Opinion

Sarah Stewart from Burness Paull considers the Scottish Government's Heat Networks Bill and its impact on the housing and heating industries. District heating, also known as a heat network, is a distribution system of insulated pipes that takes heat from a central source and delivers it to a number

The new process virtual mediation for construction companies may not be as effective and is also less secure unless certain measures are put in place, warns Ian Timlin. Organisations that are looking to use mediation as a way to resolve a dispute without the need for costly litigation need to be awa

Road Bonds are well-intentioned and have a purpose, but their levels are now starting to pose a threat to the place of construction SMEs in the recovery, argues Scott Macphail. Every party in every commercial transaction has a perfect right to take reasonable precautions against risk, but for normal

Engineer Nick Busby considers the role EPC contracts will play in the infrastructure projects required to support Scotland's transition to net zero and sets out six points of consideration for anyone involved in selecting an EPC contractor. The clock is ticking towards Scotland’s target of gen

Andrew Hill discusses why offices are still going to be important to businesses and staff, despite the working from home (WFH) boom. We’re more than 20 weeks into lockdown and, if they haven’t already done so, many businesses are beginning to look at returning to their workplaces, a

John Toms on the implications for city centres if the transition of properties from commercial to residential becomes commonplace.

The Inner House of the Court of Session has agreed that unenforceable parts of an adjudicator’s decision can be ‘severed off’, write solicitors Fraser Hopkins and Jilly Petrie. It’s well understood that adjudication is a quick way of resolving construction disputes, on a

Former Cruden Estates director Dan Donald, now a trustee for homelessness charity Simon Community Scotland, reveals how a career in construction is shaping a few of the charity’s recent successes. Why did you get involved with the Simon Community in the first place?

Scotland will struggle to reach its net zero carbon targets unless Holyrood takes a swift and stronger grip on planning policy surrounding the deployment of taller turbine models, as well as a permissive approach to repowering of first-generation onshore windfarms with the latest technology, writes&

The familiar sounds of a construction site is the background music to any city. However, the global COVID-19 pandemic has meant that, like many other projects across the United Kingdom, Edinburgh was quiet and still as site activities on the £1 billion Edinburgh St James project were suspended

The opportunities and problems facing golf clubs through the eyes of rural property surveyor Donald Yellowley. Bob Dylan’s song might sigh wistfully about A Simple Twist of Fate, but for Scotland’s hundreds of world-class golf clubs, it must seem that the Fates are conspiring against the

As the phased return to construction work progresses, Jon Cooper and Ashley Borthwick explain how the general tone around workplace safety compliance has changed. The construction industry has been hit hard by COVID-19, with large numbers of sites shutting and many workers being furloughed – b

Stewart Dalgarno on how offsite construction can play a key role in the safe return to the 'new normal'.

Alex Orr considers a key planning document being proposed for Edinburgh and what it might mean for developers.

Planning lawyer Ewan MacLeod provides detail on the Scottish Government’s consultation on the future of Scottish Planning Policy and the removal of the current presumption in favour of sustainable development. In 2014, the Scottish Government introduced a significant change to Scottish Plannin