{"id":554,"date":"2018-05-10T13:03:05","date_gmt":"2018-05-10T13:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=554"},"modified":"2018-07-26T13:04:17","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T13:04:17","slug":"social-construct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/05\/10\/social-construct\/","title":{"rendered":"SOCIAL CONSTRUCT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given the frequent cessation of construction on campus, with staff and students alike occasionally pausing outside fenced off areas with no workmen in them and thinking ‘why aren’t they DOING anything?!’ readers may not have noticed that construction work taking place around the Management School has been at a complete standstill since December 2017. According to a memo, sent out by Management School Dean Angus Laing, the pause in activity was to allow for ‘an examination of the programme’s objectives and costs.’ We have run this quotation through the subtext jargon translator, which produced the following: ‘turns out the project costs more than quoted and will take longer than estimated.’<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps we oughtn’t to be cynical, but friends of the collective who work in the industry tell us that this sort of vacillating is part of its business model. Contractors woo businesses with a quick turnaround and a low price, pause in the middle of it after ‘realising’ that they need more time and money, and negotiate another pay bonanza. Is Facilities aware of this? We would hope so, although you would think that if they were, they would have the savvy not to distribute initial timescales and costs through internal communications. It isn’t helping Facilities’ reputation for appalling punctuality and financial imprudence.<\/span><\/p>\n

The building work around the Management School will recommence in January 2019(?!), and the over-under on its completion date is currently late 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Given the frequent cessation of construction on campus, with staff and students alike occasionally pausing outside fenced off areas with no workmen in them and thinking ‘why aren’t they DOING anything?!’ readers may not have noticed that construction work taking … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[296,310,324],"class_list":["post-554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-construction","tag-issue-177","tag-lums-space-programme"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-8W","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1224,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/03\/27\/letters-28\/","url_meta":{"origin":554,"position":0},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 27 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, As the most recent Head of Department of the late School of Independent Studies, I am assuming I can consider inviting myself to authorise my own access to the University's IT and email? John Wakeford *** Dear subtext, Reading the letters in subtext 192, I was struck by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":407,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/01\/tales-from-the-bunker\/","url_meta":{"origin":554,"position":1},"title":"TALES FROM THE BUNKER","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 1 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The bomb shelter simulator or marathon man experience continues apace. subtext ponders that it might be the case that senior management have sensed a 'good day to bury (or should that be dig up, retile, dig up again, and make lots of noise with a jackhammer) bad news' moment. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1002,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/05\/23\/hedging-our-nets\/","url_meta":{"origin":554,"position":2},"title":"HEDGING OUR NETS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"May 23 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"What with recruitment freezes (sorry, vacancy management controls!), Brexit and a departing VC, you'd think the university would be trying its hardest at the moment not to create any new enemies, but apparently not. We learn that Lancaster has recently managed to seriously upset Chris Packham and a gaggle of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":285,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/01\/18\/letters-6\/","url_meta":{"origin":554,"position":3},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"January 18 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, Leadership is a worthless, dangerous concept, in your account of UA92 and its focus thereon. I presume, therefore, subtext welcomes the reorganization\/merging of the Department of Leadership and Management in the management school that it has previously bemoaned. As for personal development not being worth of a university\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":518,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/04\/26\/do-you-use-your-finger-or-your-dictaphone\/","url_meta":{"origin":554,"position":4},"title":"DO YOU USE YOUR FINGER OR YOUR DICTAPHONE?","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"April 26 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The construction work on campus continues to be a logistical and auditory nightmare for staff and students alike. Many tutors have complained about the 'bomb shelter experience', but while most of us can find ways to get away from the noise, let us spare a thought for the poor souls\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1244,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/03\/27\/frozen\/","url_meta":{"origin":554,"position":5},"title":"FROZEN","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 27 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"News reaches subtext that, in an email to line managers on Wednesday 25 March, the Vice-Chancellor has announced a complete freeze on all external recruitment at Lancaster. Where an offer has already been made, this will be honoured, but all other appointments and vacancies are to be frozen. The VC\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":555,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554\/revisions\/555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}