15th September 2011, 06:59 PM
(This post was last modified: 15th September 2011, 07:17 PM by trowelfodder.)
Sparky you say: " To disagree with you on only one point, archaeologist can (and should) advise their clients that the costs of excavation and subsequent post-excavation assessment, analysis, publications, may be prohibitively expensive. In fact, I would go as far as saying that this is best practice. In such events, it would be prudent of the archaeological adviser / consultant / manager to advise their client of likely costs and to suggest possible changes to the footprint, if possible"
The contractor was made aware of all of these costs from the start, as they employed a consultant who liased with archaeological planning and the archaeological unit.
It worries me the number of reponses from archaeologists who are questioning the value of the work undertaken and the standard of advice given! The contractors are not victims
There was no great scam, it was a massive site and the footprints for buildings were not issues - the whole area of the retail park was taken down to natural as there were roads and services to consider in addition to the buildings themselves.
And Unit.... the work was put out to tender, evaluation trenches were dug (read Drunkys post)
In Wales there is a trust system and it has come under a lot of criticism but your reasoning for why it is wrong are illinformed. Other units frequently work in Wales and there are a number of non trust welsh units and in the past two weeks I have been employed in wales for two units - neither of whom were trusts.
And as for the no VAT - that is also not strictly true - the Trusts undertake charity works such as public outreach for which they are not liable for VAT but any commercial work that is carried out is undertaken as a commercial venture and is liable to the same taxation as everyone else!
The contractor was made aware of all of these costs from the start, as they employed a consultant who liased with archaeological planning and the archaeological unit.
It worries me the number of reponses from archaeologists who are questioning the value of the work undertaken and the standard of advice given! The contractors are not victims
There was no great scam, it was a massive site and the footprints for buildings were not issues - the whole area of the retail park was taken down to natural as there were roads and services to consider in addition to the buildings themselves.
And Unit.... the work was put out to tender, evaluation trenches were dug (read Drunkys post)
In Wales there is a trust system and it has come under a lot of criticism but your reasoning for why it is wrong are illinformed. Other units frequently work in Wales and there are a number of non trust welsh units and in the past two weeks I have been employed in wales for two units - neither of whom were trusts.
And as for the no VAT - that is also not strictly true - the Trusts undertake charity works such as public outreach for which they are not liable for VAT but any commercial work that is carried out is undertaken as a commercial venture and is liable to the same taxation as everyone else!