London 2012

[cryingbaby615]

I have read the AJ for people to vote regarding the London 2012 will measure up architecturally to the Beijing Olympics? Only 29% will said it "YES", and 71% is "NO". What do you think about it?

[solidred]

"NO"

[BuildingNUT]

I agree "No"... London isn't as desparate to 'show the world' what it can do.

[Marc Wakefield]

The worry I have is can we afford to make 2012 happen and will there be people around to do it.

I work in recruitment (please don't hate me, i'm one of the good guys ) and there seems to be a dramatic increase in the amount of people wanting to move to the UAE and Asia.

The stories of mass redundancies due to the economic slowdown that I am hearing of at the moment are pretty scary.

I estimate that the redundancies are definitely in their thousands as some big companies have gone under and some of the people that I work with are considering changing careers altogether.

There are some good opportunities overseas (tax free benefits, etc) as well as some amazing projects to work on and once people move out of the UK, what is there here to entice them back?

What does everyone else think of this situation?

[Richard Haut]

the 2012 Olympics seems to be answering your question.

the Olympic Village now 3,000 units, £1bn. is apparently already £250m. down and seeking a 100% bail-out (according to British newspapers today). The scheme already seems to have been scaled-down from 4,000 units. The broadcasting centre is now similarly being 'down-sized', and some venues may be moved away from the Olympic site. Very sad.

normally recessions affect under 20% of a market and traditionally architecture would have relied more heavily on the 49% of its workload which came from the public sector. The use (sometimes abuse ?) of "private" finance in the public sector may hit hard.

the situation in banking is so muddled that it is difficult to see what will or even should happen. However the one clear indicator is that the British market will remain flat, or comparatively flat, for some years to come.

however much Brits grumble about Europe, for architecture it has one terrific advantage: being able to apply for work across the EU.

practices who really want work, get in touch with me and you may be amazed just how much work there is around.

[WalkerARCHITECTS]

Richard,
We are, of course looking for projects here. This was a bad week as US stock markets crashed so hard they created a crater at point of impact.
TLW

[Richard Haut]

"a bad week" ? I wish that that was all it was.

anyway, if practices want work in Europe, I can help (and much of it is on three to five year buying-cycles, with finance pre-arranged).

[mr_minimal]

Most of the Beijing Facilities were designed by Europeans including herzogs "birds nest". They dont need to top beijing, they were beijing!

[Richard Haut]

errrr, let's wait and see if London can actually afford the whopping cost that will be London 2012.

mind you, here in Nice we are proudly putting in a bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Nice ? We have snow ? No. There are a few very small winter resorts an hour or two away in the hills, but on the coast it rarely freezes. It would be a most unusual Winter Olympics.