International Construction Review - Issue 12 (Quarter 3, 2009)

Global round-up
A Dubai contractor, Arabtec, claims to have made major improvements to workers’ conditions after the BBC shows sewage flowing in a labour camp. Plus more construction-related news updates from around the world

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