Where are all the planners in London?

Hi Stephen - welcome to planning planet.

You obviously did not notice that this thread was issued 7 years ago.

Best regards

Mike Testro - Moderator.

Hi Alex, I am currently the Lead Project Planner for RWE Galloper Off shore Wind farm, I also have experience in Rail (Signalling 15yrs) I am flexible and can work in other disciplines anywhere. My Project has just been canned on Friday 10-Oct-14 now looking for contract work, please contact tact me if you have anything interesting.

Steve

07734-533202

Gwen(f)



Thanks for bringing us back on course. This is where all the planners in London are:



BIGGEST BUILDING BOOM IN THE CITY FOR 60 YEARS

EMILY PARSONS



1,223 words

13 August 2007

The Evening Standard

08-09

English

(c) 2007 Associated Newspapers. All rights reserved



THE City of London is experiencing its biggest redevelopment since the building boom after the Second World War.



This image, taken from the dome of St Paul’s looking eastwards towards Canary Wharf, shows a sea of cranes as old buildings are demolished and a string of new towers are created.



The majority of the development is in and around Cheapside, known as the Square Mile’s ’High Street’. More than half the buildings there have been demolished in the past year and are in the process of being replaced with offices and shops.



According to the latest research by the City of London, one sixth of the floorspace in the Square Mile is being developed, mainly into offices.



The authority calculates that over the past 10 years about 20 million square feet of office space has been created in the City and an additional 18 million square feet is planned.



Michael Snyder, the City of London’s chairman of policy and resources, said: ’The City’s pre-eminence as the world’s leading international financial centre has created the need for new world-class buildings. To maintain its vitality we need to continue to make the Square Mile the preferred location for businesses, both large and small.’ Peter Bishop, deputy chief executive of the London Chamber of Commerce, said the development was ’a sign of economic success’.



’We have learned from New York that you shouldn’t over-regulate the market, therefore London has been adapting and has adopted a light-touch, certainly compared with New York,’ he said.



’As a result, we have benefited from companies quoted on the Stock Exchange here that are not on the New York exchange.’ Mr Bishop said plans for the 2012 London Olympics and their legacy should guarantee a thriving market for at least the next decade.



He added that while the capital still faced a threat from terrorism, he believed lessons learned from previous attacks meant the City would cope.



New buildings set to make their mark on the skyline include the Pinnacle tower, dubbed the ’Helter Skelter’, and the ’Walkie Talkie’ skyscraper in Fenchurch Street.



Rowan Moore, director of the Architecture Foundation, said cutting-edge buildings such as these were not necessarily the style of the future. ’Some people say we are going a little too far down the road of eccentric shapes, that we need to calm down a bit,’ he said.



’Architectural fashion being what it is, you can guarantee that it won’t be the same in five years’ time.’ A spokesman for London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, said: ’The current building boom in the Square Mile reflects the strength in financial services over the last few years.



’London, according to the City’s own research, tops its new index of global financial centres, narrowly beating New York into second place. The success of the City is now translating into unprecedented demand for new office space - over £29 billion was invested in the three years to 2006, with 46 per cent coming from non-UK firms, reflecting London’s international outlook.’



----



25% the amount of office stock that has been redeveloped in the past 10 years

20m sq ft the amount of new office space that has appeared in the same period

18m sq ft the amount of land in the proposal stages of office redevelopment

1.4m the number of square feet of floorspace under development

350,000 the number of people who work in the Square Mile

50,000 the number of additional people expected to work there by 2020

5,500 the number of companies

80% the number of City businesses which employ 10 people or less

5.4m sq ft the amount of existing retail space

800,000 sq ft the amount of proposed retail space

1.6m sq ft the amount of leisure and retail space between St Paul’s Cathedral and the Royal Exchange once the Cheapside schemes are completed

£60 the average rent per square foot



-----



Being built:



One New Change

9-36 Cheapside, Bread Street, 85 Watling Street, London EC2

Development by owner Land Securities of a building with offices and retail space and a public terrace. Replaces the old One New Change building, designed by Victor Heal and built between 1953 and 1960 for the Bank of England. Previously mostly offices with some retail. Earliest completion December 2009.



