Hot dogs

Social landlords might be patting their backs as they cut their carbon emissions with retrofits and code six eco-homes, but it seems this isn’t enough for some people.

Forget about photovoltaic panels on council flats: why not just build an eco-friendly palace?

In one of the more ambitious press releases to pop into Closed Circuit’s inbox, ‘cost consultant’ Faithful+Gould has thrown down the gauntlet to all would-be green building projects and produced a cost for an energy-efficient replica of Buckingham Palace.

Apparently, it would cost just £320 million to build a new palace emitting 400 fewer cubic tonnes of CO2 a year than the original. All the while retaining a traditional exterior.

No doubt green-conscious landlords will be queuing at Faithful+Gould’s door for a chance to replace stalled development projects with this fabulous building. Eco-warrior royal family optional.

One of the guests at a recent home affairs select committee broke with convention when he told members exactly what he thought of them.

When MPs quizzed ex-offender Adnan Mohammed on why he had committed crimes, they received an unexpected answer. ‘I didn’t want to do the nine to five thing,’ he said.

‘I used to see people walking to work every day and think I don’t want to do that, I don’t want to wear a suit.’

Mr Mohammed continued. Pointing at committee chair Keith Vaz, he said: ‘I look at people like you, and I don’t want to be like you.’

Whether anyone else in the room really wanted to be like Keith Vaz was sadly not a point for discussion.

Whatever you do, don’t take relationship advice from Tenant Services Authority chief executive Peter Marsh.

In a recent interview for a Housemark bulletin, Mr Marsh was asked why the TSA received no mention at the Homes and Communities Agency’s first birthday event earlier this year.

His response? ‘Like any well-developed marriage, we don’t need to keep saying ‘I love you’.’ Although he added that the two quangos ‘share a close relationship’, his remarks led Closed Circuit to wonder who would be the first to end up sleeping on the sofa…

Send your juicy housing gossip to closed.circuit@insidehousing.co.uk