Imagination doesn’t run wild

The corridors of Imagination are hushed and silent, all meeting rooms are occupied, heads are down and the joyful sound of champagne corks popping is a faraway dream.

Staff at the “little London consultancy” (as it was described in press reports last week) should by rights be screeching with joy and painting the town a glaring shade of scarlet.

For Imagination triumphed – against all odds – over Touche Ross and Bovis Construction, two of the heavyweights from rival consortium M2000. It is to operate the Millennium Festival (see News). Babe the pig can win a sheepdog trial, the small can conquer the mighty, everything is all right in the world.

But only “a couple of beers” were consumed last week when staff heard the news. “Boring as it may seem, we still have a hell of a lot of work to do. We’re not past the finishing line yet,” says a spokeswoman. “Heads are down and we’re doing site analysis.”

Another spokeswoman says the atmosphere was “fever-pitch” leading up to the announcement. “There wasn’t much skipping though,” she adds, starting to talk about a hellish Tube ride to work.

Ah well, it’s only the design job of the millennium.