Opinion

Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity CEO Bill Hill speaks about the current pandemic and how the government should be doing much more to support our construction workforce. In an industry where two construction workers take their own life every single working day and where 20% of all work absenc

Thorntons commercial property partners Janet McIntyre and Gary Thomas summarise emergency legislation introduced in Scotland to prevent the eviction of commercial tenants who are unable to pay their rent because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Irritancy is a remedy for landlords to terminate a lease early

Ailsa Thomson breaks down the Scottish Government's policy to empower communities and ensure people benefit more fairly from Scotland's land. As part of the Scottish Government's policy to empower communities and ensure people benefit more fairly from Scotland's land, on 26 April 2020 the right to b

Association for Project Safety CEO Lesley McLeod focuses on coronavirus and what it means for the construction industry. What’s happening in construction during COVID-19? Currently, as long as good hygiene arrangements are in place, and people scrupulously maintain their social distance, peopl

Looking to a post-pandemic work environment, Bruce Kennedy talks about designing workplaces that inspire creativity, celebrate our collective humanity and allow us to thrive. As a designer of workplaces, I’m fascinated by the adaptability of millions of people around the world as they embrace

Construction law specialist Ross Taylor sets out a series of guidelines for those working in the construction sector to improve their current position, and use the inevitable upcoming period of down time to review contracts for future use.  COVID-19 has put us all in completely unchartered terr

Jane McMonagle and Juliet Haldane discuss whether the latest COVID-19 guidance should mean a closure of construction sites and outline six key factors to consider when implementing a temporary shutdown. Following the Prime Minister's address to the nation on the evening of March 23 and the unprecede

SELECT director of employment and skills Fiona Harper on the ongoing uncertainty around construction working practices. Members will be aware of the announcement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday 23 March regarding the now enforceable requirement to ‘stay at home’ during the coro

Meeting the current and future skills needs of employers was the focus of the first Skills Investment Plan for Scotland’s Construction Sector, published four years ago. In the latest in a series of articles highlighting work resulting from the Skills Investment Plan, Ian Hughes, director of CI

CITB CEO Sarah Beale has written the following message outlining the training body’s coronavirus response plan. Dear colleague,

The Scottish Government’s Planning and Architecture Division explains its decision to extend the National Planning Framework 4 Call for Ideas deadline until 30 April.

Morton Fraser's head of construction law Jonathan Seddon looks at the potential impact of coronavirus on UK construction projects being procured under JCT. I started looking at the potential impact that the coronavirus might have on my client's construction projects a few weeks ago when th

Simon Allison looks at common issues for employers during the coronavirus outbreak such as whether an employer can lay off staff and what happens if they are forced to close their premises. Lay-off/short time working clauseIn the unlikely event that your employees have a “lay off” or sho

Amid the stark shortage of Grade A office space, Guy Marsden says it’s time for occupiers to think outside the city centre box. A recent report from property services company, CBRE showed that Grade A office supply in Glasgow has reached a ‘critically low’ level and there is little

Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) board member Emma Marriott on diversity and women in construction.   Tokenistic. Tickbox. Lip Service. These are just a few of the words that are commonly used by employees to describe how seriously their organisation takes the topic of diversity i