黑洞社区

A life on the ocean waves

The interview at 黑洞社区 Live with Lendlease boss Neil Martin last week () took me back to the days when its predecessor Bovis was part of the P&O shipping empire. P&O鈥檚 results were always a highlight for one of my then cub reporters, who would trundle off to the firm鈥檚 opulent offices on Pall Mall to listen to P&O鈥檚 executive chairman Lord Sterling move seamlessly from how luxury cruises in the West Indies were doing to how things were going at the rather less glamorous Bluewater shopping centre, which it was then building. It always struck my hack that Lord Sterling was rather more comfortable talking about boats than he was about muddy boots. Dry land versus choppy waters, I鈥檓 tempted to say.

Barrow boy makes good

A former security guard at an Argos store in north London, who went on to become a property developer, has now been elected as president of the Gambia. Adama Barrow returned to the Gambia in 2006 to set up Majum Real Estate, a property company managing private real estate that he still runs today. Barrow saw off competition from pre-election favourite Yahya Jammeh 鈥� who has ruled the Gambia for 22 years 鈥� to become the country鈥檚 next leader. According to reports, Barrow was a security guard for Argos in the early 2000s while he was studying in London for real estate qualifications. I鈥檇 like to think the experience at the chain came in handy but I鈥檓 not sure how. I don鈥檛 suppose as president he鈥檒l be able to offer same day delivery.

Opportunity knocks

I hear that one of the sites being considered for the planned Crossrail 2 terminus at New Southgate in north London is at the home of a well-known builders鈥� merchant. The 拢30bn scheme is due to run from Wimbledon in the south-west to Tottenham and New Southgate in the north-east. The final route has still to be nailed down, with the well-heeled residents of Chelsea not happy about a planned station in their midst. But their anger is likely to be less saltily expressed than those of the New Southgate builders for whom the warehouse is some kind of mecca. I think I may keep my suggestion that they 鈥渓ook on the bright side 鈥� think of all the work鈥� to myself.

One for the birds

PING! This landed in my inbox.

A release about a design show in Miami hit new highs of incredulity. A Turkish architect was behind something called the Flamingo Lounge at Design Miami 16, which finished last weekend. 鈥淭he aesthetic for the Flamingo Lounge was inspired by a number of diverse sources, from the flamboyant panache of cult filmmaker John Waters, to the utilitarian minimalism of Mies van der Rohe and the colourful liquidity of Gaetano Pesce,鈥� the blurb gushed. No mention of flamingos, though.

It鈥檚 a materials world

Analyst Kevin Cammack鈥檚 daily updates on quoted building and materials firms are always an entertaining read. One from earlier this week managed to link his team, West Ham, to the Italian referendum 鈥� something about a quote from beaten PM Matteo Renzi suggesting that in Italian politics no one ever wins 鈥� while he gave readers a few lines on what to expect in the upcoming week. He wrote: 鈥淢onday 12th December: is a big fat bland as we formally enter the Xmas run-in period when only Scrooge-like companies feel it necessary to bother us.鈥� No fence-sitting from Kevin.