After the tornado
Replacing 6,350 panels of glass, each too heavy for a man to carry, has become an epic feat of vertical logistics. We go on site to the largest hotel exterior renovation in the Western Hemisphere

Opportunities in Nigeria
It’s predicted to become the fastest-growing construction market in the world, but Nigeria has big problems, not least violence and corruption

Fawlty tower
Perhaps the developers of the luxury Ocean Tower in Texas can take some comfort in the fact that their unfinished building’s destruction, at least, was a genuine work of art

Time, the final frontier
Ahead of a major new guide from the CIOB, world-leading time-risk expert Keith Pickavance argues that we’re on the cusp of bringing time under control

Haiti building codes
Kristina Smith discovers how difficult ‘building back better’ will be, and reviews efforts to implement building codes before the catastrophic earthquake hit ]]> Global round-up
Swiss nation votes to ban the construction of new minarets; Global fear and loathing at Dubai’s debt crisis; Legal storm brews over bid-rigging fines in the UK; Shanghai launches new code for building with timber

From here to 2020
A new report lists the fastest growing construction markets in the world

The Burj
The tallest building on earth, ever, opened in January and, as Kristina Smith discovered, the real stars of this story are the least sexy members of the cast

Shape of the future
We forget how building types morph dramatically. Imagine Manhattan without skyscrapers, or Russia without shopping malls. In his new book, Richard Barras identifies IT and sustainability as the main factors now driving change in the form and function of buildings. But how?

Markets: India
On course to become the world’s third largest economy by 2050, India’s demand for housing, infrastructure and commercial property is vast. David Smith examines how the need for professional services on the subcontinent could mean big opportunities for foreign firms

Profile: King of Steel
Meet Bao Guangjian, China’s pioneer of super-tall steel buildings and the man behind Beijing’s CCTV tower

Blobbier buildings
A new process sets out to revolutionise façade design by making “blobby” architecture lighter, more affordable and easier to control

Rainbow Nation & PPPs
South Africa embraced private finance to deliver much needed infrastructure and services, but 10 years on, the process is still costly, slow and prone to failure. Here, Alan Watt suggests a better model ]]> Global round-up
“Printed” buildings; Libya detains Swiss engineer; New York “butt blitz”; China surges in Top 225; Indian chimney collapse; Jobs in Iraq; Firms fined for bid rigging; Li Shirong in Britain’s top 50; Striking world cup workers get 12% rise

Iraq’s hard lessons
A searing new history of America’s failed attempt to rebuild Iraq shows in detail why so much time, money and human life was wasted – and suggests how the largest construction client in the world might engage contractors better the next time it embarks on a major reconstruction effort

Time called on bribery
Bribes and kickbacks used to be just a normal part of international contracting, but a new unit of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office has been set up specifically to tackle overseas corruption – and it just got its first taste of success with the £6.6m penalty against British bridge maker Mabey & Johnson

Project: Race day, Abu Dhabi
With 600 million pairs of eyes watching the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on television, there would have been nowhere for contractor Al Futtaim Carillion to hide if construction of the signature Yas Hotel hadn’t gone exactly to plan

Project: New Zealand’s new Airways Control Tower
An architectural icon for under US$4m, designed, consented and delivered inside 14 months? In an earthquake zone? Let’s hear it for the old Kiwi ingenuity

Canada: Giving it the first degree
How the construction industry in Ontario got together to create Canada’s first Bachelor’s degree in building

Legal: Health & safety
A terrible injury in Australia has led to a landmark case that helps clarify just how responsible contractors are for the safety of specialist trades on site ]]> Global round-up:
Relief as Chinese firm rents Freedom Tower space; Stinky drywall scandal sweeps Southern US; British firms set out for Iraq; Recession round-up and more

The Blame Game:
A Bovis safety manager and two other supervisors are charged in connection with a systemic failure leading to the fatal fire at New York’s ‘Toxic Tower’

Cover: Working in Libya
Having turned its back on terrorism, Libya is diverting its vast oil wealth to development. We take an in-depth look at the opportunities and the risks

Legal: Blacklisting
In March, 40 UK contractors had their names splashed in the press for allegedly subscribing to a blacklist of ‘undesirables’. How the investigation plays out will determine what contractors can legitimately do to vet their workforces

Building spotlight: Shanghai Tower
On track to be China’s tallest building at 632 metres, Shanghai Tower will showcase cutting-edge sustainable strategies and a new approach to internal public spaces. The design is meant to signify ‘the boundless possibilities of China’s future’

My story
From the chaos of the Iranian revolution to the threat of gas attacks in Bahrain, Chris Preece has been in tight spots before. But can this veteran expat weather the storm in Dubai?

