黑洞社区

Man up and go to Libya

Last week鈥檚 story on business leaders blaming Foreign & Commonwealth Office travel advice for jeopardising their chances of winning work in Libya has provoked a typically robust response from former environment minister John Gummer.

As readers will know, British Expertise chief executive Graham Hand told 黑洞社区 that official advice not to travel to the country was preventing firms from winning work, a point of view that appears to have surprised the equally outspoken Gummer, now a member of the House of Lords.

鈥淚 think the FCO should be more adventurous but what kind of wet businessman is it who waits for an all clear from the UK government?鈥� the Tory peer responded scornfully. 鈥淗e who risks wins!鈥�

Going up or down?

Del Hossain, the managing director of architectural recruitment firm Adrem, was planning to abseil down London鈥檚 540ft Broadgate Tower to raise money for the British Red Cross as 黑洞社区 went to press. In a mass email circulated to contacts, Hossain divulged that he had been inspired after being able to help someone having a seizure on a tube train thanks to attending a first aid course run by the organisation.

Not wanting to let a bit of publicity go to waste, he also mentioned that he is also launching 鈥淎scent TM鈥�, a 鈥渘ew management consultancy that focuses on developing architecture and design businesses.鈥� Hansom applauds the good deed but surely he should be going up the building if he wants to promote the idea of 鈥渁scent鈥�?

Do you speak Klingon?

This summer鈥檚 鈥渟illy season鈥�, as it is known to journalists, extends beyond the national press if the Confederation of Construction Specialists鈥� newsletter is anything to go by. It seems that the July/August edition originally featured an article written in Star Trek speak before the 鈥渆rror鈥� was spotted and the newsletter reprinted.

鈥淓nclosed is a corrected newsletter,鈥� a letter from the CCS stated. 鈥淭he admin staff apologises for the article on page three that was translated into Klingon when scanned.鈥�

If the Confederation does wish to broaden its intergalactic appeal in future, it need only call the Klingon Language Institute: www.kli.org 

Brady vs Reed: Round 1

Last Friday night鈥檚 formal handover of the RIBA鈥檚 presidential baton from Ruth Reed to Angela Brady proved to be quite a lure for much of the industry. Unfortunately the historic occasion, the first and only time one female president has been able to hand over to another, wasn鈥檛 entirely conducted in a spirit of female solidarity with Reed unable to resist a little dig at the reported ambition of Brady to make the RIBA 鈥渃ooler鈥� with a potential 鈥渉ub鈥� further to the east of London.

鈥淣o, Angela, I wouldn鈥檛 want to move [the RIBA] to Hoxton,鈥� she said, before admitting she had no idea where Hoxton is.

Bum deal

Parents of young children feeling guilty about the waste produced by their little darlings have a saviour at hand with the opening of the UK鈥檚 first nappy recycling plant. The West Bromwich facility, which will also recycle feminine hygiene and adult incontinence products, is the first of five planned by specialist firm Knowaste, which uses state-of-the-art technology to sterilise such waste and recover plastic and fibre from it. As well as dealing with a byproduct that takes 500 years to decompose, Knowaste claims its plants will save the UK 110,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year. What is this material used for, you may ask? Construction of course, in the form of roof tiles, plastic tubes, insulation and so on.