黑洞社区

Soiled goods

Farewell, then, the Marble Arch Mound, the 25m artificial hill cum tourist attraction made from piled earth that opened last summer on London鈥檚 Oxford Street in an effort to bring shoppers back to the West End after lockdown. Drawn up by Dutch architect MVRDV, it nearly doubled in budget, was panned for its spindly trees and general sense of dereliction and this month caused a furore when it emerged the man in charge of it was paid more than the chief executive of Westminster council who thought it up. The temporary structure, which reportedly cost 拢6m, is now being dismantled but the council revealed that nearly 250,000 people came to see it, proving, again, there鈥檚 no such thing as bad news. Mud, in this case, doesn鈥檛 stick.

Not yet over the hump

But, wait, a petition has been started to save it. According to the blurb on change.org, the mound has 鈥渂ecome an icon to Londoners and tourists alike鈥�. It adds: 鈥淭his icon of modern London and celebration of life during the covid deconfinement period should be preserved and the many happy memories people have enjoyed on it should continue to take place. It must not be cut down in its prime especially in light of the money and joy already invested into it.鈥� Who knew a heap of soil could arouse such strong opinions?

Michael Gove鈥檚 less than positive comments about the industry in the days before the 2010 election provoked one outraged reader to complain: 鈥榃hat a silly little upstart he is鈥�

Not exactly a booster shot

If you were getting excited at the prospect of the pandemic ending this year, brace yourselves: King鈥檚 College London professor David Mosey has declared 2022 the 鈥測ear of the framework鈥�. It might surprise some to saddle the weeks-old new year with such a daunting label but, given he鈥檚 just authored a report into the procurement method, damning frameworks as costly and confusing, it鈥檚 not raised eyebrows with me. Mosey鈥檚 report said too much time and money had been wasted in the past by firms on 鈥渟peculative鈥� 鈥� in other words pointless 鈥� frameworks. Who鈥檇 a thunk it?

I鈥檒l have what she鈥檚 having

How to become a partner at Foster + Partners? Asking for a friend who鈥檚 been reading about all these windfalls they鈥檝e been getting at the practice. Last time, it was 拢31m and now, its latest report and accounts say, the 180 lucky souls are sharing another 拢9m. That works out at an average of 拢222,000 per partner during the period. As I say, asking for a friend.

D茅j脿 vu

We鈥檝e been here before, of course. Former 黑洞社区 columnist Michael Gove tearing into developers and housebuilders last week brought back memories of his comments on 黑洞社区 Schools for the Future over a decade ago. As education secretary, he scrapped the initiative as soon as he walked through the front door after the Tories won power in 2010. He later reassured a conference on their alternative, free schools, that 鈥渨e won鈥檛 be getting Richard Rogers to design your school, we won鈥檛 be getting any 鈥榓ward-winning鈥� architects to design it because no one in this room is here to make architects richer鈥�. His less than positive comments about the industry in the days before the 2010 election also provoked one outraged reader to complain: 鈥淲hat a silly little upstart he is.鈥� I suspect some housebuilding boardrooms might be thinking the same thing right now. Our reader suggested we ditch Gove as a columnist. I think it was the other way around, to be fair. For some reason, the lure of government proved rather more attractive than writing for us. Madness.