黑洞社区

A royal disappointment

My sympathies go out to the Qatari royals, whose modest proposals for a 17-bedroom palace conversion in London鈥檚 鈥渦p-and-coming鈥� Regent鈥檚 Park area appear to have hit a stumbling block. The 拢200m plans to knock together two Grade I-listed properties were 鈥� I am indebted to the Guardian for relaying - dealt a blow by a lowly planning officer, who insisted the loss of a housing unit made the scheme incompatible with Westminster City council鈥檚 planning policy. Perhaps Barratt Homes could be contracted to rustle up something for the royals instead.

Sign of the times

A somewhat vulgar call has been made for a return to 鈥渂og standard鈥� toilet signs to end the confusion associated with 鈥渢rendier alternatives鈥� in bars and restaurants. Research commissioned by retailer Ironmongery Direct suggests 60% of people have mistakenly walked into the wrong toilet because poor signage makes it unclear whether the facilities are for ladies or gents. And, what鈥檚 more, fewer than 10% of those surveyed find offbeat signs 鈥渃lever or funny鈥�. The retailer is campaigning for a return to 鈥渢raditional鈥� pictorial signs of the kind originallycreated by the Design Research Unit for British Rail in the sixties. And presumably it would like to sell them to us.

Flour power

Could his The Great British Bake Off fame have given builder Richard Burr thoughts of running for public office? The baking challenge show finalist was the first to quiz panellists at a pre-election debate at the House of Commons that was chaired by my editor, Sarah Richardson, and organised by the Federation of Master Builders. Burr, who is the fourth generation to be involved with north London family construction firm RH Burr, could prove a real hit with the voters. Not least because he could both plausibly portray himself as a man of the people and proclaim: 鈥淟et them eat cake!鈥� without a sprinkling of irony.

Bricks abroad

News reaches me of a spike in demand for bespoke British building materials in far-flung Japan. Buckinghamshire-based heritage brickmaker H.G. Matthews has come to the attention of a bakery boss in the city of Toyohashi, who wanted an 鈥渁uthentic British style鈥� for a shop restoration project. Apparently the 鈥渂eauty of the bricks and unique colours and glazing鈥� were what attracted Yoshiaki Amano to the firm鈥檚 hand-made, wood-fired products, which were used for his Kon-Tiki bakery. Luckily for H.G. Matthews, Amano is clearly not aware of the joy of Greggs.

A golden opportunity

Hats off to Midas Construction for organising long-term building-site training placements for injured former Royal Marines in Devon and Cornwall. Its latest candidate is Gavin Bolger who was one of a group of Marines who fell victim to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2011. Bolger expressed an interest in retraining as a construction site manager and Midas arranged a placement for him through charity The C Group, which helps former Marines make the transition to civilian life after their careers have ended prematurely. He said: 鈥淚鈥檓 really keen to stay with Midas long-term, and hopefully once I am discharged from the Marines, there will be the chance of a paid job with the company.鈥