Bow Bells House

9 Bread Street, EC2

Construction by owner Mitsubishi Estates of an office and retail development. Replaces the old Bow Bells House, built in the late Fifties to a design by architects Cotton, Ballard & Blow for the headquarters of Balfour Beatty.

Previously included nine retail units, seven of which fronted Cheapside. Earliest completion October next year.



107 Cheapside

107 Cheapside, EC2

Construction by owner theCarlyle Group of office and retail development. Replaces the old building at 107 Cheapside, designed by W Curtis Green R.A., Son and Lloyd architects and completed in 1956. Ground floor previously contained retail units along Cheapside and a restaurant, with offices above. Earliest completion March next year.



150 Cheapside

150 Cheapside, EC2

Construction by owner Hammerson of office and retail development. The site used to house three buildings, designed by Gunton & Gunton. The largest, Empire House, Nos. 2-14 St Martin’s Le Grand, was built as a warehouse in 1925/6. Nos. 161-162 Cheapside was built between 1924 and 1926 for Westminster Bank and St Vedast House, 150-151 Cheapside, was designed as offices in 1964. The buildings housed offices with six retail units on the ground floor. Earliest completion January next year.



20 Gresham Street

20 Gresham Street, EC2

Construction by Jones Lang LaSalle of an office building. The development will replace Clements House, 14-18 Gresham Street, 25 Milk Street and 10-11 Wood Street. Due for completion in summer next year.



Future Developments:



The Pinnacle (aka the Helter Skelter)

22-24 Bishopsgate, EC2

Will be the tallest building in the Square Mile. Site, owned by Arab Investments, currently has three properties: Crosby Court, 36 Bishopsgate, an eight-storey granite and glass building put up in 1985, Nos. 22-24 Bishopsgate, a Seventies eight-storey building, and 4 Crosby Square, a six-storey building put up in 1908. All three are offices, with a basement restaurant in Crosby Court. Demolition expected to start early next year with completion due in 2010. The City of London granted planning permission in May.



122 Leadenhall Street (aka the Cheesegrater)

122 Leadenhall Street, EC3

Currently an office building, owned by British Land, built in 1969. It is to be replaced by a new office building. Demolition work has already begun.



20 Fenchurch Street (aka the Walkie Talkie)

20 Fenchurch Street, EC1

Currently a 25-storey office building built in 1968. Last month, Land Securities (owner) received planning permission to replace it with a building designed by New York architect Rafael Vi§oly.



Makeovers:



30 St Mary Axe (aka the Gherkin)

30 St Mary Axe, EC4

Office building.



CityPoint

Ropemaker Street, EC2

Office building with retail space.



Tower 42

25 Old Broad Street, EC2

Offices and two restaurants, Rhodes Twenty Four and Vertigo.



Former Stock Exchange

Threadneedle Street, EC4

Office building, home to the Stock Exchange from 1972-2004. Outside is being reclad.



David (m)

So back on message Where are all the planners in London?

I would reckon any Planners left in London would be in Engineering Design Houses NW London, Oil and Gas Central/NW/SW London, Heathrow Extension X at Heathrow maybe, Rail ?, Nuclear?, Shipping Central/ East London.

But I am not a city girl.



Gwen (Usually a females name, Gwyn being the spelling for the male name)

Gentlemen,



I think that a bit of general knowledge is healthy for people like us. We technicians are always involved in very serious matters. A bit of crap or poo is not so bad.



May be coming from South America, I have a different sense of humour and I do not take some comments so serious.



I consider this site as a meeting point for cultural differences.



Cheers,

In my humble opinion, as ever (!), I don’t think I ever suggested that Carmen was an ambiguous name! In fact I saw Carmen (the opera, not the Dutch planner) at Arena Di Verona. You will be aware that Charlie, when spoken and albeit with a different spelling, can also be used as a girl’s name – perhaps that is why he is referring to himself as Joseph these days?



To be frank (or do I mean Earnest – no, I’ll stick with David) except in extreme cases I don’t think the sex of a PP poster is of any relevance to the subject at hand, certainly not to ‘where are all the planners in London’.



