Opinion – Page 347
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Comment
New Year stamp duty switchback will have little impact, says RICS
For those interested in what will happen when the stamp duty holiday comes to an end on December 31, the surveyors' body RICS has done a little bit of research among its members.Basically, the results seem to suggest that by and large the effect on property transactions will be muted ...
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Comment
Christmas sales come to the housing market
It's the run up to Christmas and we're in a recession - well if not technically, we're definitely suffering from the recession - so don't be surprised to see redundancies on the rise and asking prices for homes on the decline. It is the nature of things.And in this regard ...
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CommentHalf full, not half empty
At the British Council of Shopping Centres conference this week, the talk was of the shortage of retail space and the need to start building fairly soon to meet demand in four years’ time
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Comment
Stirring sentiments from No.10
The interior decor of No.10 (as you’d expect lots of chintz, 1980s uplighters, a few too many landscapes and Blackpool Ballroom-style chandeliers) might have offended the sensibilities of many of his uber design audience, but the message Gordon Brown delivered couldn’t have gone down better.“British design and architecture are ...
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CommentThe West is the best
I liked your Dubai leader (“After the goldrush”, 30 October, page 3) and I was interested to read about the future reliance on Indian QSs and off-site services
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Comment
Train the chain
Regarding Steven Morgan’s article (9 October, page 24) I heartily agree that clear lines of responsibility are crucial for a successful project
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Comment
Heated debate
The article revealing that the Zero Carbon Hub is suggesting an energy use figure of 30-45kWhr/m2/yr figure for the 2016 Code for Sustainable Homes indicates a lack of vision and seriousness on the part of this organisation (23 October, page 13)
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Comment
The banks must act
While confidence in the commercial property market is continuing to rise, this is not being matched by the availability of freehold assets for investors to buy
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Comment
Three simple rules
Further to your “increasingly controversial” safety blunders pictures – yes you should still publish it, but with the following rules: All the blunders need to be in the EU to prevent the “let’s laugh at Johnny Foreigner” school of blunderography. All the blunders should have a name of the contractor ...
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Comment
Electronic documents: Indecent disclosure
Showing the other side your electronic documents is far more expensive and dangerous than simply putting emails and Word documents on a memory stick
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Comment
Public procurement: A fresh chance to challenge
Public bodies should tighten up their procurement systems, as the remedies directive will widen the scope for firms to contest their decisions
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CommentBuyer beware: Richard Steer on low bidding by QSs
The trend of low bidding by quantity surveyors is unsustainable for those who do it, will harm the profession in the long run and offers a poor service to the client
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CommentBuilding buys a pint … Environ
The Running Horse is an appropriately named place for an evening with environmental consultant Environ
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CommentAnother way: Greg Verhoef on how to be innovative
Every contractor wants to be innovative, but how do you do it? Greg Verhoef says the first step is to take a critical look at yourself – then think about standardisation and sustainability
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CommentHansom: As the nights draw in
We avoid the cold wind blasting a London office block and instead wrap up warm in a woolly JCB jumper and settle down before an Olympic fire to enjoy an architect-assessed Sunday roast. Perfect
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Comment
Construction continues to shed workers at an alarming pace
A further 38,000 construction workers were made redundant in the three months to September according to the latest Government labour market figures.This raises the total of employees shed over the previous 12 months to 177,000.Meanwhile the figures also show that the chances of those being made redundant finding a new ...
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Comment
The stagnant housing market: More a problem of first-time movers than first-time buyers
First-time buyers are increasingly becoming trapped in their first-time homes and unable to move on to homes that better suit their needs.That at least is the implication of some figures that caught my eye recently when I was looking though some data produced by the Council of Mortgage Lenders.Consider this: ...
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Comment
Has the housing mini-boom run out of puff?
All the gauges appear to be reading "set fair" in the housing market, so why the long faces among those in the know?The latest RICS housing market survey on the face of it provides every reason to suspect that better times lie ahead. This follows a raft of housing indexes ...
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CommentAt last we’re getting somewhere
Politicians and business leaders are showing renewed enthusiasm for the Thames Gateway