A QS quiz team counts its brain cells and euros, the industry鈥檚 fast-track papal election and Owen Luder perfects his shooting and bow-tie-tying techniques
QSs get quizzical
May I pass on my congratulations to the QS and architectural team at Southwark council. Team Southwark (pictured below) won a trip to Paris in the inaugural QS quiz last week, which celebrated the launch of 黑洞社区鈥檚 new sister magazine QS News. A colleague insists that they were lucky though: the 黑洞社区 and QS News team was just pipped into second place (or the losers鈥� spot, as the rest of our office describes it). Bill Bradford, Southwark鈥檚 team captain, was awed by his own powers of recall. 鈥淗ow I remembered the 1960s hit Concrete and Clay was performed by Unit 4+2 I鈥檒l never know.鈥� More awesome examples of QS brain power in this week鈥檚 QS News.
Good sportin鈥� fun
I had a jolly nice day out with two-time former RIBA president Owen Luder last week, and did he tell me some fascinating snippets 鈥� I fear that some of the tales are a bit hush-hush, but I鈥檒l share this one with you. With a knack for huntin鈥� and shootin鈥� that goes admirably with his bow-tie and tweed image, Luder once took out his air rifle and shot two pigeons in the back garden of his Westminster home. One dropped instantly, while the other managed a few last flaps before flopping into next door鈥檚 garden 鈥� which happens to belong to one Roy Hattersley. The former Labour deputy leader was soon at the fence remonstrating that it was illegal to fire a gun within 100 m of a highway. Politicians, eh? Always sticklers for details.
Dear John
Word reaches me that Kier chief executive John Dodds鈥� recent pleas to the government on behalf of the 11 contractors on the Procure21 scheme may fall on deaf ears. Demanding to know whether the programme would survive after the election, Dodds wrote a letter to health secretary John Reid. Unfortunately, this may have allowed it to become ensnared in the internal Labour Party bickering machine. Officials are worried that, because the letter praised Reid鈥檚 predecessor, Alan Milburn, for setting up Procure21, Reid may not give it the attention it deserves.
White smoke on site
I hear that Benny Kelly, director at contractor Sir Robert McAlpine, has been attracting a bit of good-natured ribbing since the inauguration of Pope Benedict. A friend tells me Kelly鈥檚 first name is the same as that adopted by the head of the Catholic Church, hence the Irishman being dubbed Pope as he entered a meeting last week.
A row after a row
The annual RICS under-35s MATRIX bash at the Dorchester had a guest appearance from some breathless Gleeds QSs earlier this month. Fresh from their exertions at a charity tsunami rowathon, the tracksuited rowers were denied entry by the doorman as they didn鈥檛 comply with the black-tie dress code. 鈥淚 wouldn't mind,鈥� said Gleeds partner Stuart Earl, 鈥渂ut I am sure I heard the term 鈥榗havs鈥� muttered under their breath 鈥� and we only came to collect the raffle money.鈥�
Okay, since you asked, one more Luder story. Luder tells me that he and fellow architect Peter Murray held a bow-tie-tying contest in the early 1980s and both came in at a
rather handy nine seconds (Murray edged the race by about a 10th of a second, although rumour has it that this might have had something to do with Luder downing a couple of lunchtime snifters). Any dapper architects out there today who think they can beat that? If so, please email my colleague on mleftly@cmpinformation.com
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