Building trouble

Recent revelations have highlighted the almost obsessive need to acquire real estate among India’s ruling class. Unfortunately, this drive doesn’t seem to have done too much for an allied business, construction. So, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the architect hired to develop a new campus in Bangalore to house the back office of Goldman Sachs has written off the entire sector. In what has left a lot of people red faced, the Canada-based architect, Adamson Associates, candidly says that “India’s industry standards of construction quality for commercial office space have not yet reached international standards, much less GS standards.” Indian developers and construction firms have responded angrily to the Canadian firm’s assessment, but deep down, even they probably know it is as true as the allegations regarding the ruling class’ land deals.