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Whatever happened to our sense of national pride?

We’ve already let the Australians mess up Wembley. It’s not really setting much of an example for the kids, is it? ‘Come and work in UK construction. We build brilliant buildings – but only if they’re really easy.’

If you ask me, it’s the bean counters taking control again. You can’t run a job like that. There are always surprises, changes, mistakes, but that’s what we do. I’d like to see a bean counter coping with some of the stuff I’ve had thrown at me. It’s what makes life exciting.

Nowadays it’s risk this and risk that. OK, so if you’re about to build a huge Olympic pool with a strange pointy roof, I can see that it’s a good idea to work out where things could go wrong. But it’s getting a bit out of hand. By the time I’ve sat down and worked out what the risk of half the decorators not turning up after the bank holiday is, I could have phoned up the contracts manager and given him a stern talking to.

The other day I received a one-page risk register for a visit to head office for a training day. I jest not. If we followed company policy we’d be doing a risk assessment every time we paid a visit to the toilet. Although, come to think of it, on some sites that might not be a bad idea…

Anyway, must sign off. I’ve got the architect coming in for a meeting. He’s got some ridiculously complicated design for the courtyard… I’m going to suggest we just concrete the lot.