Change is progress

Conrad Egbert, Editor

As the great George Bernard Shaw once said: “Progress is impossible without change.” Forgive me for opening with a cliché but little else justifies our newly designed magazine.

Be assured that you are part of history in the making; part of Construction Week as it grows from strength to strength. With times changing, people changing and even climate change upon us, a new look for the magazine was imminent.

The new design has also come out of support for the magazine’s growing website www.ConstructionWeekOnline.com, which is now among the top most-read websites in the industry and brings you up to date news on the hour, by the hour. This, of course, left the print edition lagging a little behind. But not any more.

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Along with the magazine’s fantastic new look, you’ll find new content too, including more analysis, a broader variety of news, more useful comment pieces from top industry figures, bigger names, more regional coverage, and last but not least, a new and very addictive (wait for it) comic strip called Construct Safe.

Funnily enough, only last week I had a little on-site accident of my own. Here’s what happened: Monday night a friend and I decided to pop down to The Greens to grab a bite. While we were crossing the under-construction road that leads onto a new flyover we both stepped on an unmarked, protruding rebar.

Of course, no ambulances were necessary but it did result in a rather nasty superficial wound – blood and all. But what if someone had fallen on it?

Build Safe UAE couldn’t have come up with a better phrase: “Every worker has a right to an incident and injury free work place.” Anyway, I looked for some extra red and white barrier tape that I found tied around an even taller rebar sticking out, tore a bit off, and tied it to the one that injured us.

Some of you are probably wondering, “Who cares?” But when a mundane topic we deal with everyday takes the form of a comic strip, we pay attention. 

As the name suggests, the new illustrations are a collaboration between Construction Week and safety watchdog Build Safe UAE. Of course, they are relevant to all of our readers across the GCC too.

Rather than safety lectures and tool-box talks we thought a comic strip would be a nice alternative approach.

Of course, your feedback on every aspect of the new design is welcomed and I’m looking forward to hearing what each one of you think. Note: You don’t have to be kind. Just honest.