Opinion

SELECT MD Alan Wilson gives his views on the report into construction issued recently by the Scottish Parliament. In issuing its report ‘Under Construction: Building the future of the sector in Scotland’, Holyrood’s economy, energy and fair work committee said that it wanted to und

By Jonathan Seddon, a partner and head of construction law at Morton Fraser If you are a developer and you've asked your contractor for a bond, then the chances are that the form of bond put forward will be the ABI Model Form of Guarantee Bond, or certainly something very close to that.

WSP associate Ewan Jures on the importance of district heating networks. Scotland has been at the forefront of the climate change debate for many years and even more so in the last few months - having agreed to an ambitious target of net zero emission by 2045, five years ahead of the rest of the UK.

Accountant Iain Masterton outlines key changes to VAT rules, details why they’ve been introduced and reveals what building contractors must do to ensure they are compliant. Forthcoming legislation changes could have a major impact on any building contractor business which is registered for VAT

By Malcolm Thomson, sales director at Scotframe With the UK and Scottish governments keen to tackle the housing crisis – and setting stretch targets for the number of new homes - institutional investors have pricked up their ears to the potential earnings from offsite construction.

The new Planning Bill gives Scotland just what it needs: a spur to replace conflict with collaboration. To make a success of the new system, councils will need to work positively and constructively with their delivery partners (home builders included) and talk to more people in each community, inclu

Scotland’s property market has fragmented since the new millennium, and here, Queensberry Properties’ sales and marketing director, Hazel Davies explains the importance of why developers are increasingly tailoring development designs and specifications for particular locations and h

Build to Rent is critical to addressing issues of a lack of housing supply but Scotland still lags the rest of the UK, writes Will Scarlett. With the news that L&G have committed to a Build To Rent (BTR) scheme for 338 apartments in Edinburgh, it is fair to say that BTR in Scotland is finally, a

Having come to the world of construction later than most, Patrick MacKenzie is now going through Kier's graduate programme.

It's important that developers behind housing applications understand that a design review is there not necessarily to cut numbers but to get to grips with place-making & quality, writes RTPI Scotland executive committee member Graham Marchbank. I am one of four planners representing RTPI Scotla

Hart Builders technical services manager, Shona Wilson, gives a modern perspective of the world of construction. Growing up, I really enjoyed both maths and physics at school and was very definite about becoming an engineer, from a very young age. Luckily for me, my Dad was an engineer and my parent

Edinburgh heritage body the Cockburn Association has launched a series of thought-pieces under the heading Our Unique City: Our Past, Our City, Our Future to generate a civic conversation that looks to address the many challenges facing the capital now and in the immediate future. Paper Five –

Construction companies must embrace educational collaboration to avoid skills shortages, writes Matt Grellier, head of construction and engineering at law firm Slater Heelis LLP. According to the findings of an independent group commissioned by the Scottish Government, there is a skills shortage in

Edinburgh heritage body the Cockburn Association has launched a series of thought-pieces under the heading Our Unique City: Our Past, Our City, Our Future to generate a civic conversation that looks to address the many challenges facing the capital now and in the immediate future. Paper Four –

French Duncan VAT director, Maria McConnell has published an information sheet about the Domestic Reverse Charge for Construction Services. A new Statutory Instrument will introduce the domestic reverse charge into UK legislation via VATA 1994 s55A to relevant supplies of construction services with