黑洞社区

Dark side of the moon

One of my hacks went along to the launch of a new cladding panel at the Gherkin in the City of London recently. Apparently, it has been inspired by the surface of the moon 鈥� which might explain the 25-minute presentation from a moon expert which covered everything from lunar eclipses to how it (the moon, that is) is linked to the word 鈥渓unacy鈥�. My confused hack says he barely learnt anything at all about the cladding or its epic five-year development process. Lunacy.

Just hanging around

What do Peter Rogers and Vanilla Ice have in common? Well, it turns out one of them was hung upside down off a building and the other says he wasn鈥檛. Legend says Ice, real name Robert Van Winkle, one-time squeeze of Madonna and the man behind 1990s earworm Ice Ice Baby, was hung upside down off a hotel balcony by music mogul Suge Knight, now serving 28 years in a US prison for killing someone, in order to get him to agree to a copyright deal. 鈥淎 lie,鈥� Ice rather unsportingly later said. No such denials from Rogers, though, who admits it happened to him back in the 1960s when some angry carpenters got hold of him after they didn鈥檛 get their bonus. 鈥淭hat taught me some lessons pretty bloody quickly,鈥� he adds. At least it wasn鈥檛 the dreaded concrete wellies 鈥�

One charity boss was officially notified by the council that her scheme had been rejected as it was 鈥榩roper whack鈥�

Comedy of errors

A Kent council is facing a major headache after a junior staff member accidentally published 鈥渄ummy鈥� decisions on five planning applications while trying to resolve tech issues. One charity boss was officially notified her scheme had been rejected as it was 鈥減roper whack鈥�, while another was turned down with the comment: 鈥淒on鈥檛 even bother reapplying lol.鈥� It was better news for other applicants, with plans to partially demolish a pub given the thumbs-up on the grounds of 鈥淚ncy. Wincy. Spider鈥�. The developers have now been warned they face legal action if they start the projects on the basis of the decisions, despite them being legally binding. Swale council said it would have to shell out 拢8,000 to reverse them. 鈥淭o reverse the decision, we must take action against ourselves in the high court,鈥� said a council spokesman.

Dust on the line

To the opening of the Northern line extension 鈥� at least one new railway in London is up and running 鈥� and my hack tells me he was greeted by the sound of an alarm going off at the press junket. An unexpected dust cloud was responsible for the racket. 鈥淎t least we know they鈥檙e working,鈥� one (alarmed) press officer piped up.

Va-va-groom

McLaren, the contractor, is doing quite well in winning work for F1 teams. Its facility for the Williams team was opened by former prime minister David Cameron (remember him?) a few years back, and it鈥檚 recently won a scheme for Aston Martin, to build its new HQ next door to the Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire. But it seems it鈥檚 a little delicate for some that McLaren shares its marque with the F1 team of the same name. So all the jobs are being carried out by its nom de plume, Verve. A quick Google of Verve and the first thing that crops up is a pet grooming cafe for dogs in 鈥� where else? 鈥� Notting Hill. Barking.

RICS in good decision shock

The under-fire, to say the least, RICS has made, for some, its first sensible decision all year: hiring a director of reputation. For its many critics, Tim Jotischky has a job on his hands. We wish him well.