I HAVE never been totally convinced by the awarding of accolades to one company or another.

For one thing, the criteria on which the awards are based are often less than specific and boil down to votes from other firms in the same industry, or the opinions of
a panel of ‘distinguished experts’.

The real winners of these awards, it seems to me, are the public relations firms who prepare the portfolios and preen and spin, in the hope that if their clients win they will get paid even more handsomely for their efforts.

My scepticism grew still further last week when I read about the ‘top accolade’ given to developers Dandara for the design of the development at Portelet Bay, which has been awarded the Best in Britain prize for the Best Architecture (multiple residences) Category. Also praised was the Castle Quay development on the Waterfront.

Now forgive me if I have been walking around with my eyes shut, but I don’t think either of these developments has as yet been graced with its first home owner.

I know at least one person who has put his name down for Castle Quay and is paying monthly instalments towards the mortgage, but as yet there is nothing concrete – or brick, or granite, or whatever – for him to move into. The same applies to the Portelet Bay developments.

Also forgive me if I’m wrong, but how on earth can people judge architecture on the basis of one made-up apartment and a pile of drawings? I have seen Grand Designs and things never end up the way the designers think they will.

I expect the Radisson Hotel looked great on paper, too, and probably it could have won several awards before it was built – only to end up being called an architectural ‘carbuncle’ several years down the line.

I have, of course, noted the comments of Dandara’s man in Jersey, Martin Clancy, who waxes lyrical about the ‘unrivalled views’.

Yes sirree, these are unrivalled views. We like them, too. And as 7,000 of us demonstrated a couple of weeks ago, we would probably like them a lot more without the addition of housing developments – award-winning or otherwise.

Winter’s on the way
THE prospect of a ‘winter of discontent’, as described this week by union spokesman Nick Corbel, is not a particularly appealing one.

It is all too easy to take for granted the various services that are regularly provided by over 6,000 employees who are on the States payroll. The level of disruption that the withdrawal of these services could impose would be catastrophic, if applied for any length of time. You only have to look at previous short-term strikes at the Airport to foresee some of the possible repercussions.

At the same time, given that the politicians not long ago agreed to up their pay cheques and then last month voted to freeze the pay of public employees, it is not difficult to see that the arguments put forward by the unions might have some validity.

Nevertheless, it can also be argued that in the private sector we have had to swallow frozen pay levels this year, too, so why should the public sector believe themselves to be immune? And don’t they get much better perks than many in the private sector, including those infamous pension arrangements?

The concern that I have, at the time of writing, is that there seems to be little progress in negotiations with the Chief Minister and his cohorts. Last week we were told that because the States had made their decision, discussions had come to a halt. At least now the Chief Minister says he is willing to try mediation.

At the same time, there have been discussions behind the scenes for a number of years about how to cut the inefficiencies of a monolith like the States. Civil service chief Bill Ogley well knows that he does not have the knife-wielding ability of his private-sector contemporaries to slash jobs and people, however cost-cutting that might prove to be.

The truth is that if they so choose, the unions can hold the population of the Island to ransom. I really do hope that those involved can get their heads together long before industrial action is believed to be necessary.