Thunderbirds are go in Slough
Slough Trading Estate may not be the most glamorous place in the world, but it is no stranger to small-screen stardust. Formerly the home of The Office, SEGRO’s estate is also set to host a revival of 1960s sci-fi staple Thunderbirds 50 years after the puppet show stopped filming on the estate. Three new episodes are to be filmed in a project featuring recreated puppets and repurposed audio recordings from the original programme, as part of Thunderbirds’ 50th anniversary. Diary looks forward to seeing hordes of enthusiasts descending on the estate once more. Watch a video on property in the movies at http://bcove.me/s3yx6un0
Five years off the peak
Diary was treated to lunch this week – no, it wasn’t a first, before you ask – and duly listened to one property type complaining about how the industry is too often stuck in the past. After listing several professional misdemeanours, he delivered the killer line: “So while everyone else is shaving off their facial hair, it is only now that property has begun growing some. We are even five years behind peak beard.”
Coping with the sniffles
You know that phase after you have merged with another firm? Senior management set out a broad integration framework – very broad usually – and then leave everyone from the two camps to establish a pecking order and make it work. At one adviser currently at that stage it is known as “bottom sniffing”. Lovely.
Students on the edge
The booming student accommodation market and the increasingly swish digs that are being developed has not escaped the attentions of the country’s satirists. This week the Daily Mash published a lampooning article entitled “Student to get valuable life experience from moving to purpose-built luxury apartment” in which 18-year old Mary Fisher, “whose parents have s**tloads of money”, takes “the big step of moving from her parents’ five-bedroom farmhouse into her own flat” where “from the look of the deliberately exposed brickwork in the foyer” her student life is destined to be “pretty edgy”. The Daily Mash cooked up the name Urban:Vibe for the fictional development. Diary wonders how much they paid marketing consultants to come up with that little gem?
Notes from a small island
The sale of Nama’s Project Jewel loan portfolio, so called because it includes its prized loan held against the €1bn (£705m) Dundrum Town Centre mall, has drawn attention from some of the world’s most prestigious investors. Diary understands that one such Chinese investor initially registered an interest in what would have been its first entry into the Irish market. But it soon withdrew from the process, explaining that while it was impressed with the quality of the asset, it was unaware that Ireland was such a small place and was shocked to discover that the country’s population was only 4.6m – less than a third of the size of Shanghai.
Make a beeline for NOMA’s DIY pub
It’s a common complaint among developers that construction costs are soaring, but the backers of Manchester’s NOMA have found an interesting way around the problem. The Co-operative Group and Hermes Investment Management have submitted plans to Manchester city council for a pub to be known as the Pilcrow – which will be hand-built by local volunteers. After attending free workshops, the volunteers are expected to use traditional skills to build the temporary structure and add finishing touches, such as a bee hive. That’s one way to keep costs down and get the local community buzzing.
