The latest chatter around the industry
Up and running
Next week’s UKREiiF property event in Leeds promises to be a rather busy affair judging by the exhaustive programme of events – it all seems to start with 7am “networking” runs – and the number of invites my team are receiving. My team is staying in the tranquil setting of Harrogate, around 12 miles away, so those networking runs around the Leeds streets are probably going to be replaced with solitary jogs around the Valley Gardens instead.
Disappearing act
Speaking of Harrogate, the team is staying a stone’s throw away from the Old Swan Hotel, which is where Agatha Christie spent 11 days hiding out. It was 1926, so a while ago now, but, according to AI (so it must be right), her disappearance sparked “national hysteria”. She was found after being recognised by one of the hotel’s musicians.
So, any delegates at next week’s property shindig who fancy escaping it all, they know where to hot-foot it to. Just don’t bump into anyone called Bob Tappin – he’s the guy who dobbed in Ms Christie.
What’s the rush?
A microcosm of how things happen in this country? More than six years after being advertised, the last major building project on HS2 has been awarded. It was first advertised via a PIN notice in January 2020 and then given a £275m price tag. It finally gets awarded in May 2026 and is now costing £856m – more than three times as much. Go figure.
At the LSE Library, the tour guide pointed out the “really strange walking pattern” of the students coming down the central spiral staircase
Excuse the stares
My hack joined a group of Ukrainians for a look around the best of British academic architecture. The visitors were looking to pick up some ideas that they could implement on a university reconstruction project back home. The group were also given one or two examples of what not to do.
At the LSE Library, the tour guide pointed out the “really strange walking pattern” of the students coming down the central spiral staircase. Formerly a WH Smith warehouse, it was converted in 2000 by Norman Foster, who insisted on “a very Foster-esque staircase in the middle of the space”, despite the constraint of fixed floor-to-ceiling heights. Hence the shallow gradient and the loping gait of Britain’s future economists.
A warning there to Ukraine’s State Tax University about following the whims of architects.
Plane speaking
The construction industry is among the sectors most at risk from potential jet fuel shortage disruption, as it accounts for the fourth-largest share of UK business travel at 10.1%. It says here. New data lists several professions at risk from the stuff drying up as a result of the war in Iran. Sales, as one would expect, is right at the top with engineering a close second. Not massive surprises, I guess. But I am rather surprised to see teaching on the list at number 11. Teaching? Aren’t teachers supposed to be at school and not on planes?
Setting a high bar
I do like a peek into how the other half live. A press release from Qatari Diar about a refinancing deal for a luxury hotel, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, at the former US embassy in London’s Grosvenor Square called the Chancery Rosewood tells me it has eight restaurants and bars. A colleague, however, is unimpressed. “My local high street has more,” he sniffs. Yes, but I suspect the Chancery Rosewood isn’t stuffed with late-night chicken shacks and littered with kebab debris.
Point of view
Viewers of Hinkley Point C’s latest video update (you can catch it on YouTube) will get to see inside the first reactor at the nuclear power station in Somerset. It shows fit-work, including 370km of pipework, assembly of the world’s largest steam turbine and work to dig a fish return tunnel. I think it’s a rather good watch so well played HPC.
Le Cheesegrater
I must admit, I did a double-take when I saw this. “Wasn’t the Cheesegrater completed a few years ago now?” Silly me. Turns out it’s a 180m-high scheme in Paris called the Triangle which topped out recently. I should have known it was the city of love – there’s barely another high-rise in view.
No comments yet