Housing minister in call for quality (CM 04/09)
I have been in the construction industry for 60 years and find the interview with [housing minister] Eddie Hughes sadly relevant in today’s construction industry.
However, I would add that his views and legislation alone will not bring about better and safer buildings, particularly in house developments.
I have witnessed major failings by volume housebuilders, where the average house owner would not be aware of the defect, such as concrete footings not being to the correct depth, soil and vent pipes discharging into the roof void, and internal walls that should be load bearing that were in fact non load bearing. I could go on.
These types of errors and bad workmanship practices can only be addressed at site level during the build process by an independent inspection system.
It’s simply knowing what happens on site that counts and will produce a better workforce and better building.
Ken Hubble
Entertaining comment regarding autocracies which are usually quite dysfunctional and stifling towards innovation and free expression. I think Mr O’Rourke’s reference to changing ministers is a fair criticism about government’s lack of consistency, which has us driving towards demographic capacity with an MMC parachute that is still not suitable nor sufficient for clients and UK context.
Jack Ostrofsky
Ray had me nodding in agreement until I got to the last two paragraphs. I’d hoped he would focus the end of the article on building relationships with clients, ensuring we become the high-quality employer of choice for those focused on driving genuine improvement and identifying clearly everything we do is about people and relationships.
Chris Todd
