黑洞社区

Time in loo
You may recall that Greg Dyke, the former director-general of the BBC, began his tenure at the corporation with a promise to 鈥渃ut the crap鈥� deposited by his predecessor. If he were still in post, I presume he wouldn鈥檛 be too impressed by the Beeb鈥檚 17-man 鈥渓oo review committee鈥�. This was convened to look into facilities at the refurbished Portland Place premises. According to a Beeb insider I ran into at Gleeds Management Services鈥� 21st birthday bash, the World Service鈥檚 move to Broadcasting House has meant that rooms for ladies, gentlemen and the disabled have had to be supplemented by 鈥渕ultidenominational鈥� facilities, catering for faith-based excretion. Without getting into details, the new loos boast strategically placed shower attachments and water jets. Hansom hopes the signposting is up to scratch, or some lagered-up BBC bosses at the Christmas party might get a surprise 鈥�

Talking of crap 鈥�
Staying with the crap-cutting theme, I hear that John 鈥渇our pads鈥� Prescott opened a conference last week on the Thames Gateway. Being the sophisticated political operator that he is, Prezza decided to big up the success of some of the developments that have already taken place. Unfortunately, one example he latched onto was the Excel Centre, the venue for the conference and, according to the big man, 鈥渙ne of London鈥檚 busiest venues鈥�. The description caused a little consternation among the delegates 鈥� unless one hall in use out of a possible 16 counts as busy.

鈥楾wo Johns鈥�
That said, the fact that Excel was uncluttered made it easier to bump into people, particularly since some of the attendees had chosen to make the conference a family affair. A colleague of mine had the pleasure of not only bumping into regeneration champion John Prescott, but also later on, err, regeneration champion John Prescott. The latter being our esteemed deputy prime minister鈥檚 son, in case you were wondering.

The indispensable Everall
The ODPM appears to be having a little trouble convincing people of the fulfilment to be gained from working in its 黑洞社区 Regulations department. Paul Everall has been the safe pair of hands at its helm for the past few years. Paul had planned to tear himself away from the giddy whirl to enjoy a well-deserved retirement in the new year. However, I hear that difficulties in finding a suitable replacement have resulted in his having to postpone these plans for a few months 鈥� at least.

One step at a time
I hear that Davis Langdon senior partner Rob Smith has been doing his bit for charity. Word reaches me that Smith splashed out 拢10,000 in a charity auction for a dance with BBC-news-presenter-cum-ballroom-dancer Natasha Kaplinsky. Perhaps shy of showing off his toe-tapping skills, apparently Smith requested the dance be upgraded to dinner. Good to see he got more for his money.

Packing them in
Could rugby be the solution to construction's skills shortage? Welsh wizard Scott Gibbs started as development manager at Liberty Properties in Swansea in January, and he has been managing a 拢50m mixed-use complex in Chester and a 50 acre business park in Newport. Another recruit is former England prop Jason Leonard, the most capped player in history. Leonard is reported to have taken up what The Daily Telegraph termed "a senior management role with a construction firm". And given the way Scotland are playing, I can't help thinking there might be more players whose time would be better spent on a site.