黑洞社区

Primary considerations

I hear the storage space for the nearly 1,800 bikes at 22 Bishopsgate in the City of London has been painted bright blue. 鈥淰ery Peter Rogers,鈥� says a mole. I always thought Rogers, who is developing the scheme with Sir Stuart Lipton, was a fan of the colour red. I needn鈥檛 have worried. The changing area has been painted in his favourite hue.

Catch him if you can 鈥�

I鈥檝e had the dubious pleasure of hearing secretary of state for housing, communities and local government Robert Jenrick speak twice in a month. Well, you鈥檝e got to be quick if you want to catch housing secretaries 鈥� they move on so fast. Jenrick, the fifth person to hold the role in four years, had the humility to acknowledge this fact in his speech at Policy Exchange, the centre-right think tank based in London, where he outlined his plans for the sector, 鈥渋f I am given time to do so 鈥� and it鈥檚 not a given in this office鈥�. He described how he is inspired to noble ambitions as he walks into the housing ministry each morning by the portraits of his predecessors, who include Harold Macmillan, Sir Keith Joseph and Michael Heseltine. I wouldn鈥檛 be surprised in the least if an extension is built pretty soon to fit them all in.

Gagging order

For the benefit of serial event-goers such as myself, Jenrick managed not to repeat all his gags from his Stirling prize speech which he made last month. Instead he rolled out one of John Prescott鈥檚 best howlers: 鈥淭he green belt is one of our great post-war achievements 鈥� and I intend to build on it.鈥�

Annual leave

Ministerial churn was also a concern on Sir Stuart Lipton鈥檚 mind. After listening to Jenrick鈥檚 speech last week, the developer said he agreed with every word 鈥� but he had a question for the minister: 鈥淗ow do we believe you? How do we believe you are not the annual housing secretary?鈥� Someone in the row behind me grumbled, sotto voce: 鈥淎nnual would be quite good.鈥�

Out of order

Jenrick鈥檚 underling at the housing department, Esther McVey, has been at it again. Mangling the English language, I mean. In her latest vocabulary faux pas, the minister, speaking at an event in Sheffield last week, said she wanted to see a 鈥渉ousing green revolution鈥�. Now that鈥檚 the sort of assault on the standard adjectival order that gives Mrs Hansom the conniptions. Then again, following McVey鈥檚 recent call to 鈥渓iterally knock down the barriers to building more homes鈥�, nothing she utters can surprise me any more.

Under the influence

One of my team was in London鈥檚 Farringdon recently for a tour of developer HB Reavis鈥� office scheme, known as Bloom, going up above the Crossrail station. To answer his curiosity about who else was on the tour, several names were rattled off as well as, he was told, 鈥渧arious influencers鈥�. What are they, asked my nonplussed scribe. 鈥淭hose in the know,鈥� came the reply. For the avoidance of doubt, it鈥檚 people with lots of followers on Instagram, my younger team members tell me. Which rules me out.

What a coincidence

The launch of a Zaha Hadid Architects skyscraper in Beijing is taking place next month. The invite helpfully suggests attendees fly into the recently built Beijing Daxing International airport 鈥� designed by Zaha Hadid. Well I never!

A (nine) grand day out 

Persistent HS2 critic, Tory MP Dame Cheryl Gillan, wanted to know how much a recent YouTube video promoting the benefits of the railway cost to make. The information she was after was right at the end of HS2 minister Paul Maynard鈥檚 six-line answer: 拢9,715.