The final account

Low-cost tender doesn’t fly

We were interested to hear the news that Ryanair, the bargain basement air carrier led by the shy and retiring Michael O’Leary, last week offered to build the new Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport for less than half the cost the city’s airport authority is planning.

Rather a scary thought given the firm’s reputation for shaving costs and for behaving a tad aggressively. Would full facilities be on offer within its new terminal? Most likely nothing more than a crinkly tin. Would disabled passengers have full and free access? And when the scheme is complete could we expect entirely smooth relations between client and contractor?

The good news appears to be that Dublin airport seems determined to complete its own scheme, so we will not be seeing Ryanair become a construction client just yet.

Keeping it in the family

Heard the tale about the legendary housebuilder Tony Pidgeley that has now entered construction folklore? This was when Pidgeley’s son, also called Tony, was on his Dad’s payroll. Junior excitedly called his father one evening to tell him he’d just snapped up a prime piece of land. By the morning his Dad was back on the phone informing him he’d jumped in and bought the site from under his son’s nose just to prove the need to have a deal in writing first. Here endeth Pidgeley’s first law of housebuilding – complete the deal before bragging about it.

Camden call for conductors

Changing light bulbs on water doesn’t sound like an enviable job, but we hear that’s exactly what one high-profile leisure centre in Swiss Cottage, north London, required.

The pool recently came under fire from one FM specialist. He had told the designers that overhead lighting is notoriously difficult to access. Their response? The architect ingeniously introduced a lowering mechanism, complete with a rubber dinghy and oars. Which leads to the obvious question – how many staff will it take to change a lightbulb?

The great ape race

QS News editor Phil Clark managed to survive dressing up in a gorilla suit and running through the streets of central London in last month’s Great Gorilla Fund. The 7K run proved quite a challenge, not least in avoiding unsuspecting and confused tourists and keeping his mask on. He was raising funds to protect the worldwide gorilla population made famous by campaigner Dian Fossey.

Not so plain sailing for CS boss

Rather late news in following last month’s Little Britain sailing event. We hear that Capita Symonds boss and water sports enthusiast Jonathon Goring was more than a little miffed after his boat was hit during racing. The crash caused an eye-watering £10,000 worth of damage. Ouch.

And to witness just how reckless some of the sailing was, go to qsnews.co.uk and click on the video link on the left.

Boy band’s career switch?

During Construction Productivity Network’s 2012 seminar last week, it seems Corus might face some confusion in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics. One of the firm’s architects was adamant that it was Westlife who were developing Stratford City. Surely X-Factor judge and pop svengali-Louis Walsh’s empire doesn’t stretch this far?

Pigs do fly

News has reached us of rather unorthodox practices in the HQ of a certain new but already well-established QS practice. We hear that a number of squeezable toy pigs are in residence, offering staff a means of relieving stress. On occasion these pigs have been known to become airborne. And apparently one such porcine missile made contact with the delicate head of a secretary who was at the time speaking on the phone. The lady did not so much as flinch, leaving the caller none the wiser about the antics on the other end of the line. What a professional.