THING OF THE WEEK

TRANSPORT SOLUTION… Securing deals at city centre offices is a competitive business, and Fore Partnership’s efforts, providing a five-strong fleet of branded kick-scooters for the use of tenants might, just might, provide an edge. Fore has teamed up with Salford-based Swifty Scooters for the “shared urban mobility scheme, complementing the sustainability ethos of the building” – or as some cynics would have it “grown-ups belting around on children’s toys”. Credit where it’s due – Swifty’s a top local brand, which launched the world’s first premium foldable kick-scooter for adults in 2011, and has been seen transporting the likes of Planit’s Pete Swift, and Capital & Centric’s Tim Heatley.

WG Swifty 02


MAD HATTER… However, trendy scooters won’t win the prize for the most alternative (and perplexing) methods of property marketing, which goes to Mike Ingall’s Allied London. Over at No1 Spinningfields, while the 19-storey block was sold to Schroders last year, the efforts to get the last two floors occupied still employ the usual Allied London flair. This week saw a troupe of actors engaged to entertain office agents visiting the vacant sixteenth floor, who were led on a tour of a fictional PR agency set to make a very important pitch on what they thought was “the number one of number ones”. No prizes for guessing what the answer was. While the actors/PR staff went on their very important work, they couldn’t be disturbed. But don’t worry, the office agent audience were all given blue hats, endowed with special invisibility powers. Confused? So were we.

Thing Allied London Hats

(A dubious hat isn’t the only thing all these agents have in common – Ed)


DAY… There’s a dedicated day or week for just about everything these days, and 28 February was Global Scouse Day, although this isn’t something that seems to have caught on in a big, foam Guinness hats for St Paddy’s kind of way. Legendary local poet Roger McGough was enlisted this year to write a poem about the Liverpudlian stew’s worldwide appeal, a sample couplet being: “Spanish mums add saffron to make it nice and yeller, ‘Ole!’ they shout when they bring it out, ‘come and get yer scouse paella!’”

Watch a recital of the whole poem here:


Leaseberg Index

NEOLOGISM… Everyone likes new words, and the world of property leases has come up with a contribution: “leasebergs”.  The cost of lease commitments that currently don’t sit on the balance sheet can be upwards of 62% of existing balance sheets, according to analysis by Aptitude Software, a global financial software specialist that has coined the “leaseberg” term for this worrying discovery – pointing out it’s deceptively complex, and there can be a whole lot more in the way of operational liabilities than people realise, especially at multi-site multinationals. Leaseberg does seem to be a wholly new word – most Google searches throw up a Scandinavian called Lea Seberg.


Dental Excellence

PEARLY WHITES… Liverpool dental practice Dental Excellence UK is to open a “Beverley Hills-style” practice at the Matchworks in Speke, which is surely exactly what Urban Splash had in mind when it developed the former Bryant & May factory in 2000. “Smile makeovers which normally take up to two weeks will take just two days with the help of pioneering new technology,” we’re told. The whizzy gadgetry includes Cadcam and digital smile design, and is the brainchild of Dr Robbie Hughes, who as well as owning Dental Excellence is a former world kickboxing champ, so for the record, THING wishes Robbie all the very best.


TEAM BUILDING… Need an idea for the next staff social? Then try this pub crawl, devised by the heritage team at Turley, to show off some of the best establishments that Manchester has to offer. Kicking off at the Northern Quarter’s Castle Hotel, your touring team can visit Lower Turks Head, The Old Wellington, stop for some much-needed chips and pud at Sam’s Chop House, before continuing to City Arms, and ending, if there’s anyone left, at The Briton’s Protection. THING thinks this concept should be taken on the road – starting with Liverpool’s Crown Hotel there’s a route ready and waiting from Lime Street, with stops at the Philharmonic, Ma Egerton’s, and the Ship & Mitre, to name a few.

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