Cocktails and canapes in a tent, a fish and chip supper and a spot on prime-time TV. Sounds like a lifestyle for a B-list celeb, not a day in the life of a contractor
Please make a U-turn when possible
It may have won the Stirling prize but are pupils getting lost in the Zaha Hadid-designed Evelyn Grace Academy? Hansom has noted with interest the school鈥檚 appointment of consultant Intelligent Space, whose website says it is helping 鈥渨ith a series of design interventions to improve their built environment鈥�. Although this work includes working on the school鈥檚 signage - and there are reports of people having trouble locating lavatories - a spokeswoman for the school insists it is 100% happy with the building and always intended to commission such work. Hope it鈥檚 not too late for the people searching for a loo.
Long live the conference
Where better to mark the Libyan dictator鈥檚 grisly death than at a business conference? Yes, you read right. Quickest off the mark to send a Gaddafi-related press release last Thursday - half an hour before the Guardian鈥檚 live blog even confirmed that he was dead - were the PRs behind next month鈥檚 鈥淟ibya - The Future鈥� business conference in London. 鈥淕addafi dead鈥�, rejoiced the subject line 鈥� before explaining how you can book a place at the conference. Not the first thing on many people鈥檚 minds on hearing the news, it has to be said.
Dream big
Intrepid industry types who ventured out last week to a launch event on an 11-hectare brownfield site in east London鈥檚 Stratford were greeted by a surprising sight. Among deserted building sites and half-complete apartment blocks stood a marquee filled with ornamental trees, ambient lighting and tasty canapes. The event marked the unveiling of Ikea鈥檚 property arm鈥檚 plans for a vast new neighbourhood south of the Olympic park. Among the marquee鈥檚 fans was executive director for regeneration, planning and property at Newham council,
Clive Dutton, who gushed: 鈥淲e鈥檙e not easily impressed in Newham. But if the development is half as good as this tent we鈥檒l be impressed.鈥� Maybe set your sights a little higher, Clive?
Extra-curricular activities
What do the JCT - the body behind one of the most popular forms of construction contract - and unmissable TV show Educating Essex have in common? More than you鈥檇 think. Michael Hardware, the man behind publicity for the contracts expert, also sits on the board of Passmores School in Harlow, which is currently finding fame in the Channel 4 documentary. Michael has been apparently been pulling strings behind the scenes to get the warts-and-all reality TV show on the telly.
Stiff upper lip
As well as PFI, another focus of ire at the Movers & Shakers property event in London last week was the dreaded OJEU process. Boss of developer Helical Bar, Mike Slade, got a good cheer from the room when he labelled the system 鈥渉orrendous鈥� and claimed that 鈥�57% of OJEU applications come from Britain鈥� - presumably because of our love of pen-pushing. 鈥淕od bless us but we do kick ourselves in the balls regularly,鈥� he lamented.
PFI is yesterday鈥檚 news(paper)
Just when you thought the government might be warming to the idea of reviving PFI, the procurement method gets another kicking - this time from a civil servant. Speaking at the Movers & Shakers property event at the Dorchester hotel last week, the chief operating officer of the Government Property Unit, Neil Warsop, recalled that a fish 鈥榥鈥� chip supper for a former Labour chancellor had cost 鈥渟everal hundred鈥� pounds because it was somehow ordered through a PFI contract. Why anyone would be daft enough to pay for a takeaway in such a manner went unanswered, of course 鈥�
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