Olympics, jubilees and surveyors

Citation

Hoxley, M. (2012), "Olympics, jubilees and surveyors", Structural Survey, Vol. 30 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ss.2012.11030daa.001

Olympics, jubilees and surveyors

Article Type: Editorial From: Structural Survey, Volume 30, Issue 4.

The copy deadlines of publications such as this, means that I am writing this editorial before momentous events in the UK which will have occurred by the time that this issue of the journal is published. I refer of course to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic Games. Anticipation of these two events has set me thinking about the contribution that chartered surveyors will make to both. Many surveyors have been involved in planning the lighting of beacons to celebrate the 60 years reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. I happen to know Bruno Peek, who has been in overall charge of the planning of these beacons, as he lives in the same town where I used to practice as a surveyor. He has been involved with similar events for many years and I hope for his sake that things go smoothly. At the same time of course the Olympic torch will be making its way around the UK and I was in Devon at the same time as this relay began. The roads in the southwest of England can be notoriously congested but I am pleased to say that my journey around the county kept me just ahead of the relay although I saw lots of preparation for its arrival during my visit. Of course many surveyors, particularly quantity surveyors, have been working on the construction of the various Olympic venues. They have made a significant contribution to what I hope will be the best games yet – we may even win a few medals! Of course there is also considerable hope that the lasting legacy of the London Olympics will be the rejuvenation of the east of the city. My wife and I have tried on four occasions to purchase games’ tickets online and have failed at every attempt. As I sit watching the games on TV I will be thinking of my sister who managed to obtain tickets to the 100 metres final athletics session at the first attempt!

Papers in this issue

Clare Torney and colleagues from the Conservation Directorate of Historic Scotland (together with Alan Forster of Heriot-Watt University) consider the plastic repair of natural stone using modern proprietary pre-mixed mortars. Their research, using a number of case-study buildings, highlights the potential problems with such repairs. If the UK is to meet its carbon emission reduction targets it will need to tackle the difficult issue of improving the thermal performance of the solid brick walls of its several million pre-First World War terrace houses. In their paper “sustainability of solid brick walls with retrofitted external hemp-lime insulation” Richard Griffiths and Steve Goodhew of the University of Plymouth present quantitative evidence in support of a possible solution. They acknowledge, however, that the difficulty with the approach advocated will be convincing owners and planners to accept the significant change in appearance that the application of such external insulation would result in. In a thoughtful paper, regular contributor John Mansfield considers this very dilemma as he reflects on refurbishment in this age of sustainability. Sinden et al. from the University of the West of England present some views and perceptions of construction industry stakeholders of the new Construction Act. The final paper is a conceptualisation of the consultancy pricing paradox by Owusu-Manu et al. The authors review a significant volume of literature to arrive at several hypotheses that they intend to test. I recognise much of this literature from my own doctoral research into service quality and competitive fee tendering.

Mike Hoxley