Hansom Romantic interlude

Olympic flames

In this most romantic of weeks, the RIBA has found a way to London’s architects’ hearts, by offering the chance of a hot date with the people responsible for the 2012 Olympic infrastructure. The idea, a kind of speed dating for designers, allows each architect five minutes to make their pitch before being moved on. The targets for their advances were expected to include Jerome Frost, head of design at the Olympic Delivery Authority, Derek Wilson, architectural adviser on the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, and representatives from HOK Sport and Allies and Morrison, two of the architectural practices involved in the games. The event was due to be held yesterday, 15 February, presumably so that any architects who failed to find love the previous day could console themselves with money.

Credit: Scott Garrett

Love in a clean climate

Adding to the romance, Propertyfinder.com has published research that shows that the public judges prospective partners on the appearance of their home. Some 93% of people rate a clean home as an essential quality in a partner, but expensive furnishings are less desirable than cosy ones. The survey says 89% of people have lived with a partner by the time they are 30 and half of couples move in together in less than nine months. Now if that doesn’t get you clicking on the website to find the right property, nothing will.

Presentation skills

You can be sure that the house of Matt Goulcher, the managing director of Levitt Bernstein, is both well designed and tidy. The reason being that he is married to none other than Aggie MacKenzie of Channel 4’s How Clean is Your House? “She's petrified someone will come round, decide it’s dirty and tell everyone,” he confesses.

London: the fourth biggest city in France

The cream of London’s architects assembled last week at Will Alsop’s Palestra in Southwark, south London, for the launch of Ken Livingstone’s Design for London architecture unit. Livingstone, who took to the stage before Lord Rogers and DfL head Peter Bishop, decided to use the occasion to score points off our Gallic cousins. “Even the French love London now,” he said. “Nicolas Sarkozy was here last week grubbing for votes. He has to – there are only three cities in France [Paris, Marseilles and Lyon apparently] with more French people than there are here.”

Mingles bar

I hear the legendary industry networking event known as Mingle Minded may have to lure in minders of its own to discourage unwelcome visitors. Apparently the event has been infiltrated by recruitment consultants keen to snap up clients and candidates for industry vacancies. Rest assured though, Mingle Minded chairman Neil Stanley intends to enforce a clampdown pronto.

In the fast lane

Property consultancy AYH invited Building to watch Arsenal weave their peculiar brand of footballing magic at the Emirates stadium last weekend. In a thrilling match, the Gooners beat Wigan 2-1, but there was not much cheering from our section of the crowd. AYH may have been project manager for the ground but director Antony Field is a Liverpool fan and Sean Andrews, who took charge of the stadium project, is not even a football supporter. He prefers bikes at Donnington. So, as AYH is a frontrunner to project manage the 2012 Olympic stadium, don’t be surprised if it comes complete with a speedway track.