Technology: Who’s in charge?
Project control expert Sherry Abraham reviews the benefits and pitfalls of document control systems

Recession review
As we enter the third quarter of what will surely be remembered as a terrible year, David Smith finds the picture sobering but far from universally gloomy. For instance, Australia is okay, Africa is positively booming and governments around the world have come up with a fascinating array of stimulus packages

Project study: The Shard
It’s the UK’s first mixed-use skyscraper and the sexiest building on site there at the moment - and it almost didn’t get off the ground. Kristina Smith spoke to the person in charge of its construction, FCIOB Bernard Ainsworth

Markets: Indian property trends
This is development Indian-style: 700,000 homes built in 217 secure, luxury communities across the country

Horizon Watch
Bold visions of how the built environment could look, ranging from the simple to the sublime

Cover: First lady
From humble beginnings as a collective farm labourer during the Cultural Revolution, Professor Li Shirong rose to become a renowned academic and civic leader and now is the first female, first non-British president of the Chartered Institute of Building. Here, she tells her amazing story

People
Andrew Gordon on his impulsive move to Canada just after the last recession in the UK, and Kevin Sheridan on how he is trying to break down the professional barriers erected by Europe’s over-reliance on labels ]]> Global Round-up
Multiplex sues Mott MacDonald over Wembley Stadium; Residents of KwaZulu Natal protest over a Dubai firm's planned theme park; Big-Dig epoxy supplier is glad for US$16m settlement; Brick factory fined for earthquake profiteering.

The CIOB at 175
To mark the CIOB's 175th Anniversary we asked industry leaders Li Shirong, Martin Betts, Keith Gillam, Bridgette Gasa, Khalid Rahim and Chris Soffe to reflect on what the CIOB has meant for them and what the future holds.

UAE 2009 Special
The projects, personalities, hopes and fears in the (once)hottest construction market on earth.

Projects: welcome to Jamaica!
How Kier helped to bring Kingston's Norman Manley International Airport into the 21st Century - without much kicking and screaming.

Point of View: Off-site Construction
Modern methods of construction are hailed as the cure to the industry's ills, but Dr. Mohammed Arif explains why a casual approach to them is doomed to fail.

The "T5 Effect"
Despite the misery of its opening, this project has done much to reform UK construction. Rod Sweet reflects on the legacy of Heathrow’s Terminal 5

Midnight in Moscow
As Europe’s tallest tower rises, the project team must deal with seven different languages, huge logistical challenges and the severities of the Moscow climate. Glenn A. Collins is loving it

New Wave
April saw the opening of Southeast Asia’s longest and highest pedestrian bridge, built with timber tracked to a legal source

Eco-Cities
Carbon-heavy Abu Dhabi will be home to one of the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste and car-free cities.

Goodbye 'Red Ken'
London will require new buildings to generate 20% of their own electricity, but will that make much of a difference?

Leading Lights
Yi Jun on changing CSCEC from state organ to international behemoth, and Sherry Abraham on keeping Oman’s massive Blue City development on track

Asia In Focus
A construction cost snapshot of the world’s hottest markets

Canada's Black Gold Rush
Canada’s oilsands development has sparked a building boom that is pushing the whole country’s construction spend to record heights, and a trailer in remote Fort McMurray costs more than a house in downtown Toronto

The lion's share
Our in-depth report on how Chinese contractors leverage top-level political deals and ready capital through state banks to penetrate the African construction market.

People
This issue's movers and shakers are Chris Soffe, president of Gleeds USA and Ian Rollitt, who left rainy England to set up his own consultancy in Barbados.

Technique
Meet the man who staked everything to bring a new housing system to the global market - a nearly indestructible dome that withstands extreme temperatures.

Cover story: Gautrain
Lisa Baird explores the contractual structure of the Gautrain, the world's biggest rail project under construction and South Africa’s biggest PPP to date.

Student welfare
Shocked at the suicide of one of his part-time students, Rick Best says we're putting too much pressure on young managers trying to work and study at the same time.

How far we've come
It's 25 years since construction management emerged as an academic discipline in its own right. Caroline Collier reflects on the state of construction research.

Applied science
George Ofori believes construction academics could help improve the world, but when he presented his plan to one conference, there were deep misgivings.

Global Round Up
Chinese contractor CSCEC wins the contract to build Islamabad's first skyscraper; Britain awash in floods; UAE plans another "city in the waves"

Trends: China Takes the World Stage
Measuring the growth of China's overseas contracting activities

People
A new section introducing the amazing things CIOB members around the world are doing. In this issue we meet a man dedicated to preserving China's built heritage, and a pioneer in the sourcing of sustainable timber

Markets: Macau
Move over Las Vegas. With the opening up of the gambling market, Macau is set to become the gaming capital of the world, and construction is booming

Project: The Most Sustainable Tower
Mimicking a big termite nest, Melbourne City Council's new office building sets the global standard in sustainability

Higher Education
With construction in China not only market driven but focussed increasingly overseas, new types of professionals are needed. This special report looks at the sea change underway in China's universities

Cover Story Intelligent Construction
We can help meet society's biggest challenges, from disease to climate change, says Wim Bakens, head of the world's leading research organisation, the CIB

Applied Science
Scientific advances in telling the future; How reform must be driven by better contracts; and the leader is the rebel

Global Round-up
How one household has brought development to a halt in the western Chinese city of Chongqing, plus a new bridge-building technique in India

Retail Revolution
Project director Franc Brugman reveals the rewards and the frustrations in building the first-ever shopping malls in Lagos and Accra

