黑洞社区

Walking with dinosaurs

It鈥檚 not much fun being called Jarvis these days, so it鈥檚 good to see one firm of that name still ready to party. While Jarvis the plc continues to struggle with massive debts and departing bosses, I am glad to report the fortunes of its namesake, the Harpenden-based contractor Jarvis Group, are much healthier. This contractor, developer and housebuilder celebrated its centenary last week with a splendid bash at Brocket Hall near Welwyn Garden City. The presence of ex-Tory minister and firm chairman Cecil Parkinson at the event meant it was swamped with what鈥檚 left of the Tory party, including local MP and former minister Peter Lilley and former-minister-cum-media-darling Michael Portillo. I didn鈥檛 catch sight of Jeffrey Archer, but you can鈥檛 have everything I suppose 鈥�

Gehry shacks up with Geldof

Frank Gehry has always moved in illustrious circles - remember, his sometime office teaboy is Hollywood heartbreaker Brad Pitt. Now it seems he has been busy catching up with his old mucker Sir Bob Geldof whom, attentive readers of 黑洞社区 might remember, he met at a charity motorcycle event in the 1980s. Frank has apparently been crashing at Bob鈥檚 on his UK jaunts, where presumably they have been chewing the fat about Geldof鈥檚 Live 8 endeavour. Don鈥檛 be surprised to see Gehry (and, indeed, young Brad) marching on Edinburgh 鈥�

Sleeping beauty

Being a construction lawyer must be a tiring business 鈥� at least it is if you鈥檙e Dominic Helps. It seems the Shadbolt man鈥檚 snooze at the recent 黑洞社区 Health and Safety awards wasn鈥檛 such a one-off: news has reached me that he also snatched a quick 40 winks on a lawyers鈥� outing to watch rugby sevens. However, Dominic needn鈥檛 worry about his lethargy causing offence. 鈥淒ominic is so lovely to watch when he鈥檚 asleep,鈥� gushed one legal eagle. 鈥淗e鈥檚 such a gentle giant.鈥�

Inaction in action

Good to see Lewisham councillors putting the redevelopment of the sprawling Kidbrooke Estate at the top of their to do list. Shortlisted bidders for the south-east London scheme have been told they have to delay the final presentation of their designs, which has now been shunted back to July. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just asking ourselves how bothered they are,鈥� says one disgruntled bidder.

That鈥檒l fool them

Delegates at 黑洞社区鈥檚 procurement conference last week were given a fascinating insight into the heightened security required for our buildings post-9/11. Arup Security Consulting鈥檚 John Haddon ran through all the ways to defend against deadly attacks from bombs and chemical and biological agents, including sophisticated glass and ventilation systems. One approach, however, seemed more obvious. 鈥淲e鈥檙e advising the big commercial firms not to put their names on their buildings,鈥� we were told.

Prison irks
Kevin Murray, who heads up the government鈥檚 programme to refurbish the nation鈥檚 prisons, has been left somewhat underwhelmed by some of the bidders in the selection process. The Prison Service man has been growing weary of know-all consultants swaggering in claiming to be experts on prisons only to be exposed under light questioning, and enlisted the help of a Blackadder allusion to make his feelings clear at a recent 黑洞社区 conference. 鈥淪ome of their 鈥榗unning plans鈥� are more befitting of Baldrick than a professor of cunning at Oxford University.鈥