The final account

Rude words, with our reputation?

Working for QS News means you're never off duty, even in the crowd at a Funny Women comedy competition in Clerkenwell.

Overheard was a tale of woe from a woman who used to work in human resources for Multiplex (though for once it didn't actually involve the company itself).

No, this tale involved an irate client and a local authority planning department's spam filter. Let us explain . . .

After being refused planning permission on a project, the client tried emailing the planning department to make his case.

The email bounced back so he kept resending it. The offending email was sent back five times by the local authority's spam filter.

But why? Surely a routine email about a building project couldn't contain lewd language?

Well, as a matter of fact it did: it featured the word ‘erection', no less.

The event they tried to ban

Readers will recall that our last edition exclusively revealed a new report comparing levels of efficiency in construction across Europe. We hear that certain people at a certain institution (beginning with R and ending in S) has some questions over the methodology of the report's author, Bernard Williams.

Surely this is completely unrelated to the fact the UK came shamefully low in the construction efficiency league - just second to last. Sources also tell us that Williams attempted to carry out an event some years ago to discuss the poor performance of UK construction plc but was scuppered by a boycott by said institution.

Seminars we like...

Cyril Sweett came up with a cunning wheeze for what was basically a drinks bash for England's s World Cup match against Trinidad and Tobago last night -simply badge it as an international seminar.

Topics at the event included ‘Germany, the correct forum for international disputes?', ‘When is a penalty clause not a penalty clause?' and most painfully for football fans, ‘What can you do if you haven't won an international project since 1966?'

From Clarks to the Big Apple

Staffers at Davis Langdon are certainly clocking up the air miles these days. There was a recent trip by the London office over to the modest resort that is Monte Carlo followed by a visit to New York undertaken by specification arm Schumann Smith.

The firm's 35-strong workforce was celebrating it's 20th anniversary. Joint founder Nick Schumann has come some way from starting "with three people working in a cramped office above a Clarks shoe shop" to specifying around £1bn of work in the following two decades. Very much living the American dream then.

Sheep versus neo-utopianism

Next week's Architecture Week offers plenty for the QS and PM professions, not just pretentious talks on neo-utopianism by people called Kumiko Schimuzu (Sunday at 4pm in central London if you're interested). Our website offers highlights of the event, including the enticing prospect of watching 60 sheep being herded across London's Millennium Bridge - see www.qsnews.co.uk for more events.