Surveyor takes the Tour
Prologis surveyor Melissa Brand (right) is preparing to cycle all 21 stages of the 2015 Tour de France in an epic charity feat.
She will set off on 3 July, 24 hours ahead of the professional peloton, as part of the Le Tour – One Day Ahead challenge set up by former England footballer Geoff Thomas.
Brand and triathlete Helen Russell (left)will be the only females riding in an otherwise all-male pack that will include Thomas. Their completion of the 3,300km tour, over 22 days, will underline an ongoing campaign to introduce a longer women’s race to the flagship cycling event.
Thomas completed the route in 2005, six months after going into remission from cancer. The riders aim to raise £1m for Cure Leukaemia.
Debate flips in women’s favour
A debate last week defied the trend for all-male debate panels, or “manels”, by putting a solitary man among a line-up of women.
An abundance of internet chatter was testament to widespread support of the Flipping the Ratio event held at The Building Centre, WC1, on 3 June.
Chris Brown, executive chairman of Igloo Regeneration, was the token male on the bill. He sat alongside Joy Lo Dico, editor of the Evening Standard’s Londoner’s Diary and founder of The Trouble Club for women; Andrea Klettner, account director at ING Media; Jackie Sadek, chief executive of UK Regeneration, special adviser to cities minister Greg Clark and EG blogger; and Kate Henderson, chief executive of the Town and Country Planning Association.
Flipping the Ratio, which posed the question “Is the tide turning for women city-makers?”, marked the third birthday of the flourishing women-led network Urbanistas UK, with its founder, Liane Hartley, chairing the debate.
Urbanistas UK has launched the Twitter campaign #FliptheRatio, which urges followers to champion diverse panels and for more women to put themselves forward for speaking opportunities.
See comment on page 67, and read the editor’s comment to hear how EG is supporting the campaign.
Read Jackie Sadek’s blog at www.estatesgazette.com/blogs/jackie-sadek/
Rewarding hoarding
The Collective, whose chief executive is EG Rising Star Reza Merchant, has teamed up with London street artists to bring to life a hoarding around its student accommodation site in Old Oak Lane, Willesden Junction, NW10.
Educational street art company Positive Arts and The Collective paired up for a “paint jam” on 30 May, with local residents and school children invited to watch the murals unfold.
