They breed them tough in Sheffield. Not for nothing is it called the Steel City. But even Diary, who grew up little over half an hour away, is surprised to see that Sheffield’s first rooftop shower is being used as the unique selling point of a new hotel.
Luxury aparthotel Steel City Lofts offers the chance to take a shower al fresco – with “amazing views of the city” – all year round, for takers of its premium penthouse suite.
Andrew Southern, chairman of developer Southern Grove, said: “An outdoor shower might not be everyone’s cup of tea in the winter months, but it’s a little touch of Mediterranean luxury to enjoy in the summer, which makes this project unique.”
Bringing the Med to South Yorkshire? Our cap is off to you… but is it a flat cap, or a shower cap?
Falkingham’s Swansea connection
Congratulations to Urban Splash, recently picked by Swansea Council as its development partner on a £750m project to transform the city centre. Co-founder Jonathan Falkingham was understandably excited, no doubt picturing the brutalist, sea-front civic centre as a thriving destination bursting with flats, restaurants and bars in place of the current council chamber, library and offices. “I have a longstanding affiliation with this brilliant city,” he beamed.
This piqued Diary’s interest. Cast your mind back to the summer of ’76. With the UK in the grip of a heatwave, Falkingham’s parents decide to move the family to an area of outstanding natural beauty. Blindfolded, they put a pin in a UK map; the nearest AONB to the pin is the Gower Peninsula. Immediately, the Falkinghams head for a camping holiday in Llangenith… and love it. “The local farmer who owned the campsite had a cottage for rent nearby,” Falkingham tells Diary. “My parents signed up and we moved there a week later.”
Clearly that experience taught the then 14-year old Falkingham a bit about pouncing quickly on regional opportunity.
C’mon you Gunners/Robins/Owls
Ever fancied a peek into the inboxes of the creators of some of London’s most arresting office buildings? Diary, as ever, is here to help.
You can imagine the e-mails that bounce between Derwent London’s chief executive Paul Williams, its longstanding creative engine Simon Silver and perhaps the company’s favourite architect, Simon Allford. Talk of volume, no doubt, and plenty on light. Each and every one dripping with pictures of gorgeous brickwork. Well, perhaps some. But those weren’t the messages Silver recalled at an event last week to celebrate his move to a consultancy role after a 35-year tenure at Derwent. Instead, he focused on the all-important Monday morning e-mails reflecting on the weekend’s football results.
With Silver an Arsenal fan, Williams Bristol City and Allford Sheffield Wednesday, the most memorable exchanges were when all three won. “This only happened once last year,” Silver recalls. It was 12 September, Diary can confirm. Bristol City beat Coventry City 2-1, Arsenal put three past Fulham and Sheffield Wednesday won 2-0 at Cardiff. Readers may wish to reflect on the weekend performance of these teams before contacting any one of these creative titans on a Monday morning.
That’s the kind of actionable insight – and forensic research – you have come to expect from Diary. Our pleasure.
Housebuilders get creative
The juices are clearly flowing at the nation’s resi developers. First, Redrow got in touch with what they believe is the “only first-person view drone footage shot by a housebuilder in the UK” – a truly dizzying, two-minute tour through its properties, filmed in one complex shot.
While oddly Jenga-centric (both indoor and garden varieties are shown), there’s no doubting that “A better way to live” features great film-making technique… though Diary wishes they’d added some outtakes, perhaps featuring the drone crashing through a window and going down in flames on the family barbecue. Judge for yourself…
Not to be outdone, Weston Homes is launching a new lifestyle magazine for buyers, available both online and in paper form. As one of the last bastions of print journalism still fighting the good fight, EG welcomes The Weston onto the racks. But with all these creative endeavours, how do they find time to build houses?
Step to it
Apologies for any typos, but Diary is writing this while walking, having signed up to Steptober – raising money for the property industry’s homelessness charity, LandAid. Yes, we’ve put aside petty quibbles over the event’s name and scheduling (Steptember is right there, and the weather is better!) and have joined the four-person EG Striders team (you knew there had to be a pun involved).
So far, so OK – the Striders sit 18th out of a record 306, and Diary is averaging over 20,000 steps a day. Which we were pretty happy with, until we spotted London Green’s James Tregoning setting the early pace, having amassed a frankly ludicrous 150,000 steps in the first four days. Clearly, Tregoning is in fact an unstoppable Terminator, sent back from the future to end homelessness.
A noble cause indeed, and one we’re fully behind (albeit well behind) – so if you can spare a few pennies to keep the EG Striders going into the difficult second week, please click here to donate.
Contact diary@eg.co.uk
