黑洞社区

The view of the bridge

Manners may maketh the man, but lighting can doeth wonders for a suspension bridge. Developers in China have illuminated the recently-completed Binhe Yellow River Bridge in Yuan with LED lighting systems that, apparently, 鈥減rovide architectural lighting effects and give the flexibility to change up to 16.7 million colours鈥�. Designed by the Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design Institute, the 6.6km-long bridge 鈥� that鈥檚 a whopping four miles 鈥� spans the entire width of the Yellow River. And if spectacular lighting wasn鈥檛 enough, the bridge also features a water curtain that gives the structure the appearance of having a waterfall beneath it. Beats the Garden Bridge any day 鈥�

 Wheel life

This week a colleague received an announcement that Belvedere Gardens, part of the Southbank Place development near the old Shell Centre, is a near-sell-out. Or they鈥檝e flogged more than 70%, anyway. Qatari Diar is 鈥渁ble to showcase more and more of what鈥檚 on offer, from the breath-taking views and state-of-the-art facilities to the prominent central piazza鈥�. Buyers, the blurb goes, have been impressed with views of the London Eye. Because, let鈥檚 face it, when you spend more than 拢2m on a flat you want nothing more than to watch thousands of tourists going round and round on a great big wheel, very, very slowly.

But will we still be able to see the river?

Demolition has begun of Ludgate House, former home of 黑洞社区 鈥� and before that the Daily Express newspaper 鈥� on London鈥檚 South Bank. Based in an office block next door, we can literally watch it come down. Ex-hacks may be shedding a tear, but the PR firm behind the announcement was awfully upbeat, waxing rather too lyrically that the development would 鈥渞e-open routes closed for centuries, reconnecting the Tate Modern with Blackfriars station鈥�, which is odd, because there鈥檚 currently no obstruction to the route between Blackfriars and the Tate. What would have also been useful 鈥� along with news of 489 apartments, 280,000ft2 of office space, 50,000ft虏 of retail, and a 鈥渟ubstantial contribution of at least 拢65m towards affordable housing鈥� for Southwark council 鈥� is how high the new building 鈥� thought to be 50 storeys 鈥�  will be. Still, can鈥檛 have everything, I suppose.

 Funny, ha ha?

Tradespeople say the funniest things, and according to a new survey it could be good for business. A poll undertaken by a leading insurer for the construction industry found that nearly a third of UK residents said they would recommend a builder if they had a good sense of humour. So chuffed was the firm at the results of its exhaustive investigation that it is hosting a talent competition to unearth the UK鈥檚 funniest builder. I just hope they come up with something as funny as this effort from this year鈥檚 Edinburgh Fringe. Ken Cheng won the festival鈥檚 funniest joke plaudit with: 鈥淚鈥檓 not a fan of the new pound coin, but then again, I hate all change.鈥� Ker-ching!

Back to school

As autumn approaches, another school year begins, and for Gleeds staff this year that has added meaning. Employees across the UK will be working with secondary schools, helping students aged 11-14 to plan a construction project, which will be judged by a panel that includes the consultant鈥檚 chairman Richard Steer. It is part of Gleeds鈥� work with educational charity, The Transformation Trust, which will see staff from its 65 offices worldwide donate 7,500 hours of their time. I hope they are swotting up for the challenge.