黑洞社区

Some kind of wonderful

We鈥檝e all heard of the 鈥渘imby鈥� 鈥� not in my backyard 鈥� but I鈥檓 pleased to hear there are more positive acronyms doing the rounds. Speaking at the launch of a new report by the Institution of Civil Engineers on how infrastructure investment can unlock new homes, Victoria Hills, chief executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute, spoke of the 鈥渟limby鈥� 鈥� a person who likes the idea of 鈥渟omething lovely鈥� in their backyard鈥� 鈥� and the 鈥渟wimby鈥� a person who longs for 鈥渟omething 鈥渨onderful in their backyard鈥�. The government鈥檚 黑洞社区 Better, 黑洞社区 Beautiful commission should take note.

Window to the world

Two of my hacks were taking a lunchtime stroll around trendy Shoreditch near 黑洞社区鈥檚 HQ earlier this week when something in an office window caught their eye. The pair were tickled pink to see a local architecture practice proudly displaying several of the most recent issues of 黑洞社区 on a table in the firm鈥檚 front window. So cheers to that!

Not kitten around

Chatting to one of my colleagues last week about his company鈥檚 annual results, Galliford Try construction boss Bill Hocking talked through the contractor鈥檚 efforts to mitigate the effect of a possible no-deal Brexit. The list was certainly extensive, but Bill noted there were 鈥減lenty of ways to skin a cat鈥�. I have to confess that is a phrase I haven鈥檛 heard in decades.

Question time 

Last week, the CITB sent out a press release announcing it was 鈥渆mbarking on its biggest ever consultation鈥�, to get UK construction鈥檚 views of more than 1,000 qualifications. What the top line failed to mention is what the organisation is actually currently doing is asking for firms to reveal how they would like to be consulted. Consulting on how to run a consultation鈥� Who said the CITB had too much time on its hands?

How to spur them on 

I was interested to see the 2019 London Infrastructure summit was being held at Spurs鈥� stadium in north London last week. An interesting day was had by all, apparently, but it seems the sessions ran rather behind schedule. Still, given the delays that bedevilled construction work on the scheme, it seemed rather appropriate 鈥�

Power failure?

Staying with the summit, in her introductory address Spurs鈥� executive director Donna-Maria Cullen apologised to Crossrail for 鈥渉ijacking the capital鈥檚 electricians, technicians and engineers鈥�. It seems we now know who to really blame for the line falling behind schedule.

Alinea relay to remember

The team at Alinea have been busy of late, with 30 of the firm鈥檚 finest recently taking part in the London Duathlon to support Dementia UK, which saw teams of three take part in a relay with each person running 10km, cycling 44km or running 5km. While I鈥檓 not sure there were any world records under threat, I鈥檇 like to congratulate the team on a good effort for a great cause.