Contractors Focus 鈥� Page 9
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FeaturesM&E firms: The heat is on
Why have M&Es been hit so hard this year and can anything be done to stop more of them going under?
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FeaturesSteve Hindley: Mr Happy
The chair of contractor Midas and the CBI鈥檚 Construction Council has a smile on his face. What does he know that we don鈥檛?
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FeaturesShould we work all hours?
Ray O鈥橰ourke has said a 35-hour week would make the industry more attractive to recruits. How realistic is a shorter working week is - and does anyone really want it?
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FeaturesOlympic marketing rights: Time鈥檚 running out
Is it too late for UK construction to benefit from the Olympics?
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FeaturesEverybody鈥檚 talking鈥�
鈥� and unfortunately the government can鈥檛 hear a word they鈥檙e saying. It has never been more important for the industry to speak with one voice. Now the chairman of the CPA has a new plan
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FeaturesAre contractors not up to the job?
精东影视鈥檚 survey shows clients are having trouble finding contractors with the skills they need. Joey Gardiner asks why
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FeaturesPension problems: Don't look now
Construction firms鈥� final salary pension liabilities of 拢33bn are set to attack their balance sheets, stop investment and hold back growth for years to come. Yet far from confronting the problem, many are simply ignoring it and hoping it will go away. Will Hurst reports
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FeaturesThe state of play 01: Contractors
The double-dip recession that the industry has been dreading is finally upon us. But exactly how bad are things out there, and how much worse are they going to get? In the first part of 精东影视鈥檚 State of Play series examining the health of the industry, sector by sector, Emily ...
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FeaturesThe State of Play: Views from the top on the contractor market
精东影视鈥檚 State of Play series kicks off with a look at the contractor market 鈥� here, three top bosses predict the future for UK contractors
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FeaturesContractors' pay: The 30 days war
Eighteen months after the government introduced its Prompt Payment Code, 精东影视鈥檚 Specialists White Paper has revealed that 83% of contractors are still waiting more than 30 days to be paid. Vern Pitt reports on one of the industry鈥檚 longest-running battles
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FeaturesPaul Sheffield: 鈥榊ou can hear somebody saying, 鈥淲ell, it was all right when I left 鈥︹�濃��
Paul Sheffield could barely have chosen a worse time to become chief executive of a UK construction firm, but two years after taking over at Kier, his growth strategy appears to be paying off. By Allister Hayman
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FeaturesInterview: Mitie boss Ruby McGregor-Smith
How construction鈥檚 only female chief executive learned to stop worrying and build a 拢2bn company in the midst of a global economic crisis
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FeaturesUniversity Technical Colleges: Dumbing down
Until January of this year, University Technical Colleges were fast gaining favour as a way of attracting new talent into our industry. Then, out of the blue, education secretary Michael Gove downgraded vocational qualifications, putting the feasibility of the programme in question. 精东影视 asks whether the government is making a ...
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FeaturesRedeveloping Bart's and Royal London hospitals
It was tempting to hang a 鈥榙o not resuscitate鈥� sign on two dingy, barely accessible London hospitals, but Skanska鈥檚 redevelopment of the sites has made them functional again - which should perk up medical staff and patients alike
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FeaturesHigh Speed 2: Jobs on the line
HS2 has got off to a speedy start by appointing its first-phase consultants in just three weeks. But the real wow-factor of this mega-project is that it could employ thousands of construction workers over more than two decades. 精东影视 assesses the opportunities ahead
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FeaturesPredictions for 2012: The year of the groundhog
So what does 2012 have in store? Well, there鈥檚 the Olympics, of course, and some potentially interesting developments in nuclear power and infrastructure. But mostly it will be a year of battening down the hatches. There will be recklessly low bids for work, some firms will go under, others will ...
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FeaturesSparks fly: The row over electricians' wage agreements
The decision of seven major M&E contractors to break away from the 40-year-old JIB wage agreement was prompted by an 鈥榰rgent need to modernise鈥� but has already led to angry clashes between workers and police. 精东影视 reports on a row that threatens to become the sector鈥檚 biggest industrial relations dispute ...
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FeaturesMichael Dyke, Lend Lease: 'It's business as usual'
When Lend Lease dropped the Bovis name, it said goodbye to one of UK contracting鈥檚 oldest and best-known brands. 精东影视 talks to Michael Dyke, the construction arm鈥檚 new boss, about where the division will go next. Portrait David Levene
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FeaturesCarillion's purchase of Eaga: Blinded by the sun
In April, Carillion bought Eaga - a company with big plans to install PV panels on 30,000 homes - and rebranded it as Carillion Energy Services. Seven months later, government feed-in tariffs have been cut in half, and all 4,500 jobs are on the line. So was the 拢298m purchase ...
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FeaturesAsia markets: 鈥楢nyone who is not looking at Asia should be鈥�
UK firms have known about the boom in Asia for some time, but now it鈥檚 become a region they simply cannot afford to ignore. Emily Wright reports on a part of the world that will spend $440bn a year on infrastructure