Opinion

Rosie Gollan, an Edinburgh-based solicitor at law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, looks at the Building Safety Bill and its implications in Scotland. Following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the UK Government has been reviewing and taking steps to reform our building and fire safety regimes. 

Stuart MacPherson, senior business services manager at Aberdeen-based chartered accountancy firm Meston Reid & Co, gives advice on VAT changes in the construction industry. A change to VAT collection arrangements is finally heading the way of the UK construction industry.

Growing awareness of environmental issues will encourage builders and developers to make new homes ever greener in the coming years and decades. Queensberry Properties’ sales and marketing director, Hazel Davies, identifies four main areas by which tomorrow’s homes will reduce their envi

Following SCAPE's report in December which revealed that residents are reporting they don't see community improvements from construction work, Sarah Stone reveals what construction firms can do to not just improve the way they create social value, but do so in a way that also builds economic va

Writing on behalf of storage container supplier Mobile Mini, Andrew Richardson builds the case for construction offices in 2021. Construction workers have faced a difficult year. Output in the construction sector has been hit by the first national lockdown and subsequent social distancing

Womble Bond Dickinson partner Simon Lewis on the continuing discussion around building safety, and particularly the replacement of combustible cladding. The UK Government’s February 2021 announcement on support measures for affected buildings came against a backdrop of increasing pressure to i

Faithful+Gould director Stewart Macleod shares this article developed from a paper he and a colleague wrote looking at construction sector conditions. We wrote previously about the impact of 2020 on the UK construction sector and our work forecasting ahead. We are still facing challenges in the

Jennifer Campbell at Baird Lumsden talks about the increasing number of off-market transactions in the rural property market. There is a perception among many people of sufficient financial means that the only real wealth is privacy, and that the core purpose of mere money is to secure the space an

Douglas Morrison, director of operations and skills at Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC), suggests it’s time to rethink the apprenticeship programmes in line with the sector’s ongoing transformation – with digital skills and sustainability becoming a growing focus. Alm

Partner and head of construction law at Morton Fraser, Jonathan Seddon, returns to the subject of the use of performance bonds in the Scottish construction sector. I wrote an article for Scottish Construction in July 2019 highlighting that because of the wording of the ABI Model Form of Guarant

The forecasted growing demand for senior living accommodation considered against the current undersupply presents an obvious gap for developers, writes Juniper Residential director Steven Simpson. However you look at it, the face of retirement is changing

Arkadiusz Rudzki, executive vice president of leasing & sales at Skanska commercial development business unit in CEE, believes that the pandemic has created a reality that will strengthen the trends which have existed in the industry for years. In 2021, however, developers will prepare a new off

By Paul Coffey, CEO, The Scotland 5G Centre “Invisible airwaves crackle with life… bearing a gift beyond price, almost free.”

Will Scarlett from Scarlett Land and Development on the rise of Build to Rent (BTR) and its suburban expansion. It is no secret that we are in a housing crisis. Planners and politicians alike are increasingly interested in innovative solutions to provide affordable accommodation that offers quality

Property developer Andy Hadden discusses the future of the workplace. What do you really want from your life? Pre-pandemic, this was a question that many of us didn’t really give much time to consider. Our decisions mostly revolved around the shorter-term questions of where would we like