Insight

Lawyers Sarah Wales, Fiona Graham and Curtis Fox explore how the construction sector can promote inclusivity of the LGBTQ+ community. It is 50 years since the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York sparked the international Pride movement, 50 years since people stood up and said enough is enough to

Assistant business development manager Laura Brown explains why she chose to leave a career in fashion to pursue a career in construction. I was very artistic and creative at school and always had a keen interest in fashion, so studying a degree in International Fashion Branding at university seemed

Halliday Fraser Munro design associate Isla Jappy discusses the future challenges for affordable housing in Scotland.

ASC Edinburgh Ltd managing director Alan Cantwell discusses how CITB’s Skills and Training Fund enabled the firm to send an employee on a specialist design course; move towards Approved Training Organisation status and inspire young people on work experience to begin apprenticeships. When busi

Morris & Spottiswood director for fit-out Scotland, Gordon Clyne, outlines how the companies can handle spikes in education sector projects during the summer break. As a business, we have been working in the education sector for over 50 years, and personally, I have for 15 years within Morris &a

As the movie about Thomas Edison and electricity 'The Current War' prepares for release tomorrow, Alan Wilson reflects on the history of electricity and the future of the industry. The lights went out in New York City again recently (14 July). Homes were plunged into darkness, the subways ground to

With the latest Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing 2 (EESSH2) targets announced recently by the Scottish Government, Stewart Little from IRT Surveys explains how asset managers can exploit technology to meet their obligations. 88 feet high, 88 feet wide and once around the equator. That&r

Procurement reform is right at the top of Construction Scotland’s priority, writes Ron Fraser. Construction touches all our lives, through the houses that we live in, the schools and hospitals that we visit and the roads and bridges that we often use in our daily activities. It’s quite l

Employment lawyer Jayne Harrison discusses the steps that construction employers can take to increase transparency in their efforts to tackle the gender pay gap. In the last few months, we have seen the Women in Construction Summit alongside European Women in Construction and Engineering. A year int

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