‘If we are to be sustainable – there is a huge amount to do on data centre design’

In response to Justin Stanton’s article: Data centre boom reinforces a digital-first approach

I think folk are more concerned about environmental impact, along with power and water usage.

If we as an industry are expected to ‘green up’ and be sustainable, there is a huge amount to do on data centre design.

Sorry about the ‘soapbox’ but it has to be said, the resistance to these facilities from the community is growing and we, as a profession, should be listening (and acting) on concerns.

Nigel D Joyce 

In response to Phil Clark’s article: Hackitt slams industry use of outdated design and build contracts

Dame Judith Hackitt is right that carrying on with pre-Grenfell processes won’t deliver different outcomes, and she’s also right that competence is about far more than accumulating CPD hours.

However, I think we should be careful not to reduce the lessons of Grenfell to a discussion about D&B contracts.

Grenfell wasn’t fundamentally a procurement failure, a competence failure or a building control failure. It was a system failure. Procurement, product testing, certification, specification changes, regulatory oversight, governance and accountability all failed simultaneously.

The industry already knew how to build safe buildings. The more difficult question is why, across multiple organisations, decisions were made, accepted or left unchallenged that progressively eroded safety margins. 

Kevin Butcher

In response to Andy Prichard’s article: Retentions ban means quality work, installed, certified and paid

It’s certainly going to force clients and main contractors to be significantly more diligent in the design, construction and commissioning phases; however, it’s almost like there’s a legal term for defects that aren’t immediately apparent.

Where’s the incentive to come back in the defects liability period? Are clients and main contractors going to engage a lawyer to go after a few thousand pounds of defects that a subcontractor can’t be bothered to sort out, as the cost of remobilising etc isn’t worth it.

Here you are just going to be reliant on the subcontractor doing the right thing because they know it’s the right thing to do both morally and commercially. But for one-off jobs with little chance of repeat work, then why would they?

Andy Dodson (via LinkedIn)

In response to Josh McNicholas’ article Does mental health support reach everyone on site?

In a word – No. Creating a digital platform people have to register for by inputting all their personal data details… This isn’t about helping people; this is about data capture, and data capture = £££££.

Get your boots on, get out there and engage with people. The old-fashioned way, the honest way, the morally correct way.  Simples.

Steve Kerslake

In response to Tracy Riddell’s article Retention of older workers vital for construction productivity 

I would also suggest that there are a lot of people like myself (who retired a year ago after 50 years in mainstream tier 1 contracting) who are still fit and able to give something back into the industry but can’t afford to because the government will hammer them for more tax.

Letting people like myself, with a wealth of experience, walk away from the industry because of the tax rules is a sin in my opinion.

Allan Irvine