Blog

In March 2020, most of the world came to a standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic and overnight we saw cities and town centres go from heavily crowded places to essentially ghost towns. With a lockdown announced and employee health and safety at risk, employers had to quickly find solutions to continue working despite these… Read More

Here at Cornerstone Projects, we use these monthly articles to look at hot topics in the construction industry and recently we’ve been hearing a lot about the rise of smart cities. So, what is a smart city? What are the benefits? How is this going to affect the industry? Your questions and more answered below…. Read More

It’s no secret that construction has taken its time with embracing the digital age, and there are still areas that we’re slipping up on. With the invention and introduction of new technology and software, the use of paper feels like an old fashioned and outdated way of doing things – and that’s not even looking… Read More

Using subcontractors and outsourcing work on projects has been standard for construction projects for the years, but has reliance become too much in recent years? With an increase in self-employment, casual labour and off payroll working, many in the industry see this as a bad thing and are calling for more direct employment. But is… Read More

COVID-19 has provided many challenges for those in the construction sector, resulting in a huge drop in construction in 2020 and many unfortunate cutbacks. Being one of the main industries that is unable to work from home, projects come to a stand still if people are not allowed to be on-site. As we roll into… Read More

We often take a look at advances in construction technology on this blog, from drones to BIM, and today we are looking at smart contracts. Contracts have been used to conduct business since the days of ancient Rome, and continue to be used every single day. Most contracts are long, heavily detailed documents full of… Read More

The construction sector is always searching for new and better ways to improve efficiency and keep costs down. In 2020, it’s becoming more evident than ever before that we need to continue to find more environmentally friendly methods of construction, as this industry is definitely guilty of not being the “greenest industry”. With that in… Read More

With an ageing workforce, it’s time to look to the youth for the future of construction. It’s no secret that construction is mostly made up from more experienced workers, so how do we get young people interested in a job in the industry? A great way of achieving this is through apprenticeship schemes. As we… Read More

For construction projects to remain cost-effective it is absolutely essential to understand where delays may arise and how they can be avoided. Nothing will see costs shoot up faster than should a project end up taking more time than planned; additional labour and materials can quickly see budgets spiral out of control, with every extra… Read More

Remote working has been a talking point for many years at this point, but only in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has it truly taken off and changed the business landscape. By this point, you are likely tired of reading about this virus – but this is not the focus of this article. With… Read More

While perhaps a bit slow to accept change, the construction industry is always looking for bigger and better ways of achieving goals and improving processes. In order to grow, our industry needs to continue to look for more effective and efficient ways of construction, and as a result of this we’ve seen some fantastic pieces… Read More

Furlough. It’s a word that not many of us had really heard until about 3 or 4 months ago, but now it’s brought up in most conversations. Being able to “furlough” members of the team has been a lifesaver for many UK businesses, but there has been much debate as to whether this is really… Read More

2020 has seen the worldwide spread of the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, a virus that has essentially shut the world down. This virus has quickly spread across the globe since January 2020, and has unfortunately taken a lot of lives in the process. In order to protect as many people as possible and stop… Read More

Health and safety in construction has come a long way over the last 100 years, but it’s still not quite there yet – and this is something that seriously needs to be addressed for an industry that deals with so many potential risks on a daily basis. Here at Cornerstone Projects, health and safety is… Read More

Taking into account the amount of time and money it takes to complete a construction project; it is completely fair to expect a certain level of quality. You want to be able to walk into a building with the upmost confidence in the structure and foundation, with not a single potential risk in sight. This… Read More

This is the second part in a series of blogs discussing the various trials and tribulations that you may come across whilst running a small business (SME – Small to Medium-sized Enterprise). As mentioned in the first blog, I started Cornerstone Projects in 2004 as a one-man band operating out of a spare room in… Read More

A shortage in skilled workers has been a problem in the UK construction industry for quite some time now, but it’s really beginning to reach its boiling point as we head into 2020. With an ageing workforce set to retire within the next few years and a clear lack of interest from young people, the… Read More

One of, if not the biggest issues currently facing the construction industry is the fact that so many projects are finished late and end up going way over budget. We’ve seen countless examples of this over the years, with a lot of them coming from the giants of the industry – no project is safe…. Read More

This is the first part in a series of blogs discussing the various trials and tribulations that you may come across whilst running a small business (SME – Small to Medium-sized Enterprise). I started Cornerstone Projects in 2004 as a one-man band operating out of a spare room in my house; we have now expanded… Read More

Large Construction firms will often have to outsource work on a project to a smaller subcontractor, to help with the overall project. With almost 350,000 SME’s in the construction sector, they have a lot to choose from. However, there seems to have been a major power imbalance between large construction firms and smaller subcontractors over… Read More

Will low profit margins spell disaster for the construction industry? Currently the construction industry is in somewhat of a rough spot, with low profit margins on projects being one of the main contributing factors. Low margins have been a talking point amongst the industry for some time now, and it seems to have taken a… Read More