The final account

Surprises in store

When you've made it to the level of chairman, client relationship management is all about playing golf, knocking back fine wines and perhaps smoking the odd cigar. Or so we thought.

For Paul Hodgkinson, chairman of Simons Construction, schmoozing his client J Sainsbury has proved a far less relaxing business. Under a plan to improve the construction industry's understanding of the retail sector, Sainsbury's got Paul to roll up the sleeves of his designer suit and get to work in a supermarket.

"To see Paul on the shop floor, taking part in the staff huddle and working the night shift stacking shelves with tins of baked beans was absolutely great," Sainsbury's head of store development David Sheehan told us with thinly disguised glee.

Good cause in Death Valley

Good luck to Ian Nicholls, senior QS at Swift Brickwork Contractors, who is heading to America to spend seven days in Death Valley, eastern California, starting on 3 May. Nicholls is travelling with fundraiser Dennis Rensch and is aiming to make at least £20,000 for Brentwood Foyer, part of the Foyer Federation that supports some 10,000 homeless 16 to 25-year-olds each year.

The pair will attempt the Death Valley walk three times before heading back to Blighty on 11 May, in temperatures that could hit 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit).

"With the climate that we're going to face, it will be harsh: a bit different to south east England," says Nicholls. "There's a bit of excitement and trepidation because the walks we're doing, according to the park rangers, haven't been carried out before."

Like any good QS, Nicholls has planned for the worst: "I've got a friend flying out the day I come home, so we've done a deal: if I don't make it, he's bringing back my ashes." He added, "yeah, the wife's not impressed".

Cheque donations made payable to "Circle Anglia" can be sent to Brentwood Foyer, 4 Redwood Drive, Writtle, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 3LY.

That'll teach them

We'd like to salute Faithful + Gould for having the guts to take no fewer than 14 teenaged boys to a live construction site. F+G was doing its bit for the new GCSE in Construction and the Built Environment, which is being piloted at Roundhay Technology College, Leeds, in conjunction with CITB-ConstructionSkills, Leeds College of Building and Wates Construction.

The students spent a day at Primrose Hill, a Huddersfield residential scheme for Yorkshire Housing, on which F+G is acting as employer's agent.

F+G's Susan Catesby, who was among those bravely escorting the year-10 pupils, reassured us the site visit went off without a hitch. This is good news for the industry's skills shortage, as if the course is successful it will be rolled out UK-wide.

We would like to point out that we deliberately renamed the diary section the ‘dairy' section in the last edition of the magazine due to the first item being about eggs. Honest.

Email us your gossip at: qsnews@cmpinformation.com