Keep it in the family
The rigours of being a listed company leave little to the imagination when it comes to disclosing sensitive information. But Helical Bar was this week subjected to a slightly more sensitive disclosure than most FTSE chief executives can be used to. A stock market announcement on Wednesday pronounced that development director Gerald Kaye and chairman Nigel McNair Scott had each bought flats at the company’s 3.2-acre Barts Square development in the City of London. It went on to confirm exactly how much they had paid – £1.58m for Kaye and £1.63m for McNair Scott. To cap it off, the announcement went on to say that McNair Scott’s son had also bought a flat in the scheme – for £1.6m.
Going up in our estimations
To the BCO Awards at London’s Grosvenor House, where host Mariella Frostrup had a good line in lift jokes. Lifts at Tesco’s HQ overestimate the floor you ask for, she said. Amazon’s suggest other floors you may also want. And the lifts at the BBC’s Broadcasting House in London tell you how much cheaper each floor would have been in Salford.
How Reichman drove demand
Diary was chatting to a cab driver this week (too often the source of our stories, truth be told) who regaled us with a heartwarming tale. “I had that Canadian who ran Canary Wharf in the back of my cab once,” said the driver. “I dropped him off and he asked me what I thought of the building. I told him I didn’t know as I only got to see it from the ground. He invited me and my cab-driving mates up to the top to see the view.” Diary switched into fact-checking mode. Could it be true? Was this Paul Reichman himself? Brown hair and a short beard? we asked. “That’s the guy,” said our driver, brightening. A generous act and a shrewd marketing move. Reichman, who died last year, clearly recognised that it’s always best to get the cabbies onside.
It’s not easy being a QPR fan
It has been well-documented that Cargiant and football club Queen’s Park Rangers have been locked in a venomous feud over the future of Old Oak Common. But Diary hears that Cargiant managing director Tony Mendes is in fact not only a Rangers fan, he holds a season ticket. Mendes’ struggles to scupper QPR’s plans for a new stadium must have made the club’s recent defeat by West Ham – soon to be safely ensconced in the Olympic Stadium – all the more poignant. Diary has to wonder which side he cheers for.
Light relief?
Diary wouldn’t normally get too excited about a Commercial Real Estate Legal Association event, but its seminar on development in the City this week did catch our attention. While in the middle of a major bust-up over rights of light at the proposed Goldman Sachs HQ, it seemed slightly surprising that the City surveyor should be giving a keynote speech on how the corporation “uses its influence and powers to assist the property market, particularly in relation to rights of light and compulsory purchase issues to progress approved development”. No doubt Goldman’s neighbours dutifully attended.
Beer, bratwürst und Brum
JLL’s Oktoberfest event went down a storm in Birmingham last week, with more than 200 guests getting a taste of Bavaria via huge steins of beer, bratwürst, schnitzel and stollen all served by dirndl-wearing lovelies. The city’s Fleet Street Kitchen restaurant and bar’s basement played host to the event, where an oompah band complete with thigh-slapping, lederhosen-clad musicians played an eclectic variety of traditional Bavarian music mixed with covers of rock classics. JLL Brum office head Ian Cornock (who sadly did not sport the traditional trousers) came prepared to give a rousing speech. However, after a good start he was rendered unable to finish. He finally gave up with the cry: “Bugger. It’s so dark in here I can’t even read my own speech!”
Right dodgy dealings
They didn’t have Vince Vaughn or Ben Stiller from the American blockbuster DodgeBall on their side, but that didn’t stop Grainger’s mixed team, Dodgey Boys and Ballsy Girls, storming to victory, winning a 10-week dodgeball league at the Barbican in London. In an exhilarating match against the Incrediballs, the residential landlord won in the first two sets 3-2, 3-2. The Grainger team plays in a GO Mammoth league of eight teams that meets every Tuesday night.
