The final account

QSs and PMs reach new heights

Interesting to see what happened when QSs and project managers at contractor Boras Construction took part in The Three Peaks challenge.

The peaks were Ben Nevis (4,406ft), Scafell Pike (3,118ft) and Snowdon (3,560ft), and the challenge was to climb them all in 24 hours. A daunting task at the best of times but near impossible in the treacherous weather conditions that beset the mission.

Unsurprisingly, few of the Boras team managed more than two peaks. However, contracts director Kelvin Insch, senior QS Ivan Wilmore and projects manager Andy Smith completed all three. Well done to them for doing our professions proud, not to mention raising £3,000 for House of Hope, a charity for Indian orphans.

Rice-breaking mission

One week in China, the next in Las Vegas. Yes, it's just another month in the life of globetrotting chairman of the QS and construction faculty Michael Byng, and his ongoing mission to spread the word of quantity surveying across the world.

Such is his ability to clock up air miles, Byng has now earned the tag of construction's very own Alan Whicker from fellow members of the faculty.

Byng's aforementioned mission included speaking to an association of cost engineers in China, together with a bunch of QS luminaries.

One of the other speakers thought he would break the ice with the audience by tailoring the oft-repeated cliché about QSs being bean counters. "We're not just rice counters," he quipped, although apparently the audience didn't quite pick up on the reference and greeted it with polite silence.