Opinion

William O’Brien is a construction, engineering and procurement solicitor at Devonshires The government recently published a range of new regulations to inform and accompany the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA). We have been waiting some time for this detail, too long some might say, and so the fact it has…

David Harris is chief executive of Premier Modular The necessity for inclusivity in the construction industry has been spotlighted once again after research from the National Federation of Builders found that one in four construction workers identify as neurodiverse. According to the survey, more than a third of respondents feel…

Mark Christie is a senior associate in the construction team at Clarke Willmott LLP Rulings by the Technology and Construction Court (TTC) in the past few years show the court is prepared to act to ensure that the “notified sum” regime is protected. A “smash-and-grab” adjudication (SGA) is a technical…

Graham Harle is chief executive of Gleeds Worldwide I was recently reminded of a column I wrote for Construction News back in 2019, in which I suggested that sales of lipsticks and underpants could offer useful insights into the health of the UK economy. I suggested that these tactics would…

By partner Alexandra Gower, associate director Matt Kyle and senior knowledge lawyer Tessa Garner at Osborne Clarke The government's much-awaited response to the consultation on the new building control regime for higher-risk buildings (HRBs) under the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) has landed, along with various sets of regulations that…

In the quarter before Covid hit the UK economy, there were 27,000 vacancies in the construction sector. That figure was almost 4 per cent higher than in October 2016, when Mark Farmer released his landmark report on the industry’s labour model, which warned of a potential “capacity shrinkage that would…

Andy Beard is global head of cost and commercial management at Mace. In the first of a two-part analysis, he looks at the ongoing impact of inflation and high interest rates on the construction sector With personal finances taking a beating, interest-rate rises and inflation are topics on the lips…

Gerard Toplass is group chief executive of The 55 Group, parent company of framework provider Pagabo  If the latest pay figures are anything to go by, private sector employers are responding to wage rises in a knee-jerk fashion and should act more prudently when looking after staff. Don’t get me…

Stefan Desbordes is an associate covering safety, health and environmental regulation at law firm DAC Beachcroft The principal designer (PD) is a key role in the project structure set out in the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015). They must plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety…

Iain Taylor is an associate in the construction and engineering department at law firm Fladgate Henry Construction Projects’ high-profile collapse has left creditors in its supply chain short of £43m. The company’s administrators have pointed to Ozel Group’s winding-up petition against Henry in May as the beginning of its downfall.…