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London pad

I was intrigued to hear a little known fact this week - namely that the RICS lays on a grace and favour property for its president. The institution points out the property in Vauxhall, south London, only cost the RICS 拢18,000 in its financial year ended 31 July 2011, when Robert Peto was its president. But now that the organisation鈥檚 president See Lian Ong spends much of his time overseas looking after his Malaysian-based QS firm, is the property value for money? RICS says it is. Ong has spent 50% of his time working from his London base according to a spokesperson, who added that RICS has the flat so it can 鈥渨elcome presidents and their families from any part of the UK or overseas鈥�.

Camera shy

Laing O鈥橰ourke is well known for keeping its cards close to its chest so it was surprising to see chief executive Ray O鈥橰ourke make a rare outing as a conference speaker. He appeared at the Institute of Civil Engineers鈥� Innovation in Construction conference to talk about the firm鈥檚 progress using offsite manufacturing. O鈥橰ourke was an engaging speaker, mixing up videos extolling the virtues of the firm鈥檚 offsite manufacturing facilities with some amusing health and safety blunders. But old habits die hard, O鈥橰ourke may have got over his reluctance to air some of his firm鈥檚 ideas at a public conference but going out to a wider audience was obviously a step too far. The conference proceedings were broadcast live over the internet, except for Ray O鈥橰ourke鈥檚 session. Internet listeners were told the content
was too 鈥渟ensitive鈥� for broadcast, so presumably had to endure some muzak instead.

Ladies鈥� night

The NHBC鈥檚 Pride in the Job gala dinner last Friday was as glamourous as ever, despite the difficult economic times, attracting the chief executives of Barratt, Persimmon and Bovis Homes alongside the cream of the nation鈥檚 site managers. But the entertainment was, perhaps, not perfectly pitched for a room full of housebuilders. It was 2009 X Factor winner and housewives鈥� favourite Joe McElderry, whose hit single The Climb - in case you needed reminding - was the 30th biggest selling of the last decade. With the nation鈥檚 site managers still overwhelmingly male, McElderry鈥檚 gutsy set seemed to be enjoyed more by the assembled WAGs than the award finalists themselves.

A charitable start

Christmas may be the traditional time for giving, but construction鈥檚 appetite for goodwill has run over into the New Year. Last Friday construction rock band The Instigators - made up of Chris Liddle from HLM, Mike Warren from Scott Brownrigg, Graham Harvey-Browne from Synergy Construction and Roger Matthews from Studio Arlington - handed over a cheque for 拢5,000 (raised from gig tickets) to UK troops charity Help for Heroes. A more unusual gift came from aggregates giant Lafarge, which planted 12,000 trees in Redbridge, east London, as part of a scheme to bring woodland closer to urban communities. Hats off to both.