THING OF THE WEEK
BRING BACK PULIS… They’re good, but can they do it on a cold and windy Tuesday evening in Stoke? Apparently yes: OBI have put their hand in their pocket to sponsor Stoke City FC, even bagging the naming rights to the South Stand, which will be renamed the OBI Stand for the next two seasons. Although the glory days of Pulis, James Beattie, ill-tempered 1-0 wins against Arsenal, and spending £5.5m on Dave Kitson might seem like a distant memory, hopefully OBI’s backing can help propel Stoke out of the championship and back into the promised land. If any property folk fancy a few free tickets, you know who to call…
PSG EXPERIENCE… Designs for Everton’s new stadium were released late this week to much fanfare and to what sounds to be almost universal praise – a nice thing to hear particularly in a place where the heritage crew can be prickly to say the least. But across the channel they’re not hanging about with their stadia either, as these images of Paris Saint-Germain’s new “PSG Experience”, delivered with the help of designer Mather & Co. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at the Parc des Princes stadium along with a hall of fame and a VR arcade, that looks so realistic you can almost feel Neymar flailing around on the floor after being hit with a light breeze. Expect to see more of this sort of thing as football clubs get on board with the “experiential” millennial crew.
STEEPLECHASE… Of all the world records to try and break, this sounds like an odd one, but fair play: chief executive of the Churches Conservation Trust Peter Aires is trying to visit 50 historic churches in 50 hours. He’s being assisted by the good folk of Buttress Architects, with director Stephen Anderson and senior architect Edward Kepcyzk meeting up with Peter at 2:30am to drive him to All Souls’ Church in Bolton, then Holy Trinity in Blackburn followed by St Leonard’s in Old Langho. It’s all in aid of the CCT, which is a national charity, and the aim is to raise £50,000 to tackle heritage crime.
CHARITY CLIMBERS… Sticking with the charity theme, another doff of the cap goes to a team of seven of the region’s property folk who will be climbing Kilimanjaro. They are Graham Flynn and Justin Myall of Box Clever Consulting; Alan Bevan of City Residential; Bruntwood’s Colin Forshaw; Kevin Horton of K2 Architects; David Gilbert of BAE Systems; and Urban Splash’s Chris Shaw. Like the CCT this motley crew is aiming to raise £50,000 for charity, but in this case it’s for the Claire House Children’s Hospice, based in Liverpool. Bevan said there’s room for more to join if you’ve got “a decent set of lungs”, which might rule a few of you out. Still, good luck to the team, which will be scaling the peak at the start of October.
