Cyprus-Forum.com

[di-di]

Hello all

Hmm i have stayed off this thread for a few days now to see how it develops. It seems to have gone badly off topic as so usually happens.

The subject matter was so important to so many both here and in the UK but apparently discussing peoples personalities and their quirky traits seem to have taken over the subject matter.

As time is now so short for this demonstration, which incidentally is growing by the minute, please can any of you show concern for what is happening here to hundreds of expats [like them or hate them!] and try to put yourselves in their shoes just for one minute on sunday?

If anyone has suffered as we have or indeed as Conor has, then please if you have relatives or friends in the UK, ask them to join in. All details are on Lyingbuilder.com.

Many thanks for the time taken to read this.

di-di

[Oracle]

Yeah ..... I agree, let's bring it back on topic to builders ....

How Corrupt is UK Construction?Monday, October 16, 2006
51% of UK construction professionals felt that corruption is commonplace within the UK construction industry according to a survey by the Chartered Institute of Building.

The survey asked over 1400 construction professionals what type of corrupt practice was most commonly found, and examined attitudes of how corrupt they deemed a variety of practices to be. The study also looked at the areas in which respondents felt that corrupt practice was most likely to occur.

82% of respondent’s were managers or directors; 57% worked in large companies, 20% were employed in medium sized firms and 23% in small organisations.

76% of respondent’s regarded the employment of illegal workers as widespread in UK construction; 60% felt that fraud within the industry was prevalent and 41% had been personally offered a bribe.

Michael Brown CIOB deputy chief executive said, “People define corruption in different ways. What is corrupt to one person might be common practice or just ‘how it’s always been done’ to another. We wanted our research to take the temperature of UK construction and find out what the perception is from those that work within it and its scale.

“Whilst the majority of respondents recognised corrupt practices for what they were, there was a concerning level of people who thought, for example, that producing a fraudulent invoice was not corrupt or that using bribery to obtain a contract was also not a particularly corrupt practice. We clearly have some way to go as an industry to make ethical construction the only construction.”

The World Bank has estimated the cost of corruption to the global economy at US$1.5 trillion a year. More specifically corruption in the Great British construction industry could cost anywhere up to £3 billion a year. The total cost of corruption to the respondent’s companies was estimated at £35 million per year.

http://www.ciob.org.uk/news/view/1222

[Conor]

or

http://www.lyingbuilder.com/18th_may.html

[Oracle]

One mug's furtive bias is not the stuff I source

Warning on floods cowboy builders 9/08/2007

(What's this?)Cowboy builders are trying to rip off thousands of flood victims, the Government warned yesterday.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said it was "deplorable" bogus traders were trying to cash in on the disaster.

Mps have received reports of cowboys offering to do building work, clear gardens and clean roofs.

The work is not done to proper standards leaving buildings in a dangerous state and owners having to pay out more.

Ms Blears said: "It is saddening some people try to exploit the hardship of others. I urge residents to be vigilant."

[tessintrnc]

Hello all

Hmm i have stayed off this thread for a few days now to see how it develops. It seems to have gone badly off topic as so usually happens.

The subject matter was so important to so many both here and in the UK but apparently discussing peoples personalities and their quirky traits seem to have taken over the subject matter.

As time is now so short for this demonstration, which incidentally is growing by the minute, please can any of you show concern for what is happening here to hundreds of expats [like them or hate them!] and try to put yourselves in their shoes just for one minute on sunday?

If anyone has suffered as we have or indeed as Conor has, then please if you have relatives or friends in the UK, ask them to join in. All details are on Lyingbuilder.com.

Many thanks for the time taken to read this.

di-di

Best of luck to you and Connor Di-Di - let us know how it went!!

Tess

[Oracle]

BARCLAYS Bank and top venture capital house 3i fleeced the taxpayer of tens of millions of pounds, 'lining their own pockets' in the construction of a flagship Private Finance Initiative hospital, a powerful committee of MPs said today.
Labelling them the 'unacceptable face of capitalism', Edward Leigh chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee said the consortium which financed and built the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital - Barclays, 3i, and their partners Innisfree, John Laing and Serco - had bamboozled inexperienced executives at the local National Health Service Trust.

With the NHS said to be nearly bust, the MPs' report into the £590m PFI hospital reveals the extent to which private-sector financiers have milked the massive-Government spending on health.

The report found that the consortium trading as Octagon Healthcare and headed by Richard Jewson, the multi-millionaire heir to the Jewson family timber fortune, geared up the hospital project's borrowing in 2003 from £200m to £306m in a bid to make refinancing gains of £116m. Of that, £82m cascaded back to the consortium, helping the partners increase the rate of returns on their investments from under 20% to 60%.

'The refinancing of the Norfolk and Norwich project lined the pockets of the investors in Octagon,' said Leigh. 'This was a poor deal in which the NHS Trust might now have to pay £257m if it needs to terminate the contracts early.

'This is taxpayers' money and the risk of this large liability was incurred essentially so that investors could have fatter returns. We believe this to be the unacceptable face of capitalism, with such a face shown by this private sector consortium in its dealing with the public sector.'

Barclays and 3i, who each hold 25% of Octagon, declined to comment, as did Jewson, its chairman and a pillar of the local establishment as Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk and a Pro-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia.

While 3i, a giant of the venture capital industry, has had limited involvement in PFI hospitals, Barclays Private Equity has been highly active in the healthcare bonanza with a string of investments including the new Dartford & Gravesham and Bromley hospitals and elderly care homes in Ealing.

[Rebel.Without.A.Pause]

Tess talking about property protest - how IS that stolen land you live on??

[tessintrnc]

Tess talking about property protest - how IS that stolen land you live on??

I do not live on stolen land, never have and never will.

[Oracle]

Complaints at rogue builders hit the roof

CUSTOMER complaints against rogue builders have soared......

Consumer Direct Scotland (CDS) has had a 25 per cent increase in complaints, with 1545 received so far this year relating to almost £600,000 worth of work.

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB), the UK's largest building trade association, called for householders to check with them before employing a builder.

Grahame Barn, director of Edinburgh-based FMB Scotland, said: "We are making a stand to distance professional builders from the crooks and rogues who operate at the edges of our industry and swindle people out of millions of pounds.

[Oracle]

Tess talking about property protest - how IS that stolen land you live on??

I do not live on stolen land, never have and never will.

..... Oh do you no longer live in the "trnc" then?

Denial does not absolve you ....