黑洞社区

For those about to rock

To New York for the British Council of Offices (BCO) conference, where many delegates were planning to take advantage of the favourable exchange rate to snap up iPods. However Andrew McAlpine, a director of Sir Robert McAlpine, is one step ahead. He鈥檚 addicted to his iPod nano, has an array of gadgets to go with it and likes downloading digitally remastered versions of rock albums to play on it. The only thing that could spoil his enjoyment is Sir Robert McAlpine鈥檚 IT policy 鈥� when using iTunes at work, Andrew found his downloads blocked with a stern message. Not to be deterred, he was straight on the phone to the service desk and a minion promised to have him up and running in five minutes.

I could have you for breakfast 鈥�

Often at conferences a spirit of rivalry prevails 鈥� who鈥檚 got the best invites and who鈥檚 hosting the most lavish do. So it was good to see the magic of the Big Apple thawing relations between two heavyweights of the QS world on Wednesday morning. Rob Smith of Davis Langdon and David Barratt of Gardiner & Theobald discovered they were next to each other in the line for breakfast at the crowded Waldorf Astoria dining room so gamely decided to share a table. I hear David even picked up the tab.

Skanska saves the day

Skanska became the unofficial hero of the conference when it secured an eleventh-hour reprieve for a tour of the World Trade Centre site on Wednesday afternoon. Apparently, a jobsworth at the New York Port Authority had withdrawn consent with only days to go, but frantic behind-the-scenes manoeuvring by the project鈥檚 contractor meant the tour with straight-talking developer Larry Silverstein went ahead. One delegate described it as 鈥渢he best thing the BCO has ever done鈥�.

Notes from a large beard

Guests at the last Movers & Shakers breakfast were privy to a bit of breaking news when Bill Bryson chose the event to announce his presidency of the Campaign to Protect Rural Britain. Bryson explained his obsession with our green and pleasant land: 鈥淵ou are so lucky to live somewhere as beautiful as Britain. You may not have the Empire State, the Taj Mahal or the Great Wall but you have the Countryside. That鈥檚 your heritage.鈥�

Dot鈥檚 do

I hear it was hankies all around at English Partnerships last week at the leaving party of Dorothy Fenwick, the body鈥檚 PR guru. EP director Trevor Beattie recounted tales of how Dorothy had always given him the right advice, even if he didn鈥檛 want to hear it. He said he is now contemplating having T-shirts made for the office with the slogan, 鈥淲hat would Dorothy do?鈥� Beattie, it turns out, is an ardent follower of the hit TV series 24, the fans of which wear T-shirts asking the same question of man of action, Jack Bauer. Praise indeed, Dorothy 鈥� a career in counter-terrorism is surely yours for the taking 鈥