This month’s construction industry gossip: Touching tributes

Erland Rendall

Some touching tributes have been paid to Erland Rendall, the former Davis Langdon partner whose death was announced this month. Lots have taken to LinkedIn to express their sadness and shock.

“He was a great person with integrity, wit and humanity,” remembered CPC partner Mark Cleverly. Make co-founder Ken Shuttleworth said: “Erland was fun to be with and meticulous on the numbers. A great loss.”

Former AKT II founder Gerry O’Brien said simply: “Unbelievably sad news. He was a brilliant person.” And former DL colleague Iain Parker, now at T&T Alinea, said this: “He seemed to take everything in his stride, a very selfless person.

“I knew him from a young age at DL and, because we had the same outlook on life, we just got on.” He added: “He also gave the best Sean Connery impression – his Scottish roots.” RIP.

Barbs and the Barbican

I was always told that it’s best being short and to the point. Pull no punches and say what you mean. Amanda Levete, whose architectural CV means she can, as footballers might say, “show us her medals”, takes the same approach, it seems.

She is not a fan of the plan to build a new office next door to the Barbican. “This speculative office building is too big and of average quality,” she writes in a letter of objection to the City of London. “The Barbican and the City deserve a building of real quality here.”

Given that more than 1,000 people have sent in objections to SOM’s proposal at Silk Street, it’s fair to say she’s not the only one who feels this way.

If only domestic goddess Nigella Lawson could be persuaded to talk up the pleasures of bubble and squeak

Lap of honour

I’m pleased to see Mark Reynolds has received a gong for services to construction. He is a former international swimmer so no doubt was trained to get up early, putting in the lengths while most of us were still in bed.

I think those sessions have come to some good use in later life: his regular appearances before half six in the morning on Radio 4 must be a complete breeze.

Tangled up in blue

Chris Williamson has said he is feeling “quite sad” about losing his architect title after voluntarily allowing his ARB registration to lapse in a protest against the profession’s regulatory system. “Not being able to call myself an architect after 40 years in a career I have loved feels weird,” the RIBA president says. “I’m feeling quite sad about it to be honest but that’s probably the cold weather and the reflective time of year.”

His January blues are probably a bit different from most, especially when Blue Monday – the third Monday of the first month of the year and often called the most depressing day of the year – hits. For those who want to know, or maybe hide, this year’s is slated for three days’ time: 19 January.

Remains of the day

I have been told that up to 40 million roast potatoes were chucked in the bin on Christmas Day. I know there are problems of waste in this industry, but that really takes the biscuit. If only domestic goddess Nigella Lawson could be persuaded to talk up the pleasures of bubble and squeak, the problem would be solved.

Join the band

I hear a few members of the Building Research Establishment have formed a house band. I’m told they play well-known hits and are a beloved fixture at the organisation’s work events. I think we could do with a few more house bands in the construction industry, so maybe I could offer my services as their band manager and secure some industry event bookings for 2026…