Causing a Splash
John Moreton explores the complexities of building Beijing's Water Cube, a structure designed to mimic foam

Making Amends
Dave Root discusses how South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment policies are affecting the construction industry there

Willing to Help
Speaking from his own management experience, Sao-Hwa Wang explaines what works and what doesn't when it comes to using foreign labour

Accelerated Justice
International contractors are mistaken if they think they can rely on local courts to resolve contract disputes. Luckily, arbitration is catching on around the world

A New Eco-paradigm
Slum revitalization and Stuttgart's new train station. iCON reviews the joint gold winners in the inaugural Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction

Applied Science
What construction professionals can bring to a war zone, plus the UK's reform agenda, vibropiling and the popularity of steel versus concrete

Global Round-up
Chicago planners consider the application to build America's tallest tower, the twisting Chicago Spire; Argentina and Uruguay dispute the building of paper mills on the river they share; London stumbles in its first lap to the Olympics

Catalogue of Failure
As America rethinks its involvement in Iraq, a government auditor has uncovered serious laxity and incompetence in the rebuilding of the country

Smooth Landing
Building Australia's first runway from ice and snow in one of the most hostile environments on the planet has been a test of endurance for both man and machine, as John Moreton reports

Unlocking the Potential
An inside look at how France is harnessing private finance to fund one of Europe's largest prison development projects in modern history

A Nation Divided
Some believe Australia's new labour laws are a betrayal of the nation's founders, while others think they are the most progressive innovation ever. We explore one country's attempt to destroy the power of the unions

Construction San Frontieres
Fascinating highlights from last year's conference of the International Construction Project Management Conference

Softening the Blow
Everybody is concerned about the environment, but how can 'green best practice' be applied to infrastructure projects? Sarah Thomas explores some of the codes and contractual mechanisms now being used to achieve sustainable development

Global Round-up
London breaks the mould in public procurement by hiring a 'delivery partner' to oversee Olympic construction; Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport opens after 40 years of planning, despite corruption scandals, fire and a coup d'etat

India's Grand Prix
The flood of foreign money and a vast appetite for development has made 'fast-tracking' the new buzzword in Indian construction. Sachin Kerur explores how it's putting pressure on established management styles and contract procedures

Towering Achievement
John Moreton goes underground to discover how Melbourne's Eureka Tower has notched up a number of firsts for Australia in innovative construction engineering

Plastic Fantastic
Polymer composites are strong, versatile and light enough for a man to lift. So why does nobody use them? Rod Sweet reports on the slow progress of the first new building material since reinforced concrete

Special Report: Good Wood
Using illegal and unsustainable timber is not just bad for the earth, it is also proving risky for contractors and clients. In this special report, iCON explores how you can produce this essential building material more responsibly

Applied Science
The search for sustainable materials, from rammed earth to cashew nuts; How American workers are just like everybody else; and the latest developments in the trustiest of materials - concrete

Global Round-up
Public and state hostility to corruption grows; Chinese firms negotiate to rebuild hurricane-hite America; New techniques advance industrialization

Cover Story The Boom Spreads
With record oil revenues and staggering private wealth, Arabian Gulf states such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are learning from Dubai and diversifying their economies into tourism, finance and real estate. As a result, the desert boom shows no sign of drying up

Twin Tower Tribulations
iCON reports on the politics and insurance wrangles that continue to hamper America's attempts to rebuild the World Trade Centre, five years on from the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks

A New, Fair Dawn
As countries pass tough new laws and commit to co-ordinated action, international construction is no longer a breeding ground for corruption, argues Neil Stansbury of Transparency International

Rising to the Top
With its planned economy fading into the past, China is hungry for a new breed of construction professional. Liu Mengjiao reports on an historic scheme to qualify 300,000 site managers each year

Applied Science
How unwritten hierarchies help and hinder safety on site; Hong Kong's unique health and safety challenges; New approaches to affordable housing in developing countries

Global Round-up
Urban renewal sweeps Kenya's slums; Worker unrest hist Dubai, Chinese public demands more say on big projects; East Asian economy set for stable growth; End in sight for Malaysia's project drought; Goodbye, Rossiya Hotel

Buring Issue
Following an investigation into the blaze at Madrid's Edificio Windsor, structural fire engineers are calling for the modernization of building codes around the world

Building the Bird's Nest: Inside Report
It's the most complex stadium design the world has ever seen, and China's first large public-private partnership. As the 2008 Beijing Olympics draws nearer, has the project team bitten off more than it can chew?

Bridging the Gap
People demand beautiful infrastructure, but hate the higher taxes necessary to pay for it. A funding model pioneered in the UK transfers that burden to the private sector and now many other countries are trying it out

Open-door India
With a rising middle class eager to spend its money and the government's recent dropping of restrictions to foreign investment, India has become the construction market to watch

Green Dragon
China's unprecedented urbanization has resulted in dangerous environmental degradation. The state has unleashed a storm of measures, but will they work?

Applied Science
How simple story-telling can make your company more competitive. Also, The Importance of Culture & Good Questions, Better Answers