I am interested, however, that you say ‘Carmen is a beautiful Spanish name for women with strong personality’. What happens if a pale skinned English girl grows up to be a submissive wimp, does she have to change her name or does the mere bestowing of a name ensure olive skin and a strong personality? I wonder if there is any scientific research to support your thesis?



Similarly, with regard to Venezuelan beauty. Surely beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to generalise like that is facile. I am surprised that a woman of such a strong personality rates popularity shows such as Miss World or Miss Universe and the stereotypes they generate so highly. I thought the de facto ranking of female beauty was the FHM Sexiest Women in the World Awards. I realise J.Lo and the Columbian hip swiveller have in the past been up amongst the winners but recently South American beauties have not really featured at all, in fact, I understand this year’s winner is the pale skinned (okay with a little help from St Tropez fake tan), slim buttocked, Jessica Alba.



Prior to becoming a successful movie star Jessica worked as a planner at the Bechtel Corporation. She was spotted by a casting agency talent scout when working on the Athens Metro Project (for the 2004 Olympic Games) and attending a screening at the Athens International Film and Video Festival in 2003.

Carmen,



Even if he is right about names, it has no reltation to the thread, that is why people want him to stop talkin poo.



I don’t think he should be banned, his insane ramblings are quite funny, if you laugh at him rather than with him.

While I do not agree with most of the things which Charlie say’s, he does add a bit of spice to the forum.

People reply and that is what keeps if fun to read !!

I would hate to go into a meeting with this guy and also wonder how the hell he can run a project with the amount of crap he talks, but he does make me laugh !!

Which is always a good thing while at work.



He does get also seem really bad press (most of it deserved) but I would like to keep him on,

“Vote for Charlie” !!!

David,



Regarding to determine somebody’s sex from their name, CHARLIE is right. In Spanish is so, of course there are some exceptions but the Rule is as he said.



Carmen is a beautiful Spanish name for women with strong personality. Everybody has heard about the famous OPERA Carmen from Bizet. If not, try to see any version of this opera. In this opera CARMEN is a man eater (please understand the humorous concept of this word).



With regard of Venezuelan beauty, again CHARLIE is right. Women are amazing. Main explanation of this is as follow: we are women of mixed-race. The races are: European (Mediterranean), South American Indian and African.





Cheers,

david, they call them, androgyne



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgyne

From the amount of phone calls im recieving every week from recruitment agencies there is a definitely a severe shortage of planners in the London area.

Not male , not female...so what

and what about Marion Morrison, male or female?

It seems you guys have a lot of time on your hands



its well for some to be able to research the history of the globe while working

It seems this post has become a story of all trades......where,who,when,what......

Brian Crabtree’s brother, unfortunately deceased.

Clive,



I believe Hillary is a doctor on ’This Morning’.



How about Shirley Crabtree?



Oliver

just to clarify some ideas.



yeah Algeria was a France colony, but we kept our cultural/language identity ( Arabic, Berber)and our religion. i can see it’s not the case for all former colonies ;-)( yeah i know it’s a rant, but this is the internet )



and Charlie thanks for the clarification about how to know a female Spanish name, but i am not so confident in your logic about Venezuelan beauty, i used to think that American women was the sweeties girls in the world, but after watching some real life documentaries, i come to the conclusion that Hollywood actress are not representative of the real people.



i know my writing sucks, but unfortunately we have been taught French not English,

Clive,



I’m not born a native english speaker.



My country was interupted by the english colonial army but eventually the old folks kick them out and embrace the Spaniards.



So, I cannot answer your question regarding the gender of Hillary bean as in Mr. Bean.



Please ask our very own native english speaker here in PP, for example ??????



Cheers,



Joseph

Charlie must have a lull in his project planning/engineeering/calculations/nuclear physics/social history/evolution of names.



Or maybe no social life.



Somebody throw some Welsh names at him!!

Hi Mimoune,



I think Algeria was former colony of France.



Let me explain what happen to colonies under Spain.



Venezuela and Philippines were former colony of Spain.



