwork specialist Waagner Biro; this firm has the job of building the frame for ...
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FeaturesSafesurfers
Too many professionals don't have CSCS cards because they lack safety nous. Gary Redman of NOW Recruitment explains why you shouldn't be one of them
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Features
DTI: Construction wage inflation set to soar
Annual report on industry says that skills shortage will lead to huge wage hikes, leading to increased project costs and prices.
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Features
Conservation officer's lot not a happy one
A campaign to help beleaguered conservation officers in local authorities was launched last week by English Heritage with government backing.The campaign follows the first survey of England’s 700 local authority conservation officers. It found that they were overstretched, under-resourced and undervalued. The survey was commissioned by EH and the ...
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FeaturesHigher, further and richer
There are fantastic opportunities for construction firms in the tertiary education market, but, of course, universities are hard to get into and demand high quality work. In fact, you may want to take notes
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Features
A suspect package?
ERP software systems, which promise a total solution to administering a company, have been successful in some industries, but construction's experience of them has not been entirely happy – as Atkins will testify. We assess the pros and cons.
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Comment
Dumb or what?
The drive to deliver high-value, high-quality design is being hampered by a class system that prevents architects and engineers from talking to specialists as equals
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FeaturesTending to zero
There is a suspicion in the industry that contractors are fatalists. That is, they make the right noises on health and safety, but privately believe that fatal accidents come with the job. But now Bovis Lend Lease has put in place a global strategy to reduce site deaths to almost ...
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NewsBritish firms may shun contracts in post-war Iraq
Contractors express worries over reaction of staff and insurers if they win reconstruction work.