黑洞社区

Off with their Ed

There was much disappointment last week when the Department for Culture, Media and Sport sent out a missive informing journalists that the launch of an independent review into architecture policy, led by Sir Terry Farrell, had without explanation been cancelled. Had the review been aborted? No, for we were later advised it had only been rescheduled due to culture secretary Ed Vaizey being called away on unexplained party political business, which surely could have had nothing to do with the urgent business of pressing Vote Conservative flyers into the hands of constituents in Eastleigh. And a lot of good that did 鈥�

The underdogs

But it did seem every man and his dog was down Eastleigh way last week. Apart from the party leaders, of course, there was energy secretary Ed Davey - fighting for the Lib Dems - as well as his junior minister Greg Barker, complete with his cute companion Otto the dachshund who, as regular readers of these pages will know, accompanies the energy minister to work each day, with a basket and toys in the minister鈥檚 office. Yet even Otto, replete with Tory Blue rosette, failed to win over the voters - though I鈥檓 sure he later came in use for licking the Tories鈥� wounds.

Flogging a dead horse

Bandwagon jumping is a precarious game and I couldn鈥檛 help but feel that consultant WYG may have picked the wrong one when a press release proclaiming 鈥淲YG speeds through planning for new meat processing facility,鈥� arrived last week. 鈥淭he project is particularly pertinent in view of the current controversy over reports of horsemeat appearing in the food chain,鈥� it added, though I鈥檓 not sure the speed of the planning process is the meat processing sector鈥檚 primary concern right now.

More R&R for architects?

Spare a thought for the architects. Results of a study by office supplier Viking reached us which showed that stress levels among architects are on the rise, with nearly a third admitting that they 鈥済orge鈥� themselves on food after a tough day at work, with another third saying they have health problems as a result of stress. How to remedy this situation? The survey
said 鈥渂y far the most popular鈥� suggestions were free massages, yoga classes, and 鈥渞ooms of scented candles鈥�. Whatever would a survey of contractors come up with? Do let us know.

East meets Club Med

An ambitious approach to what can be achieved in our ever-shrinking global village is all well and good but there are occasions when ambition can go too far. One Chinese developer, who was keen to sign up 黑洞社区鈥檚 Architect of the Year Astudio to work on his new project, flew out the firm鈥檚 director of Asia, Sean Weston, to a site in a town near China鈥檚 northern border with Mongolia. There, in the grey, drab, freezing cold, he declared he wanted Astudio to design him 0some 鈥淪panish villas鈥� - presumably not to make the most of the weather. Perhaps mindful of the principles of sustainable development, Weston politely declined.