Students go Namas
Diary was happy to see on its recent trip to Dublin that its people still have a sense of humour about the country’s property crisis. Architecture students from Dublin’s Institute of Technology have spent their time mapping each of the city’s properties owned by the country’s bad bank, NAMA, on a single document to be made available to the public.
In addition, the students have come up with 48 radical designs and proposals for sites based on “recapturing the identity of Ireland in a post-credit crunch society”. These include a new National Contemporary Art Gallery in the abandoned shell of the Anglo Irish Bank, and a NAMA jail adjacent to Dublin Castle. Isn’t that enterprising of them?
Red or blue? a telling pen
Since merging with financial services giant Deloitte 18 months ago, Drivers Jonas has undergone a thorough rebrand, replacing its red logo with Deloitte’s corporate blue one. But rumbles of discontent have been coming from the firm’s staff for some time. The are disgruntled with the firm’s new corporate direction. While extolling the benefits of the merger to EG last week (see p55), Diary noticed that DJD managing partner Nick Shepherd was in fact making notes with an old-style red logo Drivers Jonas pen. Perhaps a telling sign?
Little boy, grand opening
Top marks to little Finn O’Hare from Liverpool for demonstrating a go-getting spirit beyond his years. Aware that the opening of the Museum of Liverpool development was looming, five-year-old Finn decided to get in on the act and bag a role on the big day.
“Dear Mr and Mrs in charge of the museum,” he wrote, “My name is Finn O’Hare and I am nearly six. I am very excited about when the new museum will open. Please can I come to the opening ceremony? It will be great. I am good at opening things. Please can I open the museum?” Diary is pleased to report the museum accepted Finn’s offer of help.
Pensioner’s high goes down
It just goes to show you never know who you can trust. Pensioner Veronika Frances Lucie was sentenced to 34 months in prison this week for running a cannabis factory from her home. The 64-year-old from Sunbury in Surrey transformed her house into a drugs factory, where she grew cannabis and supplied cocaine and amphetamines into the community. Landlords will presumably be more mindful of checking their tenants’ profiles a little closer after hearing of this story.
GVA’s dress-up Fridays
Since GVA’s rebrand in January, staff at the firm (no longer GVA Grimley) have been bemoaning the lack of dress-down Fridays. The agent announced six months ago that it had decided to do away with the tradition, reflecting the firm’s new “more corporate ethos”. Diary’s GVA mole reports that a number of gents within the firm have taken this change of dress code rather literally and turned up to work adorned in dinner jackets and bow ties. How charming.
Topping bids
Isn’t it nice to see that, despite everything that has happened, cash-rich Irish investors are still buying property? Interest was high at the Allsop/Space auction in Dublin last week, with 78 out of 83 lots sold. However, some bidders seemed to get a little too keen. One, attempting to bag a pub with a reserve price of €50,000, got involved in a fractious bidding war – so much so that, as auctioneer Gary Murphy pointed out, he had actually started bidding against himself, increasing his own bid of €260,000 by €10,000. Following general laughter in the hall, the bidder shouted: “I want a bit of respect out of you, Gary,” before he was pacified and left – presumably to drown his sorrows in his new purchase.
Separated at birth: Stand-up for retail investment
Is Andrew Jones, chief executive of retail REIT Metric, leading a double life as stand-up comedian John Bishop? Certainly there is a striking similarity between the straight-talking Welsh retail property expert known for his witticisms about the market and the Skins, Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You star. Well, you don’t ever see the pair of them in the same place at the same time, do you?
