Construction National

Chasing the poor out of ‘nice’ areas – even when they belong there

At the end of last month the NHBC released figures for new home registrations for the second quarter of the year. It makes grim reading. The figures show a decline of 24% in registrations compared to the same quarter last year. Private-sector registrations fell by 10%, driven by a decline for June compared to June last year, although April and May saw slight rises.

The real hammer blow came from public-sector registrations which fell by a massive 42% compared to last year. That was in the face of a soaring in demand to fill the ever-widening gap between housing supply and demand.

Richard Tamayo, the NHBC's commercial director, commented: "As the year progresses we must hope to see a rebound in social housing numbers as providers adapt to new methods of funding."

Read more: Chasing the poor out of ‘nice’ areas – even when they belong there

Cauldron sets hearts afire, and Hear, hear! to Prince Charles

Like everyone else, I gasped in wonder as the Olympic cauldron hoisted itself into place following the lighting of the flames by nine young athletes: each sponsored by a British Olympian. The cauldron, designed by Thomas Heatherwick – himself a trailblazer – was a masterpiece of thoughtful design, with each 'petal' inscribed with the name of a country which will be given it as a keepsake.

It set me looking at other notable Heatherwick designs, from the UK Pavilion at the 2010 Expo in Shanghai to a design for a café on the front at Littlehampton. The latter is set on a long, thin piece of land between the promenade and a sewer pipe, described by Heatherwick as "the shape of a cigarette". Not 'a cylinder' or anything so prosaic, note.

Read more: Cauldron sets hearts afire, and Hear, hear! to Prince Charles

24/07/2012: Who takes H&S more seriously, and what's after the Games? by Chris Stokes

America is not universally noted for protecting the rights of workers, or for imposing any kind of onerous regulation that can get in the way of business. After all, as Calvin Coolidge DIDN'T say: The business of America is business.

In the UK, on the other hand, we have been traditionally proud of the health and safety record of our industry, particularly the successes we have achieved in reducing accidents in the construction industry.

How perverse, then, that in the same week as an Alabama construction company is fined a six-figure sum for failing to ensure the safety of its worker, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) launched yet another attack on the Government and now the HSE for watering down our own health and safety laws.

Read more: 24/07/2012: Who takes H&S more seriously, and what's after the Games? by Chris Stokes

12/07/2012: Engineering genius goes underground, by Chris Stokes

I'm not usually prone to using this space for a TV review, but I'm going to make an exception this week. In a return to a former life – the first paid writing job I had was as a theatre reviewer – I am going to extol the excellent Channel 5 programme Building the London Underground, broadcast at 8pm on 11 July. It went into great depth on the engineering challenges involved in building underground railway systems that run under major cities, and in particular cities that span major rivers.

Perhaps as amazing is the fact that the upgrading of the Underground that is going on now is biggest of its kind in the world. The programme featured the new station on Canary Wharf, which is being built under the water as there isn't room on the land because of all the skyscrapers.

Read more: 12/07/2012: Engineering genius goes underground, by Chris Stokes