In the weekend newspapers Design Council chief David Kester criticises modern schools for being "Victorian" and Countrywide lays off 450 estate agents.
In an interview with the Independent on Sunday, Design Council chief executive David Kester has some harsh words for the design of new schools and hospitals in the UK. He describes then as 鈥淰ictorian schools in a modern idiom,鈥� criticising the way some architects 鈥渏ust stick in a whiteboard and an internet connection and say it is modern.鈥� He is a big fan of the congestion charge though, and calls motorway signs design classics.
Property investment companies are yet to feel the impact of the housing market slowdown, according to The Sunday Times. The paper reports that sister companies Inside Track Seminars and Instant Access Properties are on course to make a profit of 拢17 million this year, with more than 40,000 people attending workshops and seminars before making their first forays into the property investment market.
The Sunday Telegraph reports that property prices in London鈥檚 N5 are following the fortunes of local football club, Arsenal, with an additional boost expected as the new stadium at Ashburton Grove is constructed. The 60,000-seat stadium scheme, which includes 2000 new homes, is the largest construction project in central London. 400 metres away, the old Highbury stadium is to be converted into luxury apartments, with the pitch being transformed into landscaped gardens.
The Telegraph is less upbeat about the property market in general, reporting on a spate of redundancies in estate agencies, with Countrywide laying off 450 staff in recent weeks.
Meanwhile journalists at the Sunday Mirror relished the opportunity to draw readers attention to the 鈥渂ungling planners鈥� who Ok-ed a new housing estate in Monaghan Town in Ireland, not noticing that the proposed site went right over the town鈥檚 water mains. The mistake was discovered when the contractor burst the main pipe while digging foundations. The council says it will repair the damage and re-route the pipeline.
Finally, The Observer waxes lyrical about the re-opened MOMA in its pages this Sunday, describing it as 鈥渁 series of near-miraculous unfoldings鈥�.
