Opinion

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

Womble Bond Dickinson managing associate, Lisa Dromgoole, on steps construction firms can take to mitigate materials shortages in light of Brexit. The UK construction industry manufactures and uses an incredible amount of materials each year, producing around 2bn bricks, over 70 million sq m of

As an organisation with challenge engrained in our business culture, we are used to taking ourselves out of our comfort zones, however, 2020 still packed quite a punch. We are weathering the storm, part in thanks to taking the decision four years ago to embark on a business coaching programme. 

As mainland Scotland entered the third coronavirus lockdown under national guidelines, the housing market braced itself for another slowdown following attempts to catch up due to the four-month shut down which commenced in March 2020. To restart the housing market, encourage vendors to increase thei

DM Hall Chartered Surveyors partner Eric Curran on the need for immediate action to rectify the UK's cladding crisis. The Grenfell Tower tragedy horrified Britain. Subsequent enquiries have highlighted issues with materials used, construction standards and supervisory roles, to name but a

Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) innovation manager Sam Hart on the natural resource that could help Scotland achieve its carbon targets. Scotland is claimed to have hit the energy jackpot twice, with the discovery of North Sea oil and gas and, later, the advent of renewable