In Spanish Language, the gender for male name generally end with "O" for example: Telesporo, Ramonito, Hijo, Edipicio, etc. this refer to man.



In Spanish, the gender for female generally end with "A" for example: Hija, Mamerta, Carmencita, etc. this refer to female.



The old generation follows this format. However the new generation simplfy and make the sound pleasant so instead of Carmencita, the name now is Carmen.



So, I believe Carmen is a woman, a live woman. I can add a beautiful woman. Why this is so???? Because she comes from Venezuela. A lot of Miss Universe comes from Venezuela. Also a Vanezuela contestant in Miss Universe also stay in the top five finalist.



With regards for your thoughts, it is understandable since french dont have gender: Francine could be a boy or a girl.



So the only way you will know a boy or girl is through visual contact. Francine is a bou if you will see adams apple in the person otherwise if no adams apple, then difintely it is a girl.



Carmen will never have an adams apple.



Cheers,



Joseph

excuse my ignorance, but how do you know that a name is for man or a woman, for me, i thought Carmen is a man

Now, now Oliver! I’m not quite sure if I should take that as an back-handed compliment.





James.



PS. Richard Whitely (howsoever one spells it) is dead.

Carmen,



I agree, some of the meetings I attend are power contests.



It seems a competitions to see who can delegate the most.



However, i find that this isn’t just apparent in the male majority.



I have found that a high percentile of females are skilled at denigrating people in meetings.

Maybe this is because a certain type of woman is compelled into one of ’mans last empires’? I’m not sure?

Oliver,



Agree with you about some threads making no sense. Do not forget that English is a second language for many PP members. I include myself in this group and sometimes I make a lot of mistakes.



For me, theme Charlie is over. I do not spend more time on it. It is a waste of time.



More important for me is to give my opinion about male communication. This opinion is the result of hundreds of meetings that I attended during all my years working in projects. Of course in those meeting the female attendace is less than 10%.



My opinion is as follow:



1.- The common courtesy is lost very easily and very soon. Always a moderator is needed.



2.- Sometimes the end of a technical discussion is more oriented to show who has the power and more important who takes decision.



3.- The art of denigrating the opponent is often used.



With regard my background, feel free to think whatever you consider appropriate.



Nice weekend TO ALL

James,



Okay, my spelling is grim, but my point still stands!



Gwen,



I try to keep a ratio of 70/30 informative/soap box.



But sometimes stupid sneaks in there!



I think James goes for 30/70, informative/richard whitely

Oliver, check the spelling of "bigeted". Methinks it is "bigoted".

James,



I didn’t say ’he was’ I said ’he talks’.



And it was the grammar, not the spelling.



Oliver

In order to boost the minority contributers, I have to stand with the boys on this one.



However, do a quick analysis and reckie the number of posts per person.

Quickly classify them into Informative/Entertaining/Witty/Boring/Merde/Racist/Funny/

Stupid/Soapboxer Hoggers



Its SO consistant.

In the short time I have been a member Carmen and Gwen Blair are the only two women I have seen contributing. However there are others out there planning away, I know.



2 out of 19000 is quite a small percentage!



We would do well to listen to Carmen though, women are much more sensitive to words and the way they are used than men are. Charlie obviously has a fan club out there!

Oliver,



Pay attention who is writing on this site. ONLY men, I believe I am one out of the few reading and writing here.



I spend a lot of time reading your threads before giving any answer.



I can not go back to the threads where Charlie wrote words that I liked to read. May be, same words would have had no meaning for you.



Cheers

You love it Derek.



Its like a planning orientated Big Brother.

Remind me never to subscribe to a thread again, I’m having to post this to get out of it!!

’He is the one with answer to anyone. He is the one able to identify a woman and send the appropriate message to HER.’



What does this mean?

Ulyses,



I do not follow your call about the path to follow against Charlie.



Charlie is the one who makes this SITE live with his comments. He is the one with answer to anyone. He is the one able to identify a woman and send the appropriate message to HER.



I am in this SITE just for reading Charlie’s answer.



