Opinion – Page 330
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Comment
Joy deferred as CIPS shows construction activity grows for first time in two years
So the construction activity indicator produced by the buyers’ body CIPS finally points to growth after two years of measuring falling workloads. But this seemingly uplifting moment appears to have brought little joy.The March figure popped its head above the 50 no-change mark on the back of rising activity in ...
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Comment
Bleak and tortured: Kapoor's Orbit is hardly an Olympic ideal
London’s newly unveiled Olympic sculpture has been lambsated by a wave of criticsm and bad publicity. Does it deserve it?
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CommentWhat politicians really think
It is in a government’s nature to cut capital spending before public revenue. But the Charter 284 cause can be served by appealing to politicians’ worst instincts
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CommentWonders & blunders
Richard Steer is staggered by an extraordinary structure built for the last Olympics, but is worried that London’s efforts will be blighted by its industrial past
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Comment
Vote with your trolleys
Starting tomorrow morning, my usual trip to Tesco will now be to one of their competitors (“Tesco sends design and QS work to India”, 12 March, page 13)
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Comment
Loyalty discarded
A bit short-sighted from Tesco. Most of its current business is in UK and it does place a strong emphasis on its loyalty cards so presumably it believes in loyalty – or am I a bit naive? I will go somewhere else for my shopping in future.George Smith
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Comment
Nobody was left
Complaining about Tesco’s outsourcing of its suppliers, architects and surveyors reminds me of the poem by the German pastor Martin Niemöller, First They Came, in which he tells how he failed to speak up when the Nazis took away communists, then trade unionists, and then Jews because he was none ...
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CommentOther Jarvises
You may have noted in the press that the rail maintenance company Jarvis Plc has announced that it is going into administration. We wish to make it known that Jarvis Group Limited has no connections, business or otherwise, with the above named company
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Comment
Missing Scotland
We are disappointed that the Scottish government’s call for a programme of accelerated capital spending of some £350m in the Budget has not been answered
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Comment
Budget blues
Two years ago they removed the tax relief available for building factories, roads, railways, airports – that is, industrial building allowances
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Comment
Small is beautiful
I have noticed the adverts in Building for the Good Employer Guide you will be publishing in October. I think it’s a real shame you limit entry to firms employing at least 30 UK-based professional staff, and I feel you are missing a trick here
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Comment
Keep it clean
As someone who swears too much and is not proud of it, I agree with Chris Winks’ letter (5 March, page 27) about unnecessary swear words being printed in Building
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CommentQuentin Shears: academy@grimston
“The secret to a healthy team spirit, I have discovered, is a shared vested interest”
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Comment
Dubai's expats adjust to life in the slow lane
Visiting Dubai last week, one of the most noticeable differences from previous trips was that I managed to reach all my meetings on time.Gone are the days of sitting in static queues of nose to nose SUVs frantically tapping the blackberry trying to reschedule meetings.Dubai has clearly slowed since the ...
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Comment
Why construction firms must recruit financial engineers
Financial engineers – you can be forgiven for holding them in total contempt. The finger of guilt for the recession ravaging construction firms points witheringly in their direction.But, galling as it might seem, construction now needs financial engineers more than it needs civil, structural, mechanical or electrical engineers.The tools and ...
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Comment
Why falling mortgages approval are spooking housing market watchers
The latest figures from the Bank of England showing the number of mortgage approvals at a nine month low have caused a bit of a stir and increased talk of a double dip in the housing market.Here’s a few reasons why.There is a historic link between the number of mortgage ...
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Comment
Good news on the planning front – rejections fall and applications for new homes rise
The data published today on planning applications on the face of it should provide house builders and their suppliers with some comfort.The figures show that in the final quarter of last year the number of planning decisions for major residential developments – those with 10 or more homes – rose ...