More Focus – Page 534
-
Features
Opportunity cost
Equal opportunities is more than a slogan, it should be at the heart of your company right up to board level. Now that local authorities have adopted best value, failure to implement it could be expensive.
-
Features
Cost update
This quarterly analysis looks at materials prices for external works and work item rates.
-
Features
Are the Eganites winning over the industry?
On the eve of the third Egan conference, construction is at the Rubicon. Over the next 10 pages, ¾«¶«Ó°ÊÓ reflects on the report’s impact and asks whether the cult of Egan will become the industry’s official religion.
-
Features
So, what does he think now?
After fathering his report, Sir John Egan has been something of an absentee parent. However, he does think he was rather clever about getting the industry to take it on board …
-
Features
‘Getting gently better all the time’
Project managers, architects and other professionals have been busy amending and expanding the Egan vision since we listened in on a regional cluster group last summer.
-
Features
‘It’s all a lot of hype’
That’s what Egan means to one regional contractor. Others have seen turnover double. ¾«¶«Ó°ÊÓ asked three smaller players to say what impact the new culture has had on them.
-
Features
It's a fair cop
This Thames Valley Police HQ is the first fruit of design-led PFI. Maybe it is; but two years of tortuous value engineering have left their mark, too.
-
Features
Light exercise
Here's how young architect Walters and Cohen transformed a squat, dingy supermarket into a chic, sleek fitness club by bouncing daylight from one end of the building to the other.
-
Features
On site: CityPoint, London - Mission impossible
Here comes the 1980s revival: developer sinks £160m into a huge City rebuild, pre-lets it and hands its team a deadline that is all but unachievable – even if things don't go wrong …
-
Features
IT: Defects database - Perfect match
This year’s Wimbledon is set to be fault-free – at least where the buildings are concerned, as Try tested a new zero-defects system on its latest project for the club.
-
Features
The politics of trust
As this year’s winners of the Hudson Prize demonstrate, it is well worth exploring the subtleties of special relationships if you need to tackle subcontractor problems or partnering difficulties.
-
Features
Trouble on Quality Street
The government’s quality mark scheme was meant to frustrate the cowboys and help reputable small firms. Bureaucracy and expense mean it might end up doing the opposite. Can the DETR get back on track?
-
Features
The acceleration game
Making a claim for acceleration costs – those incurred by speeding up work to meet a deadline – can be fraught with problems. After all, who exactly is to blame for a last-minute rush?
-
Features
Can the Eye be copied?
Has BDP copied the design of the London Eye for its Prague wheel, or was it simply inspired by the idea? The London Eye’s creators face an uphill battle to give its copyright any teeth.
-
Features
Here’s the gain plan
Planning gain, perhaps unfairly, is often linked with slightly dodgy negotiations in smoke-filled rooms. This, however, would be a thing of the past if this new proportional system is adopted.
-
Features
The essential tool
A specification-writer’s job is never done. The document he or she produces should be kept close at hand throughout the construction process. Proceed without it at your peril.
-
Features
Just the job
Phil Clark meets the chairman of CALdes, the firm that’s integrating design, surveying and 21st-century technology.
-
Features
Appointments
ContractorsAlan Hollingworth has joined M&E firm Dudley Bower ¾«¶«Ó°ÊÓ Services as divisional manager for the Loughborough, Leicester and Grantham offices. Peter Mason has been promoted to regional design-and-build director for EBC Construction’s Southern region.Taylor Woodrow has appointed Norman Broadhurst non-executive director.HousebuilderWestbury Homes has appointed Steve Cartwright building director.ConsultantsSue Ollerton ...
-
Features
Clare’s seven days as a surveyor
The jobClare spent one week and two days in the quantity surveying department at Citex. QS Melissa Martin drew up a timetable of events so that Clare would sample building surveying, project management and facilities management. The assignment also included a number of site visits. Week oneMonday I meet Melissa ...
-
Features
200-mile-high club
An orbital hotel sounds like science fiction, but it might soon be construction fact. If one international design firm has its way, you could be checking in to space in less than 20 years.