Construction Manager has rounded up a selection of the best comments on the website over the past month, including lively discussions on why there appear to be no gay men in construction, a former Mowlem director’s thoughts on Carillion, and whether or not Japanese knotweed really is as destructive as its reputation suggests.
Bam director asks: Why no gay men at our company? (CM 03/07)
This article is totally ridiculous. What on earth has sexuality got to do with employment? The next thing will be what are your ethical views? This is rubbish not a relevant discussion to have in respect of the workplace.
Graham Hooley
Maybe, just maybe, people may like to keep their sexuality private? Maybe, people may not like to stamp their sexuality over social media on jump on the band wagon of what is in the public spotlight and trendy. Let people be what they want to be without asking them to identify themselves by their sexual preferences.
Mehmet Bekir
Looks like Graham Hooley is pretty obviously part of the problem. Well done to BAM! – although lots of other construction companies have given this type of support already.
Dave Raval
The article has nothing to do with employment or at least how to tackle unemployment. It is not even relevant to the work place and its ethics. I disagree completely with the content of the article.
Ehab Shallaby
Reading through these comments, I am appalled. It is a sad truth that the construction industry is slow to change, but some of these comments are so narrow minded. If gay men and women, or for that matter anyone, is dissuaded from joining a career in construction for some reason then we need to find out why. For an organisation to have 1700 employees, and not a single one of them is, or feels safe enough to admit to being gay, then something is wrong.
Jack
Ex-Carillion boss: Payment problem starts with government (CM 12/07)
That’s a complete load of nonsense from Howson. I was a director at Carillion for three years after the takeover of Mowlem and the message was "can’t pay, won’t pay". The whole culture was about overbearing central control (from Wolverhampton) of all the levers of management except delivery (the difficult part!). It was a Soviet command and control business model which sought to destroy any personal decision making by individual managers and directors. Consequently clear truths, common sense and factual reporting were non existent.
Gareth Davies
I think this is more smoke and mirrors from Carillion top brass. I have worked in outsourcing, predominantly in government contracts since 1995 until I retired in 2018. The secret to securing payment, including dealing with variations is to be clear, open, and honest, and to provide the necessary detail to support the case. I did not experience the sort of problems that Howson alleges.
Michael Ian Watts
‘No evidence’ Japanese knotweed damages structures, Aecom says (CM 09/07)
I agree with the report findings. In over 30 years surveying buildings and structures where Japanese Knotweed is present, I found no structural damage. Furthermore, I have been monitoring a large clump of Japanese knotweed at my local park and this growth is close to tram tracks, over the last six years the growth has not expanded it just produces leaves and flowers in the spring and summer and dies back in the autumn and winter.
Phillip Kent
I’ve seen more damage from buddleia and mare’s tail than Japanese knotweed. The zonal recommendations on Japanese knotweed add some sanity to its fearful reputation. There are far more other serious concerns than this which surveyors have to contend with when it comes to damage. And the cost/loss implications are bewildering.
Shaun McHugh
Comments
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These comments are very heartening. Knotweed has been held out to be an expensive problem, particularly when it’s a domestic issue, and Building Societies are, I understand, refusing mortgages on properties where surveyors report its presence, allowing “resolvers” to make a lot of money off house owners.
If these comments are truly representative, maybe they should be more widely publicised?
Possibly Graham has jumped the gun with his comments because in a way he is right and wrong though possibly answering the wrong question. The answer to this question might not be with the current work force as we might be asking them/us the wrong question as they/we already work in construction anyway so how would we understand the full picture. A gay person working in a modern vibrant inclusive company may not have all the answers.
In the eighties, nineties, noughties and 2010s I have been involved or acknowledged campaigns such as “women in construction” and witnessed results. It was not until i watched a television programme related to this that i realised that a lot of women find the construction industry totally boring. It was not only about issues [discrimination etc] within the industry. Later there was more investigation into trade/professional split.
In my opinion it is an issue that perhaps should be taken out of construction and to gay people who do not work in construction allowing them the opportunity to respond.
Professionals within construction can then respond positively to feedback and perhaps Grahams views will be tempered with realism.