Dingdongler

I had to pop into Tower Hamlets council HQ the other day. It's not my local council and I understand it's one of the most deprived boroughs in London. I must say I was a little shocked to find what looked like a flash hotel or major investment bank.

dazzaturbo

As long as the council officials are in luxury then the rest of the borough doesn't really matter

300gnspitzer

It's always easy to spend someone else's money.

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Blimey........I worked at the London Hospital back in the 80's. just as the area was being gentrified and prices were picking up like a rocket. Where on earth did they get the money to do that........more importantly what did they have to knock down to build it !

Shaun

dpb

Lead from the top.

Works for Mugabe

EddScott

All the council offices I've seen in South and West Wales are the same. Millions of EU funding due for deprived areas went on the offices of the council. Makes me sick when you see the schools falling apart. Usually built in prime locations in town where good shops could have been based rather than out of town and helping towards killing the high street.

Funny thing is now they are broke they are telling council workers to work from home and have opened the car park to be a pay park for shoppers.

David Lock

I had similar feelings when I lived in Sussex and drove past the new multi-million pound RSPCA HQ in Horsham

I stopped donating to them after that.

dl

mamoon2

This is nothing new. Look back in history and you will see that some of the greatest buildings in the UK are council offices / libraries / old post offices.

The greedy ******* should be in plain office blocks on an industrial estate somewhere

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

You see that's the issue with Rossendale Borough Council. They are so **** they haven't even been savvy enough to hive enough out of the enormous amount of money they waste to build a luxurious HQ.

ReallyReallyGoodMeat

The same with Trade Unions.

An example: The just-built brand new Unison HQ in the cheap part of the world known as central London... http://www.bdonline.co.uk/buildings/...021052.article

Dingdongler

I worked at The London as well Shaun (90s). Have you been back recently? You wouldn't recognise the street where Good Sams etc was.

I popped into Tayaabs for a kebab roll for old times sake and it is now three times the size, all mirrored and glitzy and the waiters speak english and wear uniforms!

cster

Bet the BMA and BDA have very nice headquarters.
And that they do a great job as well.

Dingdongler

What is your point? The BMA and BDA are funded by voluntary subscriptions from doctors/dentists, they are in no way funded by taxpayers money.

Please explain the relevance.

PaulC72

Most are probably rented and on the basis the country is on its **** the rents are probably very cheap just to fill the places up.

tony de wonderful

Ding obviously thinks that investments banks are entitled to such buildings.

Dingdongler

Edited for accuracy.

howellsy42

Has any body seen network rails new head office in Milton Keynes talk about wasting money

Adrian F

i am at loss what do you expect a 20 year old rented office block big enough for 1900 staff to hot desk in look like in the area of Canary Wharf?

Dingdongler

Do you work there?

hodgy0_2

To be fair Ding, the banks can afford posh offices is because the UK government has been selling them £5 notes for £1.50 for the last 5 years

cster

They are just examples of organisations that like to massage their egos with grandiose head-quarters, like the RSPCA that someone else has mentioned.
No big deal - I voted with my feet.

hodgy0_2

Do you go to a witch doctor?

David Lock

Sack 900.

dl

Dingdongler

Hodgy, that's not the point. I NEVER stated an opinion on whether banks are entitled to have grandiose buildings. TDW just made that up and threw it in there so he could side track the thread. Hoping no doubt that we could have yet another discussion on par with 14 year olds at debating club.

I just stated this building looked like the sort of thing you'd expect from a flash hotel or bank.

Please don't fall for Tony's childish attempts to troll

Dingdongler

And yet again you've entirely ignored the fact that the BMA/BDA are funded by voluntary subscriptions from their members and NOT taxpayers money.

cster

And good morning to you.
"Voting with feet" - means that you or I can choose to leave such an organisation (by extension, because it is voluntary).
I don't think the RSPCA is funded by taxpayers money either, but I stand to be corrected on this point.
So - I'm not sure if "entirely ignored" is fair - unlike the OP.
I hope your day gets better.
ps vis a vis Tower Hamlets, maybe a case of - "The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter."

Dingdongler

Despite trying my best I'm struggling to understand what you are on about (with the exception of the last comment).

I still don't understand how you can draw an analogy between organisations the are completely different in the way they are funded ie the local council and the BMA. The obvious difference being one is tax payer funded and one isn't.

You are actually making my point for me ie one is voluntary and as you said you can vote with your feet.

So kindly explain, in the context of this discussion, what have the BMA buildings got to do with local council buildings?

Btw, I'm having a wonderful morning. Going to watch a film with the kids and getting ready to go on my summer hols this weekend

cster

In the context of this conversation, perhaps the GMC or GDC would have been better examples, in that they are both councils with a degree of compulsion and a keen sense of self aggrandisement.
Anyways, I hope you get fine weather for your hols.
Have a good 'un.

tony de wonderful

The Doctors might choose to pay for the BMA but everyone else pays for the extra health care costs that the BMA helps to extract.

tony de wonderful

Read your OP again and it is implicit that you find it 'normal' that a 'major investment bank' would have such a building, ergo you think they are entitled to them....or else why would you not be suprised?