Diary has fond memories of hearing that clarion call of an ice cream van on a hot summer’s day, running out the door – not stopping for shoes – and making sure we got our clammy hands on a 99 with sprinkles. It was Sunday, and it was delicious. But technology is transforming all our lives – and it seems the delivery of frozen treats into the hands of children is no different. Amid the UK’s ongoing heatwave, Allsop, together with its investment partner Goldman Sachs, has seen the opportunity to build some goodwill with its residents by providing free ice-creams to young residents of its development sites. The partnership’s single-family rental sites spread across the North West, Oldham, Manchester, Salford and Liverpool will be hiring ice cream vans to make the rounds – so far, so traditional. But they don’t have to wait in patiently just to hear that chimed version of Match of the Day in order to start salivating. These days, parents are informed of the van coming around to their neighbourhood through their resident app. Kids today, eh?
Prew moves the needle
This week’s note from Jefferies equity analyst Mike Prew gave real estate companies little cause for laughter, downgrading as it did many of the UK market’s biggest REITs over a worsening economic outlook. But Diary couldn’t help but chuckle at Prew’s description of the situation under which he penned it. “Sir Isaac Newton stayed at home to avoid the 1665 plague and he discovered the laws of gravity, optics, and he invented calculus,” Prew wrote. “In my 10 days of Covid isolation, I’ve downgraded our REIT price targets.” Readers of a squeamish disposition will probably not want to know that some of Newton’s discoveries around optics were made as a result of him sticking needles in his own eyes – though management at the REITs Prew just downgraded might find that preferable to reading his note.
A model town hall
Diary has featured the phenomenal work of architectural photographer turned full-time Lego artist Steve Mayes (brickthis.co.uk) before, with his miniature takes on both RICS HQ and Wimbledon’s Centre Court. Well, it turns out he has been busy during the pandemic crafting one of his biggest models yet – a replica of the newly redeveloped Guisborough Town Hall that, fittingly, is on permanent display inside the actual Guisborough Town Hall. The piece is comprised of more than 25,000 bricks and took over 18 months to produce. First, Hayes built the exterior shell for the three-floor building – but then he had to wait for the real works to be completed before he could construct the interior and add the furniture to match. And, yes, it has its own “even diddier” version inside the replica, inside the real thing: Inception, Lego-style.
Downstairs for Roman ruins
As a former Latin scholar (well, GCSE), Diary was excited to learn that Roman ruins (among other archaeological treasures) have been unearthed below the former Debenhams department store in Gloucester (insert your own “relic of the high street” joke here). Apparently, under the shop’s basement, where the menswear department once stood, Cotswold Archaeology found Roman pottery dating back to the 2nd century, with the footings of a Roman wall and evidence of a Roman road also discovered. It makes you wonder what our descendants will make of modern day sites. One day, future civilisations may well be confused and startled to dig up evidence that, once upon a time, their ancestors used to commune in large numbers in vast, multi-floored premises to exchange goods and services.
Floored thinking
With many businesses looking to make offices more suitable for current needs – and appealing to employees – is enough thought being given to what lies beneath our feet? Straightforwardly named The Underfloor Heating Store understandably has just such a question foremost in its mind, and has got in touch with its research that “reveals the most popular flooring colours and design trends of 2022”. Sure, it talks about homes, but the same fashions must apply to offices – and this study is cutting edge, relying not only on Google, but also Instagram and TikTok to rank the options. Coming in at number one, and demolishing the competition thanks to a remarkable 947,500 TikTok views, is black carpet – proving that teenage Diary was very much ahead of the curve. Grey carpet takes second ahead of white oak flooring, but the most fascinating result is fourth place, claimed by white tile flooring, with a strong Google showing making up for the fact that it only registered eight times on Instagram, and none at all on TikTok. We’re far too old to use it ourselves, but isn’t that the perfect platform to share nights on the tiles?
