黑洞社区

A friend in need

Laing O鈥橰ourke鈥檚 finance director Stewart McIntyre tells my hack that its hospital job in Canada, officially called the Centre Hospitalier de l鈥橴niversit茅 de Montr茅al but abbreviated as 鈥淐hum鈥� because it鈥檚 a bit of a mouthful, is pronounced Shoom for short. Given it鈥檚 lost the firm more than 拢200m, I wonder if those at the firm鈥檚 headquarters in Dartford call it something else.

One direction

At a recent conference on HS2, Tim Wood, the director of Northern Powerhouse Rail, was asked how his scheme would work. 鈥淚 think there is one absolutely critical thing here,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are doing Northern Powerhouse Rail differently. There are two hands on the tiller. There is Transport for the North and there is the Department for Transport.鈥� Clued-up readers may think this sounds really quite similar to Crossrail 鈥� which is co-sponsored by Transport for London and the Department for Transport. And look at how well that鈥檚 gone 鈥�

What makes a house a home?

What鈥檚 in a name? Well, quite a lot it seems. At a conference on housing in Birmingham last month, Cast founder Mark Farmer introduced Karl Whiteman, managing director of Berkeley Homes Urban Renaissance, as a housebuilder. When it was his turn to speak, however, Whiteman pointed out that Berkeley was in fact a 鈥渂uilder of homes鈥�. 

Hey, good lookin鈥�

At the same event, the idea of putting 鈥渂eauty鈥� at the heart of housing development policy came in for some criticism. 鈥淧laces don鈥檛 need to be beautiful to be loved,鈥� scoffed one panellist. 鈥淭hey need to be maintained.鈥� Others labelled the debate around beauty versus design in housing as 鈥渁 bit daft鈥�. Looking on intently was Roger Scruton, philosopher and chair of the 黑洞社区 Better, 黑洞社区 Beautiful commission, who later told me that beauty and good design can indeed go hand-in-hand, highlighting one of the spectacular arch-ceilinged corridors running off the University of Birmingham鈥檚 Great Hall as a case in point. Will any of these 鈥渂uilders of homes鈥� step up to the challenge?

Up, up and away

One of my team was out and about with a consultant recently who was bemoaning how much London QSs were earning. For anyone who read 黑洞社区鈥檚 consultants鈥� salary survey recently, it鈥檚 rather a lot. The chap in question highlighted the example of one member of his own team, who has yet to become chartered, leaving for a near 20% pay rise at a rival firm. So, what solution did he propose to tackle the problem of sky-rocketing wages in the sector? 鈥淭he sooner we get rid of recruitment agents, the better,鈥� was his immediate response.

Not quite what he meant

Berkeley Group chairman Tony Pidgley was one of the speakers at a housing conference held in London鈥檚 Victoria last week. By way of an introduction, Nicolas Boys Smith, a director of conference co-organiser Create Streets 鈥� and a commissioner for Historic England 鈥� mentioned that Pidgley had 鈥渟old his first business before most of us had left school鈥�. The Berkeley boss looked nonplussed at this, prompting Boys Smith to add hastily: 鈥淭hat was supposed to be a compliment, by the way.鈥