THING OF THE WEEK
REINDEERS… With today’s cold snap after two borderline balmy, sunny days, you could be forgiven for thinking that winter had returned. Perhaps this is the weather opting to get certain Wrexham County councillors in the holiday spirit ahead of their planning committee next week, during which they are recommended to approve a 41-acre Christmas tree farm complete with a reindeer centre. Previous attempts to get approval for the project have been met with Grinch-like refusal at both the county council and appeal level (see THING 1 and THING 2), but this go-round the application from Clint Shaw has a recommendation for approval. This could be the red nose beacon the scheme needs to succeed. We’ll be keeping watch to see who is naughty and who is nice.
GRAND… As sporting weekends go, this one is right up there: the Masters is underway, Tyson Fury makes his return to the boxing ring for the first time since 2024, and the Grand National will see 150,000 people flock to Aintree. In preparation for the big race, Liverpool has been projecting its excitement, literally. Some of the city’s most iconic buildings have been used as the back-drop for footage of Grand Nationals past to get visitors to the city in the mood for a weekend’s worth of racing.
L&G added to its New Jackson holdings with the acquisition last year. Credit: via L&G
PENTHOUSES… What’s more flashy than a duplex penthouse? An even bigger duplex penthouse. That is what is being planned at an under-construction tower at Great Jackson Street in Manchester. Having acquired the building from Renaker last year, a partnership between L&G, Nest, and PGGM is seeking to tweak the approved plans to provide five penthouses on the 49th and 50th floors rather than nine. The reduction in the number of penthouses and increase in the size of the remainder “reflects Manchester’s transition towards a more mature, design-led residential market”, according to planning documents.
The penthouses will provide “large-format, high-specification homes, enhancing the identity of the scheme, and ensuring the optimal use of the building’s most premium upper-floor space” the documents add.
Christopher Katkowski has no intention to retire. Credit: via This is RMS
KITKAT… Feared planning barrister Chris Katkowski has moved to reassure the market that he has no intention of hanging up his silks. He was inspired to do so after rumours of his semi-retirement were put to him at a recent event. Addressing the rumours in a post on LinkedIn he said: “Rumours of my “semi-retirement” have been greatly exaggerated!”
Widely considered the country’s premier planning barrister, KitKat, as he is affectionally known, strikes fear into local planning authorities, which he regularly takes to the cleaners at planning inquiries.
“To either reassure you or horrify you I’m most certainly not semi, demi, or any kind of retired,” he added. “I’m sure retirement is jolly nice but it’s not for me, I love my work too much and I feel that 42 years in I’ve just about fathomed out what this planning thing is all about!”
UNVEILED… In recent years the manner in which a football club has unveiled a new signing is often more eagerly anticipated than the signing itself. Clubs are challenging themselves to think up new and ridiculous ways to announce their new arrivals and if you don’t know what I am talking about, head to YouTube and check out the video of a conjuror making Santi Cazorla appear out of thin air in a plastic cylinder in front of an empty stadium when the winger signed for Villarreal in 2018.
The trend has now crept its way into property. OBI, with a little help from AI, put together an amusing and at times haunting video to announce the recruitment of Josh Hancock – himself a footballer of some repute – who joined from Bruntwood after 13 years there. The video shows a football kit wearing Hancock sprinting down Cross Street to be united with his new employers.
The project features a hot tub on the roof. Credit: Snook Architects
GRAND DESIGNS… “The joy of being both architect and contractor is you can go at your own pace and overcome problems as they arise.” Those are the words of Neil Dawson, founder of Snook Architects, who is undertaking his very own Grand Designs project in Ormskirk. The subject of the scheme is Water Hill Water Tower, which Dawson is converting into a home for him and his family. “The views are phenomenal,” he said. “I am looking forward to the hot tub on the roof – I think I’ll struggle leaving for work once its finished.”
