黑洞社区

黑洞社区 held the second of its Phase One networking parties this week, this time in Britain鈥檚 second city Manchester. More than 100 homegrown or adopted Mancunians in their first ten years in construction joined us after work on Wednesday evening to meet colleagues from other firms, swap gossip, stories and magic tricks and give the free bar a bit of a hammering.

To kick off the evening, 黑洞社区 invited Ian Simpson down 鈥� the 鈥渟tarchitect鈥� who鈥檚 doing for the Manchester skyline what Norman Foster鈥檚 doing for London. The venue for the evening, Loaf Bar at Deansgate Locks, is just round the corner from his Hilton Tower 鈥� a fitting backdrop to an evening discussing opportunities in the booming construction of the city.

Simpson treated them to a frank and illuminating account of how he designs tall buildings - and what he thinks of the planners who try to stop him.

The centre of Manchester is developing fast, though Simpson鈥檚 not impressed with everything the industry鈥檚 throwing up. 鈥淚n Manchester, we have some Victorian buildings, and some dross and then some more rubbish that鈥檚 been built and continues to be built,鈥� he said, adding helpfully: 鈥淚鈥檓 being provocative.鈥�

But his greatest ire was reserved for the planners, particularly the guardians of the London skyline who are stopping him getting his Beetham Tower built. 鈥淛ust because you can see the top of it from a building built across St James鈥檚 Park 150 years ago, there鈥檚 massive uproar. The top of it! You can see most of the London Eye but that doesn鈥檛 matter.鈥�

Grrr.

Designing towers is a subjective business, Simpson granted, but: 鈥淎s long as I think it鈥檚 a beautiful and elegant building, I don鈥檛 care what anyone else thinks. I was walking past the Hilton Tower and there was an old lady going 鈥榳hat鈥檚 that awful building鈥�. But I think we had a great team and it鈥檚 the best we could do as a team at the time.鈥�

The view from the assembled Phase Oners was definitely more positive though: when you鈥檙e in the early years of a career in construction in your favourite city, any big, flashy development is a good thing.

They were also pretty impressed to be hearing it from the horse鈥檚 mouth 鈥� speakers like Simpson may be a common sight at senior exec conferences, but you don鈥檛 usually get to go when you鈥檙e starting out. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 fantastic to see someone like Ian Simpson,鈥� said one female QS. 鈥淗e was brilliant. I think we should have more chances to learn from people like that.鈥�

Phase One is back in London in September and Glasgow later in the year. For your chance to join your colleagues at upcoming events, sign up for invites at phaseone@cmpi.biz.