By Vijay Bange
The timeless catch phrase is of course from the famous comedy duo Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel. Looking beyond the blame game is important. Problems will inevitably arise with complex large infrastructure projects. Understanding the underlying reasons and what the root causes are will perhaps aid in the process of reducing conflict. Continue reading ““And That’s Another Fine Mess You’ve Gotten Me Into:” Disputes in the Construction, Engineering and Energy Sectors”
I am an unashamedly massive fan of the Back to the Future film franchise. Yes, even the sequels.
One of my favourite lines from the franchise is spoken at the end of the first film and the beginning of the second. Doc, Marty and Jennifer are about to travel to the distant future (2015, to be precise). When Marty points out there might not be enough road to get up to 88 mph, Doc flips down his brushed aluminium shades and intones: “Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads.” And the DeLorean flies off to the future thanks to an early 21st century hover conversion.
Brings a smile to my face every time
Continue reading “The Digital Age Still Needs Infrastructure”
The Guardian on Tuesday 30th March had an interesting article entitled “UK criticised for ignoring Paris climate goals in infrastructure decisions”. In summary, various luminaries, scientists, legal and environmental experts, have written a letter and to come out to say that:
Continue reading “Climate change vs infrastructure projects- Can they co-exist?”
In June 2020 I wrote an article entitled “Climate change- a wind of change for construction?”. In summary this raised the point whether increasing focus on climate change in relation to major infrastructure projects might run counter to economic efforts to counteract the effects of the global pandemic. Whilst I am writing this from a UK perspective, I dare say the issues are equally relevant to other jurisdictions.
The issue of pollution in major cities in the UK has again been highlighted by the tragic death of a child[1] whose family lived near the south circular in Lewisham. In a landmark case, the second coroner’s inquest found that the levels of pollution were above world safe levels, and that air pollution was a material cause of her death. This tragic case will bring to the fore the national debate on pollution and climate change. Continue reading “Climate change and Construction-revisited”
By Vijay Bange
As the government eases the lockdown provisions around the country, the Prime Minister today made a speech in Dudley, the historical heart of the industrial revolution, setting out his £5 billion economic recovery plan for the country. This is the government’s plan to build our way out of the recession caused by the pandemic, and has been compared to the New Deal proposed during the Great Depression by US President Franklin D Roosevelt. Continue reading “Build, Build, Build…The New Deal: Boris Johnson Announces Plans to Rebuild Britain”
