Building better façades from the first conversation
David Grace, sales director at Saint-Gobain Exterior Solutions, explains that when specification decisions are made in isolation or too late in the process, this...
The opportunities offered by brownfield land
By Fraser Lynes, Queensberry Properties’ land and development director
FOR almost a century, people have worried about suburban sprawl and the growth of our...
Designs liability: lessons to learn from recent decision
By Sandra Cassels, a partner in the commercial litigation team at Morton Fraser, specialising in construction and engineering disputes
What happened
A design consultant was involved...
Why we should stop waiting for perfection and start making progress towards net zero
By David Shaw, director at Torridon
If there’s one message I’d give every commercial property owner, asset manager or occupier, it’s that you don’t have...
The road to true net zero
As construction works towards reducing carbon emissions, John Smith, technical director at Donaldson Timber Systems, discusses why embodied carbon is critical to its success
IT’S...
Striking the right balance over BIM
There is less than a year left to go until the Government target of April 2017 for requiring public sector projects to adopt a...
Employees: confident or cautious?
By Ian Eker, director of Hays Construction & Property in Scotland
THE construction and property industry in Scotland has been buoyant for many years. So...
Roofing’s role in saving energy and combating urban heat islands
By Mark Harris, head of sustainability – roofing at Sika
URBAN heat islands represent a growing challenge in the modern urban environment, characterised by significantly...
Progress on the RICS Conflict Avoidance Process
Len Bunton, a dispute resolution specialist and chair of the recently assembled working group of Scottish construction industry stakeholders seeking to explore and encourage...
I always had ‘Grand Designs’ on my career
By Robbie Hunter, site manager for Kier Regional Building Scotland
LIKE many children I liked playing with Lego and creating my own buildings, but it...
Designing viable masterplans without compromise
By Lynsay Bell Manson, MD at Studio LBA
THE future of masterplanning in Scotland is undergoing a transformative shift, one that puts people, place and...
English SuDS planners can learn from Scotland
With the implementation of Schedule 3 in England due to happen early 2024, the importance of SuDS as part of a sustainable way to...
Tackling fuel poverty by building sustainable homes
By Malcolm Thomson, sales director at Scotframe
HANDS up if you’ve heard about the urgent need for new homes? Chances are most of the business...
Retentions: will proposed deposit scheme help to rebuild trust?
By Keith Emmerson, an associate in Gillespie Macandrew LLP’s dispute resolution team, specialising in construction
IN April 2020, I wrote on the Scottish Government’s consultation...
Time to scale up action to reduce building emissions
By Beverly Quinn, environmental engineer at TÜV SÜD, an international building services engineering consultancy specialising in sustainable MEP (mechanical, electrical and public health), BIM,...
Let’s not let our high streets fall by the wayside
The UK Government recently announced plans to invest billions of pounds into infrastructure to help rebuild the economy. The decline of the British high...
The Roberts, not the Robots, will win the day
By Brian Williamson, entrepreneur-in-residence at Kissing With Confidence
THE robots are coming. The concept of Artificial Intelligence is no longer confined to the lurid pages...
The massive challenge for construction as PFI agreements come to an end
As public sector organisations prepare to inherit assets built under long-term contracts such as PFI, they face a challenge - fragmented and inconsistent maintenance...
Construction sector needs foreign labour to survive
By Andrew Stephen, director of construction, property and infrastructure at Change Recruitment
THERE’S an elephant in the room. Construction companies know it’s there and have...
Time for warm words to be replaced with concrete plans
By Grahame Barn, chief executive of CECA Scotland
IN 2021 we will hopefully leave Covid-19 behind us as the vaccine programme is rolled out, but...
