Have you been watching the TV documentary about St Pancras? Although I missed a couple of episodes, the ones I saw were interesting, although I did feel sorry for the guy whose job it was to put up the ceiling in the undercroft.
Mrs Braithwaite, who works for a building services contractor, was heard to mutter that the building services engineers cannot install the lighting until the ceiling is in place. And this is part of the problem. When any building work is delayed, the building services engineering company is squeezed in the middle, trying to do a good job and make up time as the finish date looms.

I can also forgive crying architects.


But this is TV at its best. It shows the passion I was talking about in the November comment.

St Pancras was a massive commitment for everyone involved: builders, engineers, consultants, everyone from the men and women who ran the job to the cleaners who were sweeping and washing areas seconds before the client's inspection team was shown around.

And, in spite of all the hassle, the job was on time and on budget.

For me, one of the interesting points was the fact there were two women right at the top of the pile - clearly able to take on the men at all levels - and clearly respected for their ability.

And the documentary told it like it was, swearing and all.
As far as I am concerned, it was all about a job well done, in spite of all the normal pitfalls which go with projects of this nature.

Like all construction jobs, to some extent it was about not going
overboard on the nth degree of detail but making sure the job was as good as it could be, given the size of the project.

We have some massive projects coming up in the form of stadiums for the Olympics. Perhaps one of the colleges might ask its photography students to undertake a project similar to the BBC St Pancras documentary so that students in the construction stream and building services might get a flavour of the passion their work can generate.

Paul Braithwaite, editor