THING OF THE WEEK
RACE ACROSS MANCHESTER… Construction Q director Fiona Hull did not expect to meet a celeb racer as she set off for the Great Manchester Run last weekend. The quantity surveyor managed to meet Kush Burman, one half of the latest winning “Race Across the World” team.
“For a brief moment I considered challenging him to a race across Manchester… then remembered he’d crossed continents and I was already eyeing up the recovery buffet,” she wrote with a winky face on her LinkedIn.
Celeb spotting aside, it was great to see the property community come out for great causes – and for the personal stories that came from the day, including Property Alliance Group chief executive Alex Russell racing alongside his 16-year-old son. Little did Russell know, but just behind him in the Old Trafford stretch was HORIZON fletcher rae director Ben Battye.
“Big shout to Alex Russell as your coaching tips to your son on the leg back from Old Trafford where invaluable. He might not have been listening but I was,” Battye wrote on LinkedIn. Battye was racing to support the Alzheimer’s Society and managed to meet his target for the run – and surpass his £500 fundraising goal, netting £1,500 for his cause. Give him an extra boost.
The team set off from Liverpool yesterday. Credit: via Max Meadows
HIGHER CALLINGS… With the Greater Manchester Run done and dusted, we’ve turned our attention skyward to Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike, and Snowdon. A team from M&E engineer Optimus Facilities and Project Four Safety Solutions are scaling the three mountains as part of the National Three Peaks Challenge. They have 24 hours to get to the top of all three – and as of this morning were already well up Ben Nevis. The challenge is for a good cause too – Alder Hey Children’s Charity. The gents have managed to raise £3,825 thus far. Help them get to £4,000.
Salboy’s Viadux 2 has moved down the potential tallest tower ranking in the UK – but still would have a spot in the top 5. Credit: via planning documents
AIM HIGH… With our eyes locked fully skyward, this week saw the future tallest building in the UK get its name: One London. At 309.5 metres, it is the same height as the Shard and still a good 60 metres than anything proposed in the North. That being said, its advent will see our own tall buildings move down the ranking – with Salboy’s future 246-metre Viaduct 2 set to be fourth tallest in the UK when it completes. Henley Investments’ 264-metre skyscraper at Regents Retail Park would then take that fourth place title if it makes it to construction.
Work was carried out in two phases. Galliford Try
SEATS… Anyone involved in venue management will tell you, there’s an awful lot goes into keeping the show on the road, a lot of wear and tear. Galliford Try is one of the firms riding to the rescue to keep the region’s stadia tickety-boo, having just completed a job delivered through the Procure Partnerships Framework at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena – works included installing 372 new seats, upgrading gangways, relocating accessible seating to improve access, creating additional seating areas, and replacing handrails to meet updated building regulations. All amid a busy programme, in two phases. Nice work.
Say what you see. Credit: planning documents
LAGER, LAGER, LAGER… THING is nothing if not a believer in the Ronseal Theory: it should do what it says on the tin. And that’s certainly the case with an application from Wrexham’s planning portal, for the conversion of a plumber’s merchants at Holt Road into a microbrewery and taproom into “Lagertown”. There is of course a backstory behind Wrexham’s relationship with lager – locally-based German chemists back in the day wanting a beer in the style they knew, etc etc, a story Ryan’n’Rob have bought into – but to be honest this works perfectly well without that and THING hopes it comes to fruition.
