Lucy Roper’s weekly Built Environment blog: Brexit business advice, recent architectural feats and surprising facts about librarians

Posted on: 2019-04-11

Each week, UCEM Information Governance Manager, Lucy Roper points us in the direction of interesting stories from the Built Environment.

This week, Lucy looks at some of the advice being dished out to UK businesses in preparation for (possibly!) leaving the EU, highlights recent architectural feats in the arts and sporting world, and shares nine surprising facts about librarians.

Brexit advice for businesses

If we are to still leave the EU, it may be worth brushing up on what you can do for your business to prepare for life post-Brexit. The government has published advice for this very purpose so if you haven’t looked it up already, you may want to give it a read soon!

Speaking of delays…

Tottenham return home

Tottenham Hotspur FC finally unveiled their new stadium with Christopher Lee, the managing director of the firm responsible for its design, Populous, saying it’s ‘the best stadium in the world’.

It certainly is quite the construction feat and another of the firms involved in its creation, Mace joined in the back-patting with a spokesman for the international consultancy slightly downgrading on Christopher Lee’s assertion by describing the stadium as ‘one of the best sporting arenas in the world’.

One of the most remarkable features of the stadium is the retractable pitch which has been built to accommodate both football and NFL games. Construction Manager has the back story behind engineering firm, SCX’s work on the pitch which includes a video of the changeover.

2018’s best sporting designs

If the stories covering Spurs’ new stadium hadn’t satisfied your sports appetite enough, then here’s the top 10 stadiums and sports centres in 2018, according to Dezeen.

New cultural hub in New York

Two days after Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium welcomed Premier League football for the first time, a new arts centre opened to the public in New York.

The Shed has been designed to physically transform to accommodate the artists’ ambitions and has the support of many prominent names in the world of entertainment from Oscar-winning filmmaker, Steve McQueen to legendary record producer, Quincy Jones. There is plenty more about the project on its website.

Nine things you didn’t know about librarians

Staying in America, it’s National Library Week across the pond which, as custodian of UCEM’s e-Library, couldn’t escape my attention!

Did you know that librarians help spies? Or that working in a library used to be considered too intense a job for women? CNN has listed nine facts about librarians you probably didn’t know and it’s well worth a read! Though not out loud… Sshh!

For more from Lucy, take a look at the latest edition of Knowledge Foundations.