黑洞社区

That鈥檚 rich

As you will no doubt be aware, Foster + Partners awarded its founder a 41% pay increase this year, thereby bringing his salary up to a tidy 拢1.7m. This aroused comment as the firm also gave about 300 of its architects their P45s this year. What you may not know is that one of the great man鈥檚 lieutenants may be about to get a little richer. Mouzhan Majidi, Foster鈥檚 chief executive, was pictured in a national newspaper last week in front of the red brick Crest home he is selling in the London suburb of Surbiton. It鈥檚 hardly the Reichstag, but the asking price is almost exactly the same as Foster鈥檚 salary. Coincidence?

Cock and ball story

I received an email this week from Clare Woodward of Glendyne regarding our speculation that a Cyril Sweett/Franklin + Andrews merger would create a firm called Sweett F+A. 鈥淵ears ago we used to deal with John Mycock who worked for Miller Civil Engineering and Ed Balls who worked with the Washington Development Corporation,鈥� she writes. 鈥淲e were desperate for them to go into business 鈥� imagine the receptionist greeting callers with, 鈥楪ood morning, Mycock & Balls鈥�.鈥� Any other ribald potential name mergers out there?

Too much information

A hawkeyed PR at Hill International got in touch to say a story on our website had an incorrect figure, diligently cc-ing two other Hill press officers. My colleague duly replied that we had amended the story. She was surprised when another PR replied (to all) saying our original figure was, in fact, correct. Up popped another group email. 鈥淧lease do not issue any other releases without obtaining client approval first,鈥� it snapped. Then, a terse response: 鈥淣o release has been issued other than the one approved by the client.鈥� The group emails continued: 鈥淚 mean please do not issue any correction without approval.鈥� Now, I wonder why the client is supposed to approve all messages sent to the press?

And the big stories 鈥�

August at 黑洞社区 was as chock full as ever with important news stories. Scottish Water informed us that operator Jake Huey had rescued a live goldfish from East Kilbride鈥檚 water treatment works. The fish, which has been nicknamed Pooh, was flushed down the toilet by its heartless owners. Not to be outdone, pharmaceutical charity SCI got in touch with news of a day-long seminar about the importance of plants and flora in the workplace. 鈥淵es we can 鈥� change health, welfare and overheads with plants鈥� it told us in its Obama-esque 鈥淧lants to the Rescue鈥� press release. Makes you wonder why we don鈥檛 publish a mid-August issue, doesn鈥檛 it?

Send any juicy industry gossip to Send any juicy industry gossip to hansom@ubm.com

War on taste

Beijing鈥檚 Olympic extravaganza yielded one or two lessons for organisers of London鈥檚 Games, not least on the issue of waste. One observer, during a late night wander in the park, spotted 鈥渞ecycling鈥� trucks tipping rubbish from carefully separated bins into the same container. Unfortunately for the Chinese, that observer was Shaun McCarthy, chair of the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, who shared his observation at a CIRIA meeting last week. However, his fiercest criticism was reserved for the chefs: 鈥淭he food was so crap. London must do better.鈥� Good to see the commission has its eye on the really important stuff.

Credit crunch confessions

A colleague of mine had lunch with a 鈥渂anker who tells it like it is鈥� last week and was a little dismayed by some of his revelations about how the financial world works. He informed our man that the 鈥渃ut of someone鈥檚 jib鈥� was almost as important as hard numbers when it came to deciding who to lend to. Pressed on exactly how he built up a psychological profile, he replied: 鈥淚 never really had any training in that.鈥� Even more worrying was his admission that, despite most banks claiming to be open for business, his own had unofficially bolted the door on new construction clients. Are you really surprised?