THING OF THE WEEK
RICH LIST… The Sunday Times has published its annual Rich List and it features some familiar names. Renaker skyscraper mogul Daren Whitaker saw his fortune increase by £100m over the last 12 months to just shy of £800m, according to the paper, while Tom Morris, owner of Home Bargains and the money behind the £1.2bn Kings development in Liverpool, is £2bn better off this year than last. Topping the North West list is Sir Jim Radcliffe. The Ineos owner and part-owner of Manchester United is worth an estimated £15.2bn, down £2bn year-on-year but still enough to build three new stadiums for his beloved Red Devils if he wanted to.
The puppies were oblivious to the presence of a camera. Credit: via Guide Dogs
WOOF… As part of ongoing fundraising for charity Guide Dogs, the Procurement Hub has earned the right to name six puppies. Having raised more than £87,000 – the amount it costs to raise and train a guide dog – since 2020, the charity has let Procurement Hub loose on the baby names book. Milo, Reggie, Luna, Dobbie, Ralph, and Boris are the chosen names. Presumably at least one person on the voting committee was a Harry Potter fan.
Tuesday looks wet. Credit: BBC
PREP… UKREiiF is looking like a mixed bag weather-wise, a fact that will complicate packing for those heading to the Leeds property expo. Based on current forecasts, the Tuesday is going to be as wet as an otter’s pocket, with a few thunderstorms thrown in for good measure, while Wednesday looks like the kind of mix of sun and showers that requires a high standard of sartorial dexterity. Thursday looks dry, just in time for everyone to head home.
- Salford's Rolling Street before the development boom. Credit: via Luma Marketing
- Salford's Rolling Street amid the development boom. Credit: via Luma Marketing
FLASHBACK… Do you enjoy Euan Kellie’s Flashback Friday posts on LinkedIn as much as we do? Good news! Throughout June you can view a photo exhibition charting Manchester’s evolving skyline at Material Source in NOMA, Manchester. Euan Kellie, founder of the eponymous Manchester-based town planning consultancy, is working with Luma Marketing to curate the exhibition. ‘Manchester then and now’ coincides with the incident’s 30th anniversary of the IRA bomb and will feature rare archival images of Manchester with contemporary photographs of the same location years later, according to the event organisers.
“Over the past decade or more, Manchester has changed at a pace that would have been hard to imagine in the past,” Kellie said. “At times, it’s hard to remember the way things were and this exhibition will provide a platform for reflection, discussion, and celebration of what the city has both achieved, plus what it’s got in store for future generations.”
The scheme was built in 2000. Credit: via Hodder + Partners
GONE… Knowsley’s National Wildflower Centre is no more. Having fallen into disrepair over recent years, the Hodder + Partners-designed visitors’ centre has been pulled down amid safety concerns. Standing for 26 years in Court Hey Park and one of the previous Labour government’s Millennium projects, the National Wildflower Centre was the brainchild of Grant Luscombe, whose passion was looking at the regenerative impacts of flowers. Speaking to Place North West, Stephen Hodder said it was a shame to see the building go, adding that he will always have fond memories of Luscombe’s “incredibly well-spirted mission”.
Losing the Wildflower Centre is such a pity. My children enjoyed many a happy hour there, back in the day. Another example of well-meaning capital programmes being kiboshed long-term by a lack of sustainable revenue.
Hodder’s building, for all its seeming harshness, actually sat well in its setting.
By Dougal Paver
So does that make Daren richer than Weiss?
By Aubrey