Opinion – Page 390
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Comment
More buyers sniffing around for bargain buys in the housing market, says RICS
More green shoots appear to be sprouting in the housing market with the surveyors' body RICS finding an increase in interest among potential homebuyers over the past three months.Sensibly RICS economists are not getting over excited by this, after all interest from buyers was at basement levels and was almost ...
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Could buying up unsold private stock be stifling social house construction?
Is it just me, or is there a link between the deals being struck through the Government's National Clearing House to take unsold private homes into the social sector and the recent collapse in new construction orders for social house building?I ask because I have been doing some analysis and ...
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This is an emergency
The argument this week over whether Ed Balls meant to say we were in the worst recession for 100 years may have caused mild hysteria in the media, but it won’t have raised many eyebrows in construction
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The FD revolving door keeps spinning
Another week, another new finance director.The latest move sees David Wilton promoted to take over the reins from Bob Hartley at White Young Green. The reshuffle sees Hartley move sideways to become services director as WYG braces itself for the recession.The last few months have seen FD changes at Atkins, ...
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The new realism
The economic downturn isn’t without its consolations. It seems to be ushering in a new age of collaboration in construction and a more sober reckoning of what we’re about
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Comment
ڶ buys a pint... for East
East are a busy lot. In December last year they landed the job of working out what should happen to the whole district of Farringdon over the next 25 years, including planting a Crossrail station in the Smithfield meat market area
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Because we care
Not yet found the perfect gift for your loved one? How about a bottle of Zaha perfume, a £100m apartment or two or maybe just a trip to the UK’s most romantic building? Wherever that may be...
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The choice is theirs
In response to your article on the Greater London Authority’s housing targets ("London council in crisis talks over affordable homes target,"), the GLA’s approach is based on realism and focuses on working closely with local councils
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Like with like
With reference to the issue of foreign trades taking UK jobs, while the government is correct in stating that we can all apply for these jobs, that everything is fair and square and minimum wage laws and so on are covered, this does not mean that the wages paid to ...
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Local difficulty
Your correspondents, Patrick Cooper and Sally Hughes, do not want the John Roan School to move to a new site on the Greenwich Peninsula as part of the ڶ Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. They are perfectly entitled to their views, although I do not myself agree with them.
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It's simple really
To meet the BSF programme, we need to respond to the current financial environment
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Bamboozled by banks
Several articles in ڶ mention the fact that most building companies have, or are about to, breach some of their banking covenants
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Comment
Black mark
In response to Mr Forlane (19 December), the Construction Skills Register (CSR) would like to make readers aware that the Black CSR card (as it is known in Northern Ireland) is not as easily acquired as he suggests
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How to stay healthy
Hands up all those who have been tempted to cut training on safety during the downturn? Do so and your business will suffer
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Comment
Construction new orders: the Good the Bad and the Ugly
The latest new orders figures confirm the dire state of work in the construction pipeline.There was a drop of £6 billion in new work construction won in 2008 compared with 2007, which points to a rough road ahead.While there are some reasons for optimism within the infrastructure sector and public ...
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More than 100,000 construction workers made redundant last year
The latest employment figures provide yet more grim reading for those in construction with the numbers made redundant in the final quarter of last year rocketing to 48,000.The official figures out today show that 109,000 construction employees were made redundant over the year. Some will have got new jobs, but ...
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Trades not professionals have been hit hardest by construction job losses
I read with interest the Sunday Times story about how quantity surveyors were joining the dole queue at a faster rate than any other group in the UK economy.So I looked at the base figures and, well, came to a remarkably different interpretation.Put it this way, if the Sunday Times's ...
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RICS report stamps on signs of green shoots in the housing market
For all the excitement created by the Halifax upward blip in house prices in January it now looks increasingly like a freak result, at least that is what the latest housing market survey from the surveyors' body RICS would suggest.Yes I know it seems that for every green shoot spotted ...