Return of the crimson whistle?
Through the fog of a rosé hangover, Diary reported in March on John Forrrester’s bet with Cor Van Zadelhoff (the Z in DTZ) that he would wear a red suit on the Thursday at MIPIM. It was all to celebrate the firm’s return to home colours after its flirtation with the blue of former owner UGL. Now the DTZ name is to go following this week’s deal with Cushman & Wakefield, Diary feared for the future of Forrester’s natty threads. But with C&W’s brand a not dissimilar shade, don’t bet against a return of the surely soon-to-be-renamed Cushmans suit.
Learning the lingo of love
Savills director Callum Young, who has just moved to Seoul, has been working hard to learn Korean terminology – face rents instead of headline rents, ticket sizes instead of lot sizes – and, of course, the language. Fortunately, Savills has arranged lessons to arm him with a few choice phrases with which to greet the high-net-worth clients whose acquaintance he will soon make. So, what was the first phrase he was taught? “Lady, you are beautiful.” Well, flattery will get you everywhere.
Shooting from the hip
It’s never any fun when somebody beats you to the punchline – a lesson learned by Hunter Advisors’ David Hunter at the Willow Foundation’s annual Shoot Day. The aptly-named Hunter invited the gathering to guess why his team had been dubbed “The Constipated Owls”. JLL’s Tim Vallance (from the rival “50 Shades of Clay”) piped up to suggest that it was because they might be wise if they weren’t so full of, ahem, guano. How one does hate to be upstaged…
CBRE lights up the hipsters
CBRE sent out its apprentices and grads this week to attach branded cycle lights to bikes parked in Shoreditch, E1. The giveaway was to promote the Digital Shoreditch festival, but Diary wonders how thrilled the local hipster fraternity were to learn that their beloved fixie bikes had become the target of a property firm’s guerilla marketing campaign…
Build homes, not cathedrals
Rather than restate the well-worn facts and figures at the latest Movers and Shakers breakfast, Brockton Capital’s David Marks channelled the ghost of Sir Christopher Wren to illustrate the severity of the housing crisis in London. Putting on an 18th century brogue, he said: “Yes, St Paul’s is a nice cathedral, but forget it and for God’s sake build more houses!”
Ain’t no party like an EG Focus
Just two weeks ago Diary had to issue boy band One Direction,with a firm caution about its stalking of EG’s Question Time events. Now it seems other bands just can’t get enough of the EG magic. While our annual Birmingham Focus reception raged at the city’s Malmaison hotel last Friday, 90s pop group S Club 7 and X-Factor boy band Union J were being less rock and roll in their hotel rooms upstairs. A coincidence? Diary thinks not. Of course, everyone knows that there ain’t no party like an S Club party, unless it’s an Estates Gazette Focus reception of course…
Developer’s musical misbehaviour is for a good cause
The interminable talents of our readers never cease to amaze us. This time, it was the musical flair of Stephen Wicks, chief executive of Inland Homes, that had us tickled. Diary confesses to having had a desk-bop to a catchy tune called Can’t Act My Age, written and recorded by Wicks, who is selling the single and donating the proceeds to Age UK London to highlight the plight of elderly people who suffer in cold weather. And the slick accompanying video which shows a posse of
geriatrics morph into Wicks is well worth a look. Watch the video at http://stephenwicks.co.uk/cant-act-my-age-official-video and buy the single at http://apple.co/1IANsWv
