黑洞社区

Leave it out

I was delighted to learn that HS2 plans to build a 鈥済reen corridor鈥� featuring 7 million trees along the first phase of the train route from London to Birmingham. As well as the trees, there will be fauna-friendly things such as bat houses and more than 200 ponds for great crested newts and other amphibians. All good stuff, but I couldn鈥檛 help wondering why HS2 thinks trees near the line are going to be a good thing when Network Rail plans to fell a similar number in order to save commuters from the annual hell that is 鈥渓eaves on the line鈥�.

Waste not

Interesting that Interserve has brought in Nick Pollard as a non-exec. The former Balfour Beatty man is in charge of Cory Riverside Energy, which, according to Interserve, 鈥済enerates renewable baseload electricity from London鈥檚 residual waste鈥�. Cory says something slightly different. 鈥淲e operate the largest energy-from-waste facility in the UK,鈥� the blurb on its website reads. Given the 拢200m-plus it has lost on its foray into energy-from-waste, perhaps it鈥檚 understandable that Interserve has decided to underplay what Cory does.

Spoiler alert

Now, I鈥檓 no Archers fan, but I did happen to catch a snippet of the Sunday omnibus edition on Radio 4 and was taken aback by one of the storylines. One expects intrigue at the flower and produce show or a bust-up in the Ambridge cricket team, but Pat Archer tearing a strip off the local developer for reneging on a social housing pledge 鈥� well, it鈥檚 verging on being a topic relevant to the under-40s. I especially liked the detailed explanation from private equity boss Justin Elliott that 鈥渋ncreasing cost of labour, materials and the level of infrastructure鈥� had squeezed his profit margins. No, Pat didn鈥檛 buy that excuse either, so it鈥檚 shaping up into a good old village spat. Who鈥檒l win the day? Evil profiteering businessman or much loved local do-gooder? Tune into the next omnibus to find out.

Don鈥檛 blow it

I suspect Vince Cable would side with Pat Archer in any fictional social housing-related, Ambridge-based fist fight. A colleague attended the official launch of the Lib Dem leader鈥檚 new housing policy at the RIBA last week, where he slammed the developer-led model and the planning system for failing to provide enough affordable housing. But before outlining his policy fix he briefly reminisced about his early political career as a Glasgow city councillor in the 1970s, when he said the UK managed to build some 375,000 homes a year. Unfortunately, he admitted: 鈥淪ome of them weren鈥檛 great, I have to say. Some of the ones I signed off on, like Red Road, have subsequently had to be blown up.鈥� Perhaps aware this wasn鈥檛 the sort of thing his audience at the RIBA might think was a good thing, he sought to reassure them by adding: 鈥淭he vast majority of them have survived and become perfectly good dwellings.鈥�

Festive ire

Speaking of fist fights, tempers were frayed at the final session last week of Negroni Talks, a series of debates for the London Festival of Architecture held at Hackney鈥檚 trendy Ombra bar. The subject was architecture鈥檚 future after Brexit, with passionate speeches from people on both sides of the vote and contributions from the floor. Irish architect and academic Kevin Rowbotham struck a particularly depressed note, shouting: 鈥淭he world is fucked and you are wondering whether investment will continue?鈥� As the evening wore on, his outbursts continued, prompting the MC to declare testily: 鈥淚f I were a judge, you would be taken down.鈥� My scribe tells me Rowbotham replied that he was more circus master than judge. Better than circus clown, I suppose.