Hansom

Serious about crime

Sir Menzies Campbell was filmed by BBC cameras last Monday inspecting Higgins Construction's £40m worth of rebuilding work on the notorious Market Estate in Islington. As a horde of photographers snapped away, Campbell solemnly intoned: "Crime ruins lives." This was shortly before one of the pressmen discovered that

his car had been broken into and his laptop purloined. "The police did say we might not want to park round there," remarked one snapper.

"I didn't think they were being serious."

Paris: Synonymous with style

Modelling the latest line in Building's novelty knitwear is former Jarvis chief executive Paris Moayedi, pictured here at last Tuesday night's Building Awards with Stef Stefanou, his old friend and clearly more reluctant scarf-wearer. The football scarves, given out in keeping with the World Cup-inspired theme of the ceremony, turned out to be a surprise hit of the evening, perhaps because they look slightly raffish when worn with a dinner suit. Now we're offering Tuesday night's guests the excuse to don them again. We want photographic evidence of Building scarves being worn in the most exotic locations possible, sent to the email address below. And if we publish your efforts, they will be handsomely rewarded with a £25 drinks voucher.

The football-themed Building awards 2006

Sharpen your studs, chaps

As the FA and countless concert bookers from the music industry rush to find somewhere to put on all the events that should have happened at Wembley, one engineer has a helpful suggestion. "Everyone's saying they should team up the concerts and football matches to cut down on any compensation that might have to be paid," he explains. And the cunning plan? This year's Charity Shield: Chelsea vs Bon Jovi.

Back for more

I hear that former Costain boss Stuart Doughty may be set for a return to the world of contracting. Doughty, who bailed out Costain at a time when it looked dead in the water, is apparently looking for another challenge. Whether he will take the helm of another ailing firm remains to be seen, but one informed source believes he will be brought on board a medium-sized outfit, which he will then pair off with a utility firm. Watch this space.

Kelly woz here

The Olympic Delivery Authority is considering a unique way of selling the 4000 athletes' flats and houses after the Games end. Apparently there is a danger that releasing too many units at the same time may cool the market, so the ODA is looking at ways of selling them off a couple of years in advance. One suggestion is to allocate the flats to specific Olympic stars well in advance of the Games, so that customers can buy, say, Kelly's home or Dwaine's chamber. The strategy has so far been deemed "high risk", owing to fear of injuries.

Motty's butties

Back to the Building Awards, and our host for the night, BBC football commentator John Motson, was on fine form. Motty revealed to my colleague that he has been following the work of Multiplex at Wembley stadium very closely. This, it transpired, was not entirely a result of professional interest, but because Multiplex is building the White City shopping centre next to Motty's BBC office in west London. Apparently, he is very excited about the prospect of having new venues to buy his lunch.

Credit: Colin Wheeler