Back bites

Rules is rules

The contractor who revealed last week he has to pay his team to wear hard hats should take a leaf out of Laing's book. During a recent site visit, one mini-skirted female reporter was teetering across site when she was halted in her tracks by a voice like a foghorn bawling: "Off my site if you're without a hat and jacket!" She retreated to the site hut, where she was pursued by the foghorn. "I'm sorry m'dear," he said firmly, "but rules is rules."

Tunnel vision

Construction minister Nick Raynsford has been heavily criticised for talking about "major achievements" and "improvements" to public transport over the past year. Raynsford justifies his comments because, unlike many ministers, he does take public transport to work.

However, he uses the bus because, he says, the Tube doesn't serve South London very well. It obviously has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that in the past week or so it has been described as being "overcrowded," "underfunded" and "in danger of collapse."

The hunt is on

It is an unsettling time at top people's quantity surveying practice Gardiner and Theobald. Grandee Michael Coates leaves in a few months' time and the race is on to find a successor from within the practice. I hear that would-be pretenders to Coates' crown are sounding out their colleagues to see whom they favour. One thing seems certain and that is the new head of G&T will be suitably posh - in other words Essex-men and those who did not go to a public school are wasting their time.

Worst practice?

Tony Jackson, former chairman of the Construction Industry Board, has certainly helped the CIB swell its coffers. Jackson works voluntarily for a housing association that recently commissioned an architectural practice to do some design work. Teasingly Jackson asked the firm if it was following the CIB codes of best practice. He was greeted with blank looks, followed by an implausible reply of: "Er, I am sure we have copies in the office."

Soon afterwards the firm was scurrying to get copies.