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Worth a buck or two

My attention was drawn to a 鈥渂log鈥� this week on the world鈥檚 most expensive homes. Hosted by a website entitled The Most Expensive Homes, it features several magnificent buildings, including London鈥檚 Kensington Palace Gardens, valued at about 拢200m and owned by Lakshmi Mittal, he of ArcelorMittal 鈥� the world鈥檚 largest steel producer 鈥� and one of India鈥檚 richest men. But topping the list is Buckingham Palace, valued at $1.55bn, or 拢1.2bn. Home to Her Majesty the Queen, the palace has witnessed much in its 300-year history, including a scrape with the Luftwaffe during a bombing raid in the Second World War. It鈥檚 also had its share of upgrades over the centuries, but the imminent 鈥� not to mention controversial 鈥� 拢369m refurbishment programme should see it through the next few hundred years. Value added? I should coco.

Out of time, out of money

It鈥檚 easy to think life was simpler before newfangled apps and mobile devices became the modern addiction. But the limits of early 1990s technology had some surprising frustrations, as architect Ken Shuttleworth revealed to a colleague of mine the other day. Back in the mists of time 鈥� around 1994 鈥� after Shuttleworth had helped Fosters win the redesign of Berlin鈥檚 Reichstag parliament building, the practice shipped a load of computers to Germany for the project. A year later Fosters received a phone bill as thick as the old yellow pages: it turned out that the computers鈥� internal clocks were set an hour out and had been dialling back to the UK every minute to check in with Blighty. Who says we don鈥檛 like to keep lines of communication open with our friends in the EU?

Carry on contracting 

Contractors must wonder at times whether it鈥檚 all worth it. Spie UK, the former Matthew Hall M&E business that was once part of Amec, is the latest firm to turn in a thumping loss thanks to the curse of all builders everywhere: legacy contracts. I think we can rename deals of this sort as 鈥渉ow on earth did we ever end up with this job?鈥�. Cenkos analyst Kevin Cammack puts it another way: 鈥淐ontracting 鈥� the gift that keeps on giving.鈥�

A rubbish result

We鈥檙e all in danger of drowning in rubbish of one sort or another, so I was delighted to read of a prediction by Arup that 鈥渙rganic waste鈥�, such as bananas, potatoes and maize, could in future be used as building material. A report by the firm suggests partition boards made from peanut shells and insulation from waste potatoes could be a good outcome for everybody, both economically and environmentally 鈥� although I suspect no unwanted spuds were ever used in Urban Splash鈥檚 Chips building in Manchester.

A welcome return

I see Mitie鈥檚 chief executive Phil Bentley has returned to work after being out of action with a ruptured appendix. Some wags might be tempted to say the firm鈥檚 recent performance has ruptured the insides of its shareholders, given the 拢43m annual loss posted earlier this year and the news it is being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority over the timing of a profit warning. Still, it鈥檚 good to see the chief executive return, and Mitie鈥檚 shareholders must be hoping the Project Helix restructuring initiative to turn around the firm鈥檚 fortunes eventually manages to come up with a similarly clean bill of health.

Send any juicy industry gossip to hansom@ubm.com