The final account

My my my John

The property industry's very own Stars in Their Eyes event will this year be graced by none other than Gleeds managing partner John Murray. Murray will be belting out a rendition of Tom Jones' Delilah at the Party Near the Park event in the summer.

We hear he was in pretty good voice at the rehearsals this week, although whether female members of the audience will be throwing knickers at him on the night in question remains to be seen. For those keen to witness Murray in action the event is on 8 June and is in aid of charity Land Aid. See www.partynearthepark.co.uk for more details.

Digby dives in

Speaking of Gleeds, the firm attracted an all-star line up at its House of Commons Olympics event last week, including one famous figure they may not have been that chuffed to see.

Mingling amongst Olympic hero Sir Steve Redgrave, who was showing off his five gold medals, and an impressive array of industry high-fliers was one Sir Digby Jones. Er, that was the same Digby who joined competitors Bucknall Austin as a non-executive director last month. Those bouncers controlling the door of the parliamentary dining hall should have their pays docked for letting a rival through the door.

Motherly love

At the NEC users' group conference on Monday, the contract's pioneer Martin Barnes revealed that he prefers to think of himself as a woman. Well, at least where the contracts are involved.

"I've been called the father of the NEC, but I think mother is more accurate," he told the throng. "I associate ‘father' with a very short period of intense pleasure and leaving somebody else to do the hard work. By that criterion I'm the mother."

And before he left he had enough time to make a rousing call against sloppy design management: "Don't allow design development. Make the bastards get it right."

Whether the RIBA building was the wisest place to make this statement, however, is another matter entirely. But you've got to admire his balls.

Home-grown designs

Consultant Jackson Rowe Associates has come up with an intriguing challenge for its young staff members. The firm's boss Daniel Rowe has decided that the Crowborough HQ needs a new look reception, and the fit-out job is to provide training experience for budding QSs and building surveyors.

The building surveyors were asked to enter a competition to come up with the design and trainee QSs have been charged with costing and procuring the job. This includes putting together contract documents and a full bill of quantities.

Scariest of all for the wannabe QSs, they had to present their work to the management board as if it was a real life client.

But the ultimate proof of their abilities will be in the pudding. Work is due to take place over Easter. Let's hope the suspense doesn't put the young QSs off their Easter eggs.

Spanish safari

Davis Langdon don't do things by halves. Instead of opting for a team building away day in one of those shabby out of town hotels just off the M1 the firm's northern branch opted for the sunnier climbs of Marbella, Spain... for a jeep safari. No less that 65 QSs and project managers enjoyed the fun (see below).

What if...

Here's a quick Olympics thought. The winning 2012 London team must be mighty relieved the disasters befalling the new Wembley stadium did not take place this time last year. Would we have had any chance of beating off Paris, Madrid et al if they had?