黑洞社区

That would be telling

Non-disclosure agreements, NDAs for short, are the bane of every hack鈥檚 life. I have no idea why they exist. Turns out the taxpayer-funded HS2 railway has nearly 350 of them in place. Perhaps they鈥檙e taking their lead from the data centre operators, a secretive bunch for sure, and another sector that liberally reaches for them. A pal tells me one of her friends has taken on a senior role at one. Intrigued, she asked what sort of budget he was in charge of. 鈥淎ll confidential,鈥� he replied.

A step in the right direction

There was a time when interviews tended to be conducted face to face. With covid wreaking havoc, not any more. Take the example of one of my hacks who was speaking to Jeremy Dixon, one half of the architecture practice Dixon Jones which has stopped trading after 30 years. An initial interview took place over Zoom with a socially distanced follow-up chat taking place in the porch of my colleague鈥檚 west London home. I suppose it鈥檚 a new twist on every hack鈥檚 favourite pastime 鈥� doorstepping.

Driven to extremes

Speaking of how covid-19 has redefined the interview location, I鈥檓 reminded of the time on a hot day this summer when one of my team was forced to conduct a phone interview with the chief executive of a listed contractor in the front seat of his (parked) car 鈥� mainly to get 10 minutes of peace and quiet from small children. Strange (and stationary) times.

Splash the cash

Back to Dixon Jones, and the firm spilled the beans on some of their projects to my hack. Older readers will remember Somerset House used to be home to the Inland Revenue, and what is now London鈥檚 most celebrated courtyard was once a car park filled with civil servants鈥� Rovers. When they proposed replacing the cars with dancing fountains, their client, Duncan Wilson 鈥� who is now chief executive of Historic England 鈥� was so taken by the idea he 鈥渨as prepared to walk down the road and ask the bank for 拢1m for the fountains鈥�. Money down the drain, I鈥檓 tempted to wonder.

A walk in the Park

Chapeau to Julia Park, head of housing research at architect Levitt Bernstein, who walked away with the trophy for Architect Leader at last month鈥檚 Architect of the Year Awards, run by 黑洞社区鈥檚 sister title 黑洞社区 Design. The judges praised her tireless campaigning for better housing and in particular against the unregulated conversion of offices into often deeply unsuitable homes. Her efforts have helped secure a recent U-turn from the government which, despite insisting all was well, suddenly declared that permitted development homes must now meet national space standards. All power to Park鈥檚 elbow 鈥�

Movers and shakers

News that mayor Sadiq Khan is moving London鈥檚 government from City Hall on the Thames to somewhere in Newham prompted me to look at the merits of its new home, The Crystal. The latter has a permanent exhibition about sustainable development, an irony given that City Hall鈥檚 current home, designed by Foster + Partners and opened in 2002, was purpose-built for the job in hand. Less than two decades later, the civil servants are heading east. Khan reckons the move from the building, once known as the 鈥済lass testicle鈥�, will save 拢61m over five years. Maybe he felt sorry for the cable car folly initiated by his predecessor, Boris Johnson. The GLA鈥檚 new home is right by it so perhaps it will now be useful for something.