黑洞社区

RT @Justin we love you# ;-)

You may have noticed that last week we launched 黑洞社区 Memories, a look back at our archived copies of The Builder, kicking off with a special on the 1948 Olympics. Let鈥檚 just hope it didn鈥檛 catch your attention for all the wrong reasons. In my experience, nostalgia is usually characterised by warm, fuzzy feelings about days gone by. Not warm, fuzzy feelings about pop sensation Justin Beiber. But when our building memories hashtag was hijacked on Twitter by a Beiber appreciation group - content swiftly went from construction history to modern teen crushes. Declarations of love, lust and OMG like, so much angst, for the chap behind such vocal delights as Baby, Baby, Baby rather overshadowed our historical musings. So we鈥檙e being the bigger person and have let the Beiber-ites keep our original hashtag 鈥� but if you鈥檇 rather follow us the new hashtag is #BLDGmemories.

On top Down Under

Ever wondered what happened to Murray Coleman, the tough talking former Bovis Lend Lease chief executive who returned to Australia three years ago? Well, as well as being subsumed into the Lend Lease hierarchy, it appears that the man who once told 黑洞社区 鈥淲e don鈥檛 hug trees and do kumbaya鈥� has been making inroads into the Australian establishment. Coleman has received an 鈥淎ustralia medal鈥� as part of the Australia Day Honours List, and has also received a professorial appointment from the University of New South Wales. A glowing email circulated from the Australian Institute of 黑洞社区 states that 鈥渢his chap has done the Australian building profession proud.鈥� Apparently without even resorting to a tambourine.

Glory days

In the midst of their struggles to be paid can staff at RMJM take any comfort from the firm鈥檚 illustrious past? That past was in evidence at last week鈥檚 launch of plans to redevelop London鈥檚 former Commonwealth Institute as the new Design Museum. Developer Sir Stuart Lipton described RMJM鈥檚 late fifties design as a 鈥渧ision of excellence in architecture鈥� and marvelled at how the team had managed to produce such an 鈥渙utstanding鈥� piece of design for only around a third of the cost of a typical civic building of the period. Others at the event claimed that the building in Kensington was as cutting-edge in the post-war period as a Zaha Hadid building is in 2012. What a shame that the renowned Scottish firm is in such difficulties today.

Join the club

Have you heard of London鈥檚 Chemistry Club? If that鈥檚 a yes, I would suggest you are either unusually well-connected or are a Guardian reader. The newspaper has recently detailed how senior executives from firms including BP have been paying up to 拢1,800 a head to meet ministers and government officials at events organised by the networking firm. The invite-only events, which cover subjects including energy and climate change, have been criticised by transparency campaigners on the grounds that they represent a form of 鈥渃ash-for-access鈥�. However the Cabinet Office allows civil servants to attend and the Club publishes a list of attendees including Atkins chief executive Uwe Krueger, Arup鈥檚 Ian Gardner and Bechtel鈥檚 Richard Beake 鈥