All articles by Hansom – Page 20
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CommentWaterworld
Liquid leisure is the order of the day this summer, whether it’s sailing the ocean waves, watching a play in the pouring rain or quaffing ale. Some people are even spending their hols designing WCs
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CommentHansom: Sporting life
Some unusual sports are cropping up across the industry, including in-office thought tennis, architectural gymnastics, extreme biking and Olympic-level prevarication. Go team!
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CommentHansom: The butterfly effect
The law of unintended consequences demonstrates its power, as the simplest of actions dooms nasal cells, the reputation of architects, two counties and millions upon millions of aphids
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CommentBrewing up
This week, insights into the industry’s relationship with tea, as rustled up by housing ministers and supped by site monitors, but rejected by stereotype-defying labourers, who prefer dancing
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CommentAngry old men
The Prince of Wales loses another friend, the Shard team unwind to a bunch of gnarled old punks and a senior architect has reason to feel aggrieved/flattered after a judge draws an unlikely comparison
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CommentHansom ’tis the season to be what?
In the building industry this week we find tidings of joy, hustle and bustle at train stations, cosy quilts, lots of presents and a fun quiz. Um … it is July, isn’t it?
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CommentRead all about it
Tories’ Olympic cash axe plot exposed … Fury erupts over Mandelson letter snub … Minister missing presumed frightened … Quango nepotism probe shock … and boss has breakfast with Jordan
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CommentHansom: Songs of love and hate
In the nice corner this week we have wine-waiting estate agents, relatively honest MPs, optimistic housebuilders and self-critical contractors … and in the nasty corner: Cliff Jones of Procure 21
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CommentHansom: Unmasked
Paranoia grips the industry this week as all kinds of things turn out to be all kinds of other things: alien invaders, human statues, sons and, er, someone’s pet doggie
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CommentHaving it large
This week resembles nothing so much as a big night out, starting with a booze-up in the new bar, a comical confusion about who’s doing what, a late Currie – and of course the massive bill at the end
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CommentHansom: Rock, paper, scissors
It’s a dead heat for who’s had the worst week: a load of rockery-dwelling statues, the man faced with a mountain of company records, or a client forced to delay a – ahem – delicate procedure
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CommentUnequal combat
Small Scottish firm vs Zaha, local resident vs Nick Candy, pensioner vs planners, man vs wife: this week proves that sometimes, just sometimes, the underdog comes out on top
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CommentIn the pink
There’s a healthy glow over construction this week, from red-flag-waving anti-monarchists, creatively priced vino and the coy blushes of Chinese officials. Oh, and some football team or other
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CommentVoices from the abyss
As the recession drags on, we hear the sound of lamentation from losing Crossrail bidders, wailing from architects’ competition lists and saucy ad libs from property professionals
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CommentAccidents will happen
Spare a thought for those singled out by fate for special treatment, like the chairman who lost his bag, the woman who preferred injury to dishonour … and the union man who invented a new way to protest
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CommentMetamorphoses
We bring you tales of strange transformations this week as the industry tries alchemy, women turn into angels, rich people lose vast sums of money and Building’s front cover is vandalised by a reader
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CommentHansom: Bitter pills
There’s been much that’s hard to swallow of late in the world of construction, whether it be workers standing idle, a critic’s harsh words, a questionable quiz defeat or a whole sheep’s head
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CommentAmateur dramatics
While Ramboll plays the Fool, some builders get into dangerous liaisons, a Gleeds boss plays the tortured hero contemplating his own demise and the press are heckled from the wings
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CommentHansom: Detailed accounts
All the latest from London’s least-publicised £425m tower, the RICS’ £45 page-turner, Steve Morgan’s £10 football club, and my £5 flutter on the Grand National
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CommentReady money
There are still chances out there to make big bucks, it seems, from trillion-dollar salaries to a sure thing on the racetrack. But if nothing works out, you can always drown your sorrows in a roomful of gin