Can someone explain just how the main excavations and clean-up of a heavily contaminated inner city brownfield site were completed, the techniques and the criteria for plant selection?

Piling, foundation, pre-cast elements - all underway we are told - but surely professionals within the industry deserve much more in-depth information - or is it too technical for the organisers to comprehend, in which case remove the gags from the contractors and let them talk.

Part E needs to be reviewed now, if only to resolve the issues with the testing conditions. Part E also sets out to protect residents from the transmission of sound from "normal domestic activities".

So why are products and sites tested in unloaded conditions that in reality represent an unfurnished and unoccupied space?

The draft Bill seeks to intervene where the Act has not met its original aims. Unfortunately, there is little data on the extent to which the Act has succeeded in improving dispute resolution and improving cashflow.

Many in the industry have spent vast amounts of time effort and paper extolling the benefits of working together for a better industry.

I have been involved with the Confederation of Construction Specialists (CCS) for 20 years and am amazed that despite the promised reforms that industry strives to make today, we still have headlines such like Subbies Rage Over Bovis Retentions.

Capital Xperience, an idea developed by young people in East London, promoted by London Development Agency, and now run by CYT and Newham College, provides paid summer holiday work placements for A-level students to encourage them to follow a career in construction professions. The programme's two differences are that students have two weeks of induction before placement, and competition for placements through employer interviews.

Seeing the students impress employers during interviews, learning that a number of employers will be sponsoring their student through university, and hearing, at the follow-up event, students express their gratitude for the opportunity, has undoubtedly provided me with some of the best job satisfaction of my long career.

The 2008 programme is now underway and all last year's employers are participating again, many with a request for more students. With more than 100 students applying and 50 placements to fill, more willing employers are needed. The industry's future is bright provided we are all prepared to invest a little time and money in attracting the brightest young people and those employers participating will have the pick of the best.

John Peters
Construction Youth Trust