黑洞社区

It was you all along 鈥�

You may remember the aborted takeover bid for Shard contractor Mace in early 2008. The deal was derailed by the introduction of a higher rate of capital gains tax in April that year, which meant buyer and seller could no longer agree a price. What was never known was the identity of the mystery suitor for the firm that forms a third of Olympic delivery body CLM. Until now, that is. I am reliably told it was Indian property giant DLF, which probably wouldn鈥檛 have been most people鈥檚 first guess. And another interesting fact: DLF chair Kushal Pal Singh is reportedly worth 拢9bn, so could have presumably paid for the Games himself.

Domestic disputes

Congratulations to Gareth Capner, the former senior partner of Barton Willmore and one-time 黑洞社区 columnist, who has just become chair of the Housing Design Awards. It turns out that Capner was favoured by the communities department, one of the sponsors, over candidates put forward by Cabe. After the recent spat between the two bodies over the Homes and Communities Agency鈥檚 bailout of private housing schemes that did not meet Cabe鈥檚 design standards, can we take this is a sign of more friction to come?

Automatic honesty

The out-of-office automatic email reply is not known as a canvas for expressing individuality. However, David Tuffin, boss of Tuffin Ferraby Taylor, has broken the mould admirably. Upon emailing him last week my colleague received the following message: 鈥淚 am out of the office as I鈥檓 far too old to work a full week. I should be back at my desk on 25 January 2010, but, as ever, there are lots of young partners at TFT and they will be thrilled to hear from you in my absence.鈥� If Tuffin kicks off a trend for frank and detailed out-of-office replies, what could we see next? 鈥淚 am out of the office because I quite honestly couldn鈥檛 be bothered to go in today鈥�? Send me your suggestions, please!

Look but don鈥檛 touch

RICS members may feel there is little more the professional body could do to incite their wrath, but news reaches of me of another potential provocation: the RICS library is to stop lending books. From 1 February members will not be able to borrow from the 鈥渓ibrary鈥�. A call to the institution confirmed this fact. Why? I asked. The receptionist did not know. She consoled me with the thought that it would be possible to photocopy passages from books for a small fee.

What鈥檚 my line?

Architects have never shied away from redesigning the English language, but I was still intrigued to see John Thompson & Partners, one of the firms shortlisted for the City of London Corporation sustainable building award, describe itself as an 鈥渁rchitect and urbanist鈥�. When we phoned to ask what an urbanist was, the receptionist didn鈥檛 know, but took a message. Someone called back, but didn鈥檛 know either. Perplexing. Finally, John Thompson himself called. So John, asked our reporter, can you explain what an urbanist is in one clear sentence? 鈥淯rbanism is about understanding all the factors that come together to make place. It鈥檚 physical, social, economic and physical. Everybody is an urbanist. You have to go beyond the 鈥︹�� So that鈥檚 a no, then.

I got a nidea, no, lishen, what we do 鈥�

Talk at London First鈥檚 2012 legacy bash, held in Gensler鈥檚 office last week, was all about what might have driven architect RMJM to hire reviled banker Fred Goodwin. Most were at a loss to explain a PR move akin to cancelling Christmas. One theory was that 鈥渉is reputation is not entirely in tatters in Asia, where the firm wants more business鈥� to 鈥渉e can help with acquisitions鈥� (rather overlooking the fact that it was the acquisitions he oversaw at RBS that helped crash the world鈥檚 largest bank). The most intriguing theory, though, was from Duncan Swinhoe of Gensler, who said it could only be because RMJM was based in Scotland, and he had recently read that the Scots drink 46 litres of vodka a year 鈥