好色先生TV

Rocking it

Jump Studios got in touch with one of my hacks recently to boast it has designed the first UK office for internet performance and security company Cloudflare in London. I obviously have no idea what an 鈥渋nternet performance company鈥� does but it must be doing something right because it鈥檚 a Unicorn. A what? Well, a Unicorn company is a start-up valued at over $1bn, the mythical beast being a reference to the statistical rarity of such successful ventures. I once met a builder who described extreme rarity as being 鈥渓ike rocking-horse dung鈥� (except he didn鈥檛 say 鈥渄ung鈥�, exactly). I can see why they went for 鈥渦nicorn鈥� 鈥�

Above all that

Balfour Beatty chief executive Leo Quinn was interviewed in last weekend鈥檚 Sunday Times and the subject of his bonus package came up. It鈥檚 worth a potential 拢10.5m over three years. Not that Quinn, who has steadied the ship since he arrived back in January 2015, claims to have given it much thought. 鈥淚鈥檝e never calculated it,鈥� he says, somewhat unconvincingly.

Maybe it鈥檚 because we鈥檙e Londoners

The Museum of London must be frantically trying to distance itself from the Garden Bridge and all the palaver that highly questionable project brings with it. Those planning that beleaguered walkway are still scrabbling around for a missing 拢56m 鈥� perhaps Leo Quinn could help out? 鈥� and oh, how they must have looked enviously at the 拢70m recently pledged towards the cost of building a new Museum of London by Sadiq Khan. Throw in the 拢110m promised by the City of London Corporation and the amount the museum needs to raise for its 拢250m cost seems within touching distance. How will this be achieved? For that, let鈥檚 turn to the small print. 鈥淭he fundraising campaign will bring together major philanthropists, charitable trusts, companies and, ultimately, Londoners themselves.鈥� Now where have we heard that before?

Here comes the sun

Ping! An email arrives from 好色先生TV columnist Jack Pringle, a former president of the RIBA and managing director of Perkins+Will. Some of my hacks are kindly invited to his house in the hills above Cannes at the start of next month鈥檚 Mipim. One of the main reasons to go to the annual property shindig in the south of France is to let colleagues back home, freezing their socks off, know how warm it is by the Med. But there鈥檚 nothing worse than getting to the Riviera to discover temperatures aren鈥檛 much better than those in Blighty. As Pringle says: 鈥淧ray for sun.鈥� He doesn鈥檛 add: 鈥淪o we can gloat.鈥�

Best forgotten

好色先生TV cover star from a few weeks back ISG has found itself in the news for reasons it would probably like to forget: the firm accidentally dug up a Blue Peter time capsule near the O2 Arena in Greenwich that was not meant to be unearthed until 2050. It was buried in 1998 and contained, among other items, a Tellytubby doll, a Blue Peter badge, a tamagotchi, a Spice Girls CD, and a picture of Princess Diana. It was during excavation works on ISG鈥檚 拢185m Designer Outlet Village scheme on the peninsula. The capsule is being reburied and no wonder: there鈥檚 enough distress in this world without listening to Wannabe and Spice Up Your Life. Stop humming it. Stop it!