Opinion – Page 339
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Comment
Is an inaccurate measure of foreign workers messing up the construction data?
Here’s a couple of graphs for stat-spotters I thought worth placing together.For some while there has been unease about both the workforce jobs figures and the repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) sector figures in the official construction output statistics.The two sets of data are linked and there's been some concern ...
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CommentAffairs to remember
A £9bn property tycoon’s brief encounter with Mace, the latest conspiracy theories over RMJM’s dalliance with Fred Goodwin and one architect’s abusive relationship with the English language
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Comment
Lessons from history
Amanda Levete says: “What we need is something like an architectural Supreme Court, made up of architects and advisers whose pre-eminence is undisputed, that passes binding judgment” (22 January, page 22)
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CommentVive la révolution!
Will Foster’s first hospital, the Circle Bath, revolutionise healthcare design (15 January, page 38)?
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Comment
Up, up and away
I would like to take issue with a recent leader, which expressed the view that rising house prices are somehow a good thing
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Comment
Planning: The campaign
I totally agree with the need to oppose changes to the planning system (Developers and housebuilders to fight Tory planning proposals, 4 January, building.co.uk)
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Comment
Experts on tap
I read Paul Donnelly’s article (15 January, page 50) on expert witness testimony with interest
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Comment
Unjust deserts
I have more sympathy with bankers’ bonuses than with the £30m paid by the Learning and Skills Council to its staff
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CommentWhy can’t we have boulangeries?
The French have mastered the art of nurturing individual shops and businesses, whereas here, civilised life is leaking out of our town centres. Gus Alexander has an idea…
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Comment
Wonders & Blunders with Geoff Capes
Shot-putter and budgie breeder Geoff Capes coos over Burghley House but has strong opinions about the childhood home of one Margaret Roberts
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CommentWhat’s going wrong at Skanska?
Sweden’s biggest contractor has been in the UK market for 10 years. During that time it has pulled off some remarkable jobs, but now it seems to be running into difficulties finding work
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CommentGovernment intern system: Slow learners
Have you ever logged on to graduatetalentpool.direct.gov.uk?
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Comment
My digital life: Niall wright
What are you listening to? Rolf Harris and his didgeridoo. And in particular his Six White Boomers song - a great festive tune.What’s your favourite website? YouTube makes me chuckle. There's a really funny video on there of a man cycling into a puddle. And the one with two cats ...
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Comment
Brighter outlook from forecasters, but severe risks remain
The forecasts from Hewes & Associates and Leading Edge sit interestingly against the other winter forecasts for construction output released over the past couple of weeks.They seem to back up the mood among other forecasters that construction workload might not fall as much was feared in the middle of last ...
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Comment
We’ll be getting off relatively lightly if the construction workforce drops by 400,000
The latest forecast from the Construction Skills Network (CSN) suggests that the current recession in construction will have led to a drop of about 400,000 in the number employed by the industry once job shedding ends in early 2011.This would mean a drop of about 15% in the workforce. That ...
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Comment
Mum: Are we out of recession yet?
You could feel the uneasiness among economists yesterday when the release of official statistics showed that the UK had just scraped enough oomph together in the final quarter of last year to stage a lacklustre return to growth.Most economists had expected the no-growth bar to be cleared by some margin. ...
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Comment
The end is nigh?
If two consecutive quarters of declining GDP is most economists’ definition of a recession; how come only one quarter’s growth at 0.1% seems good enough to mark the end of it?Regardless of the semantics; yesterday’s announcement of the provisional return of economic growth does illustrate the remaining fragility of the ...
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CommentStuck in the middle
The general purpose contractor that turns over £70-200m and bases its success on good relations with local councils and health authorities in a particular region has long been the backbone of Britain’s building industry
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CommentAmanda Levete: why architects know best
Give Britain’s best architects the final say in what gets built. Amanda Levete explains why this modest proposal is neither elitist, utopian, nor politically impossible
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CommentBuilding buys a pint … for BSVP
Sitting sociably round a pub table, nursing our drinks, talk turns quickly to socialising; or rather, social networking. Both Steve and Justin, with their array of social sites (think LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter) chide Dave for his paltry cyber friendships