The latest chatter around the industry
Season’s greetings
“New kid on the block, The July, set to tear up the rulebook in London this summer bringing its soulful, design-led spaces for work, play, and everything in between to the heart of Victoria.” It’s a hotel that actually launches in London in June. Anyway, it’s been designed by the brand’s in-house design team and a London interior and design studio called Fettle. But why is it called The July? Allow the blurb to explain. “The July is inspired by the transformative energy of the month itself – a time when the shift from work to play occurs, embracing freedom and spontaneity.” Who knew?
A mysterious portal
Apparently, the Minecraft Movie – the film that millions of parents were forced to endure over the Easter holidays – has inspired an upsurge in people wanting to be builders, architects and designers. There has been a near 150% increase in searches for “construction career”. Good to know, then, that for many the one hour and 40 minutes spent watching it wasn’t entirely in vain.
Building’s journo thought he would have to keep his support of Liverpool quiet but it turned out nobody else around the site cared much for City either
Fans united
My hack was up in east Manchester last month poking his nose round the Etihad construction site. It happened to be a big day for the Blues, with the stage set for a crucial Premier League clash with Aston Villa. Building’s journo thought he would have to keep his support of Liverpool on the quiet but it turned out nobody else around the site cared much for City either. The contractor’s comms man was a United supporter, while a rather senior figure in the club itself turned out to be a Villa fan. City still managed to win though, 2-1.
Fatal attraction
The Building team were intrigued to hear about Mace operations director Steve Hawthorne’s budding side gig as a stand-up comedian. Steve made his on-stage debut at a comedy club in the West End in March, drawing a rapturous response from the audience with a series of self-deprecating gags about his life as a single man. My personal highlight: “My hobby is metal detecting. I’ve been doing it for five and a half years now. And coincidentally I’ve been single for five and a half years.” I did chortle.
Lost in translation
Here’s a little peek behind the curtain of Building’s sister title Building Design for readers. BD’s recent interview with this year’s RIBA Gold Medal winners, Japanese practice Sanaa, came very close to disaster. Our hack had not been forewarned that Sanaa’s two co-founders Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa did not speak a word of English. “Don’t worry, we have a translator,” he was told. The translator did not speak a word of Japanese, it quickly transpired. Naturally it was also the hottest day of the year so far and in an attempt to air out the oven-like room RIBA had opened all the windows, adding a deafening roar of road noise into the mix. Heroic work from our writer to cobble a feature together given the circumstances…
Fifteen minutes of flame
Architects may be pleased to hear that the newly appointed chair of the City’s planning committee, Tom Sleigh, is a champion of beautiful design, sustainability and heritage. All sounds promising, although some readers may recognise him as the councillor who accidentally set fire to his notepad during a virtual meeting in 2020. The video of Tom battling the conflagration, caused by a botched attempt to light a candle, went viral after reports in the BBC, the Daily Mail and the Sun. Here’s hoping his time as chair of the planning committee is less heated.
Dave Smith, 1960-2025
It’s not possible to print all the tributes to Dave Smith, who has died aged 65, because such is their volume to the man known as ‘Smithy’, it would take up the entire magazine. But his former finance chief at Osborne, Pete Duff, tells the story of wondering what to get him for his 64th birthday. He eventually decided on a T shirt with ‘When I’m 64’ on the front, and the lyrics from the Beatles classic printed on the back. He initially refused to wear it at that day’s board meeting but gave in eventually and later proudly told Duff he was wearing it on holiday. Smith spent most of his career at Wates where he was COO. Simon Wilkinson, who was recruited to Wates by Smith in 2006 as business development director and also worked with him at start-up Claritas, summed him up thus: “Dave Smith will be greatly missed by so many. He had a huge and generous heart. He never sought the limelight but his passing is a massive loss to the industry that he loved.” RIP.
Send any industry news and gossip to Mr Joseph Aloysius Hansom, who founded Building in 1843, at hansom@building.co.uk
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