Cheers

Ulysses



Its not up to you to apologise for Charles,



He can do his own apologising to his own god when he passes on

David,

I agree with you david, that Charlie is not behaving healthy as professional guy, sorry for this coments. he thinks that he knows everything.. I CALL ALL PLANNERS TO KEEP AWAY THIS PERSON HAVING THIS KIND OF ATTITUDE. SOOORRRY...

I read the posting.

It was Charlie’s usual meaningless racist ranting.

Maybe he is observing self-censorship now (would be best if he thought before posting though) or maybe another complaint about his attitude.

Hi guys,



The post was deleted.



It was related to history



This is for the good of PP.



Cheers,



Joseph

Hi guys,



The post was deleted.



It was related to history



This is for the good of PP.



Cheers,



Joseph

Alex



Therefore they will not get the planners they want / need - this is the way of supply and demand. Or I suppose they will take on people who are prepared to work for the money on offer, which will be the unqualified or inexperienced ones. Reminds me of 1988, where projects were being built by totally underqualified people, because that was all that was available - only thing now is that with the Olympics and T1/T2 the likelihood of a crash like 1989 is much lower - therefore companies will have to pay the money!? The other possibility is that further increases in interest rates will stop the housing market dead in its tracks, which will free up some people.



Discuss.

Joseph,



I did not want to mention Chavez, But once You did it, I would like to update you with latest news.



In 2002 The Venezuelan Oil Company (PDVSA) went to 2 months strike. Being unsuccessful the purpose of the strike which was to make Chavez to step down of his JOB, He took the revenge in his way. He fired 18000 oil workers from all fields. These 18000 workers can not work in Venezuela because they are in Chavez’s black list.



Well not only planners can you import from Venezuela. Any skilled Oil worker who is in the black LIST, and another lists that he has.



The fight against US will be planned with all the Cubans, Iranians and executed with Russian armament. The Venezuelans are pacific people who enjoy working wherever the work is : first or second world.



Cheers,

carmen

HI Carmen,



That a great idea.



But great idea is nothing if your president say no. "No ay di que"



Remember your president is starting to be despotic and start a quarel with Uncle Sam.



Definitely, Chavez needs all the planners he can muster to plan to start a fight with US of A. Good for you, you are now safe in your first world countries.



Cheers,



Joseph

Hi All,



I just found this interesting topic TODAY I just want to contribute with few words, especially because I come from the famous Third Word that everybody mentioned.



First of all, not all the Third World is the same. Third world – South America is different from third world – Africa and third word – Asia and so on.



Once that you identify your part of the third world and you evaluate to bring planners from this place, I can recommend planners from Venezuela and specially with more than 15 years of experience. WHY, because this country during the seventies, eighties and nineties was involved in mega-projects in different field such as: oil, chemicals and steel. And also this country imported a lot of senior planners from America, Canada to lead the Venezuelan juniors planners at that moment.



I was one of these planners and now that I am in the first world, I looked backwards and realized that I had had excellent experience.



Cheers,

carmen

i just read this article in the inquirer http://uk.theinquirer.net/?article=40526

it is about "How US tech firms place job ads no-one will apply for"



take a look it is very funnig,

Back to the original post, all the planners appear to be on the magic roundabout, with pay increases of 30% to 40% available for changing jobs and employers very reluctant to admit it, but ready to match an offer for good staff generally.

Staff churn must be up around 40% at the moment, I have contacts moving jobs every week.

Alex, you must be on a great commission now!

Now I ken what your on aboot!

Gwen, I think you’ve REALLY confused the poor loons now, eh?

DORIC FOR THE INQUISITIVE PLANNERS (WELL DONE LOONS (BOYS))



"Dooking" is swimming. One goes dooking wearing ones dookers.

On the 31 October when we get off our broomsticks we go dooking for epples.



"Bidie in" is a Live in lover (can be either male of female) aka to bide is to live

Other useful phases utilising "bide"

Far div you bide? Where do you stay?

I canae min far I bide! Usually heard in Aberdeen taxi ranks after midnight.

I bide in Craigellachie or she bides near Bennachie usually catches the non spiker oot.