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Walkie Scorchie

In September the Walkie Talkie tower in the City became the centre of an international media frenzy when it transpired that sunlight reflected from the building was melting objects on the street below, including parts of cars. One reporter even managed to fry an egg in the heat spot. Remedial measurements to solve the problem will cost 鈥渓ow single digit millions鈥�, according to developer Canary Wharf Group.

UKCG chief鈥檚 mauling by MPs

When UK Contractors Group chief executive Stephen Ratcliffe was called to appear before the committee of MPs investigating blacklisting in July, he would have been hoping to help improve the sector鈥檚 reputation. Instead, in a painful hour-and-a-half encounter, Ratcliffe was accused of being 鈥渆vasive鈥� by two MPs on the Scottish Affairs Committee, and was asked to justify his 拢120,000 salary.

Framework difficulties

The government鈥檚 major consultants鈥� framework - the 拢750m Project Management and Full Design Team Services framework - was scheduled to go live in June this year, but the deal has been plagued by delays, with a tender only being issued in October. In August, the government brought in UK SBS to take over management of the framework, in a move that many hoped would get the tender back on track. However, the deadline for submitting bids has now been pushed back from November to 16 December, and it is understood that more than 300 tender clarifications have been issued in the weeks leading up to the deadline.

The Green Deal

By the end of October just 219 Green Deals had been completed, against a target to upgrade 10,000 homes by next year and 14 million by 2020. For construction, the low take-up has led to thousands of job cuts.

Costain鈥檚 aborted bid for May Gurney

Having failed (four times) in a bid for support services specialist Mouchel back in 2011, Costain chief executive Andrew Wyllie looked to have finally realised his ambitions to expand into the sector in March, when his firm announced an agreed 拢178m all-share merger with May Gurney. A month later, however, Wyllie was left beaten again, as May Gurney opted instead to join with Kier in a 拢221m deal.

The Shard鈥檚 Shangri-La hotel

Delays to the 拢40m fit-out of the Shard鈥檚 Shangri-La hotel led to the client replacing the scheme鈥檚 contractor, Sisk, with Chorus Group in September (Sisk said the scheme was 鈥渄elayed for reasons out of our control鈥�). The hotel, which was supposed to open its doors in Q2 2013, will now not open until 2014.

The Al-Wakrah stadium design

The first of the stadiums to be unveiled for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, Zaha Hadid Architects鈥� Al-Wakrah stadium, was described by project architect Jim Heverin as being inspired by 鈥渢he sails of the Arabian pearl fishing boat, the dhow鈥�. The allusion to the town鈥檚 fishing heritage was clearly lost on several commentators, however, who chose to highlight the venue鈥檚 resemblance to a particular part of the female anatomy.