Alpine House opens at Kew

Kew Botanic Gardens in west London has a new glasshouse that keeps plants cool and dry, not warm, reports The Times on Saturday. The new Alpine House, designed by architect Wilkinson Eyre and opened by Michael Palin, is kept cool using natural cooling rather than air conditioning, the paper says.

The Sunday Times this weekend revealed that Britain's Atomic Weapons Establishment has been secretly designing a nuclear warhead in conjunction with the US at Aldermaston in Berkshire. The news comes after Building revealed in December last year that the BAWE signed up civil engineering firms including Atkins, Amec and Mott MacDonald to modernise the nuclear weapons facilities that produce warheads for Trident missiles.

In other news:

• Boots the Chemist could hold the key to a bonanza for its chosen fit-out contractors after it revealed plans in the Sunday Telegraph to spend £50m on revamping 500 stores.
• The FT said on Saturday that the £2bn plans for the redevelopment of London's Kings Cross had been given the go-ahead. The scheme, on a 67-acre site north of the station, was given planning permission by Camden council late last week.
• Argent is the developer of the scheme which is due to be completed in 2020 and will include 4.5 million m² of offices and almost 2000 flats.
• According to the FT house price index, London house prices have risen in the past four months, pushing up the national average rate of house price inflation from 3.2% in November to 3.4% in February. Shares in Rightmove, the UK's biggest property website, rose 17% on their first day of trading after being floated on the stock market. The share price increased from 335p at the start of trading and closed at 392p.