The final account

More news reaches us of craziness in Dubai. The final height of the project bidding to be the world’s tallest tower – Emaar’s Burj Dubai – is famously secret. But we hear that it is so secret that even the contractors building it don’t know how high it will be. They are apparently on one price for the job and then an additional price per floor. Presumably they are also in the dark regarding the completion date.

Meanwhile, down the road on the Dubai waterfront, rival developer Nakheel is building a structure it claims will be... the world’s tallest tower.

Big step, Little Britain

There are certain milestones a new QS company must pass to prove it is truly on its way. There is hitting a £1m turnover and winning the first blue chip client. The big one, though, is surely having your own boat at Little Britain. For Sense Cost Consultancy that special time has come. Last year the fledgling firm was forced to tag along on the boat of its parent Mace. But this year, at the tender age of two, the Sense team will unveil its very own vessel. A proud moment for boss Chris Goldthorpe.

Sitting pretty

There is one benefit to summer drawing to a close – well, for us journalists at least. And that is the return of serious news. August is a notoriously slow month for stories. Glance at any national newspaper and tales of firemen rescuing hedgehogs will testify to this.

Neither are we immune from the phenomenon here at QS News. So the few press releases we received in August were gratefully received. We drew the line at one, however.

Hudson Architects wrote to inform us of their new design for the £1m Castleford town square regeneration project comprising, wait for it, “stylish town seating”. As if this wasn’t exciting enough, they kindly enclosed project images (see below).

Are any of your colleagues making fools of themselves in public?
Tell us your gossip by emailing us at: qsnews@cmpi.biz

But since we’re running the story anyway perhaps Hudsons have had the last laugh.

Talking of heights...

There may be some exciting job opportunities on the horizon at project management firm Mace.

One director has let on that all members of the design team working on the 1,016ft-tall London Bridge Tower (see right), or ‘Shard’ as it’s known, are terrified of heights. Come completion, volunteers for snagging could be more than welcome.

London 2013

A web posting has come to our attention that suggests that – unbelievably – the public is not entirely convinced the Olympic building programme is under control. What can they be on about? (Nobody mention Wembley. Or Spinnaker Tower. Or Bath Spa...)