The London District Surveyors Association (LDSA) has announced publication of a new version of its design document for piles in London Clay which is widely used by building control across the capital’s 32 boroughs.

At the start of 2003, Tony Blair was Prime Minister and was yet to have his Iraq problem, Girls Aloud had the No 1 single, London had no congestion charge, and Geotechnical & Environmental Associates (GEA) Limited started trading.

As we start another year and consider recruitment options I starting wondering whether we could put in a nutshell what the qualities are that we look for, particularly in new graduates, which is where we find most of our staff.

The proposed development for this site comprised the demolition of the existing buildings and the subsequent construction of a 36-storey residential tower, standing at around 120 m high, with two commercial podium buildings of between five storeys and eight storeys.