Another top-secret, hush-hush, undercover briefing by the man distinguishable only by his top hat, silver cane, wing collar and frock coat
Shortsighted generosity
Stanhope director Peter Rogers could be forgiven for being a little bleary-eyed after his company鈥檚 ball on Saturday. As the champagne and the torrid summer heat began to take their toll, Rogers was persuaded to put his trademark red glasses up for auction in aid of charity UNICEF. The triumphant winner in the ensuing scramble was Wilson James鈥� Gary Sullivan (pictured right), who parted with a cool 拢9000 for the chance to own Peter鈥檚 specs. Not everyone enjoyed such success, however. Across the floor, Mace鈥檚 Steve Pyecroft was frantically trying to save face by outbidding Bovis for a series of golf lessons 鈥� a package that included himself as caddy.
No hurry, Alun
Alun Michael last week launched the government鈥檚 accreditation scheme, Trustmark, to protect consumers from cowboy builders. One might have thought he would have made this dramatic announcement in his maiden speech as construction minister, delivered at Constructing Excellence鈥檚 Strategic Leadership in Construction Conference last Wednesday. Er, no. He failed to mention the flagship scheme and instead chose to talk about how much fun he had redeveloping Cardiff bay when he was Welsh minister. Good to see where his priorities lie.
Norman in ermine
Norman Foster has long been the king of British architecture, but now he鈥檚 got the trappings to go with it. I understand that Foster has recently hired Prince Charles鈥� former equerry to work as his personal assistant. Quite what the new recruit鈥檚 role entails is unclear, but it is fair to assume that he won鈥檛 be bringing with him his previous employer鈥檚 taste in architecture.
Liverpool 2 Alsop 0
Will Alsop is no stranger to being scuppered by Liverpool council, but now it seems that even the city鈥檚 football team is against him. The showdown match in the architects鈥� softball league between Alsop & Partners and Foster and Partners was supposed to have taken place on 25 May. However, the unbeaten Alsop outfit were stymied at the last minute when the Foster captain called for a postponement, citing Liverpool鈥檚 presence in the European Cup final. At least it was probably a better match to watch.
Scent of an architect
If you haven鈥檛 caught the Herzog & de Meuron exhibition at the Tate Modern, you should.
It鈥檚 a fascinating collections of project models surrounded by the 鈥渨aste products of thinking鈥� that demonstrate how the final design was arrived at, and which linger in the mind long after you have left the mighty turbine hall. Visitors can then trot over to the exhibition shop to sample the practice鈥檚 latest offering 鈥� a perfume compiled from (or so they claim) Rhine water, dog, hashish, algae, vin chaud, fur and tangerine. (I fancy I also detected a soupcon of burning plastic.) And I can verify that this, too, lingers long after you have left the museum.
Some might say that conferences on the privatised utilities are a bit dry. Not me though, because I know I can rely on presentations by the likes of Simon Grenfell, the head of energy markets at Macquarie Bank. Grenfell was trying to explain how the political basis for utilities markets had changed since the 1980s, but instead of graphs and charts, he peppered his Powerpoint presentation with pictures of Reagan, Gorbachev and other 1980s figures. Sadly, we were cruelly denied further delights. 鈥淚 wanted to put pictures of A-Ha singing Take on Me and Madonna鈥檚 first tour,鈥� he revealed, 鈥渂ut my PA made me take them out.鈥�
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