Permitted development, that’s the thing. When people ask me what I’m interested in at the moment, that’s what I tell them, and let’s make the best of it because we’re not sure how long it’s going to last.
One of the things on my mind at the moment is what’s happening with building materials. If you want bricks you currently have to wait nine months, it’s like having a baby. There aren’t many available - bricks, that is, not babies.
For a good 10 years before the downturn we at Structadene bought property feverishly and then, all of a sudden, slammed on the brakes
I’m sponsoring English Heritage’s blue plaques scheme in London.
My latest life-changing acquisition is a piece of luggage on wheels.
There was a time when it seemed that everything we bought was the right thing — and it might have been that way for a while, but, in the end, we were kidding ourselves. Life isn’t like that.
It surprises me when people misunderstand me. I don’t mean people whose mother tongue isn’t English, but members of my family, close friends or associates.
I’ve become used to seeing my picture in the papers over the last 10 years or so, and it’s neither bothered me nor excited me much because it has all been factual, pretty accurate and, for the most part, favourable.
The main thing is that you have to keep responding to change.
Camembert has gone underground. European Union regulations forbid the use of unpasteurised milk, so you can’t make it legally, I’m told
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