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Re:ɫèֱ²¥

A fortnightly podcast in which veteran construction industry journalists Bishop and Taylor have a natter about some of the week’s events in the UK construction industry, seeking meaning even where none may exist.

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27 | Back in the Jug, Lessons from COVID and Truckless Truss

1st September 2020
With the new school year starting, it’s a time of fresh beginnings; should you still work from home or return to the office?  A Loughborough University study finds how well construction has adapted to the constraints of Covid-19.  Meanwhile trade secretary Liz Truss appears to have no truck with the construction industry, shutting it out of her 11 trade advisory groups. It’s Bishop & Taylor time on Re:construction.

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26 | Tideway, Acceleration and Square Holes

26th August 2020
Bishop & Taylor discuss delays to the £4bn Thames Tideway project as well as the transport secretary’s new acceleration unit and a drill attachment that cuts square holes.

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25 | Fit-out, Putin and the Versatile Brickie

19th August 2020
Bishop & Taylor turn their attention to the contents of the August issue of ɫèֱ²¥ magazine, and cover remarkably wide ground…

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24 | Prefabs, Planning Reform and Carbon Offsetting

12th August 2020
Bishop & Taylor are joined by structural engineer Kevin Lyons to discuss offsite construction. Our two regulars then also mull the government’s planning white paper and wonder whether contractors will be eager to pay plant hire firms a premium for carbon offsetting.

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23 | Green Home Grants, Trustmark and Genoa’s New Bridge

5th August 2020
This was the week that we learned more details of the £2bn Green Home Grants scheme, with the condition that only Trustmark accredited installers could be used; and the Genoa San Giorgio Bridge opened, less than two years after the old Morandi Brige collapsed. Bishop & Taylor reflect on it all.

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22 | Brexit, Standards and HS2

29th July 2020
With a no-deal Brexit on the cards, Bishop & Taylor discuss unresolved issues for the construction industry, including the future of product standardisation; and – with protests camps fighting a rear-guard action – they agree to disagree about HS2.

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21 | Face Masks, Plan for Jobs & Tower Cranes

15th July 2020
Bishop & Taylor discuss the need for face masks (both in life and on site), Rishi Sunak’s Plan for Jobs, and (after the fatal 8th July collapse in East London) tower crane safety.

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20 | New Deal, CITB and Interserve FM

1st July 2020
Bishop & Taylor discuss the Prime Minister’s Rooseveltian ambitions, the suspension of democratic accountability at the ɫèֱ²¥ Industry Training Board, and the sale of Interserve Facilities Management to Mitie. Read more on all these topics, and more, at www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news

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19 | Job Losses, Export Finance, Plastic Problems and Magic Paint

17th June 2020
In this episode Bishop & Taylor discuss industry job losses, how overseas contractors exploit UK state aid, construction’s plastic packaging problem and the remarkable claims of air-purifying paint.

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18 | Post-Covid Recovery, Roads Ahead and Shrewsbury Pickets (Conspiracy, My Arse!)

3rd June 2020
Bishop & Taylor discuss the Roadmap to Recovery, the sudden flow of transport projects and the building workers (including TV’s Ricky Tomlinson) jailed nearly 50 years ago, whose convictions the Court of Appeal is now, finally, revisiting. Podcast, my arse!

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