黑洞社区

Crash landing

Former Olympic Delivery Authority boss John Armitt published his long-awaited report into infrastructure planning last week, which considered how best the UK can deliver the infrastructure it will need in the coming decades. The carefully considered study was well received - if you could get a copy. Apparently, the website for the Armitt Report crashed on the day the report was published. Unfortunately, it seems, the requisite web infrastructure required to deliver the report wasn鈥檛 up to scratch. I would imagine the irony was not lost on Sir John.

Fifty shades of noise

A survey carried out by estate agent Haart has found that more than half of prospective homebuyers will abandon a purchase if they discover that the house next door has frequent parties, while 43% are unwilling to live next door to those who participate in what the survey tactfully refers to as 鈥渘oisy sexual athletics鈥�. But the good news is that frequent and loud noise caused by drills, chainsaws and sanders is apparently far less irksome and will put off less than a third of purchasers. Even so, housebuilders should probably err on the side of caution and avoid selling the first homes in a new development to rave-addicted swingers who like a bit of DIY.

Playing with fire

You might have expected Ken Shuttleworth - a self-confessed enemy of glass skyscrapers, despite the Make founder鈥檚 work on London鈥檚 Gherkin tower while at Foster + Partners - to have had some fun at the expense of Rafael Vi帽oly and the team behind the 鈥淲alkie Scorchie鈥� or 鈥渟olar death ray鈥�, as it has come to be known. Ken has repeatedly said glass towers should be consigned to the past, but he was more circumspect when speaking to 黑洞社区, saying he wouldn鈥檛 wish last week鈥檚 media frenzy 鈥渙n anyone鈥� and the heat phenomenon could have happened 鈥渨ith any reflective surface鈥�. But he did have a view on concave buildings, as his own home in Wiltshire consists of two glass-fronted concave crescents. 鈥淚 checked to make sure they wouldn鈥檛 set fire to a tree,鈥� he says.

See and be seen

I was impressed to see demolition specialist Keltbray taking action last week to increase cyclist safety by getting them into its trucks鈥� cabs so they could see just how tough it is for drivers to spot them. The firm is also fitting CCTV cameras to its vehicles to allow drivers to see all around. Let鈥檚 hope that others follow suit.

The meow factor

For some time there has been some very real concern that the construction industry may run into a skills shortage if specialist markets like nuclear power take off as they are forecast to. Well, I suspect the clever executives of Nuclear Management Partners (made up of engineers Amec, URS and Areva) have found a solution. An internal audit revealed this week that the bosses of the firm had erroneously claimed an expense payment from their employers the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority for a 拢714 taxi fare for an executive 鈥渁nd cat鈥�. This must have been a pretty important cat to make it worth hailing a taxi for. I can only assume the animal was being 鈥渞epatriated鈥� after doing its bit to decommission the highly toxic site.
Perhaps this is the future strategy for tackling such hazardous jobs - highly trained felines.

Downsizing gets serious

News reached me this week of a new architecture competition, with some of the biggest names facing off, including Zaha Hadid, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, and Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands. But this time the architects aren鈥檛 competing for a museum or a fancy building in the City of London. No, instead, they鈥檙e aiming to design the best dolls house (AHMM鈥檚 design is pictured). It鈥檚 all for a good cause, with the firms presenting their dolls houses at an exhibition during Design Week, which will be followed by an auction of the models created to raise money for disabled childrens charity KIDS. Let鈥檚 hope the RIBA doesn鈥檛 weigh in by criticising the space standards