Control freak chic

Control-freakery on a scale that would impress new Labour is in evidence on Nottingham University's new Jubilee campus. Staff have been issued with an ominous list of dos and don'ts to prevent design drift on the showpiece site. All steel in furnishings must be finished in silver and dry marker boards in steel with a vitreous surface, all board fixing must be "in the aluminium channel between the wall panels by means of the clip provided". These instructions relate to "new and replacement furnishings", which raises the question of why the procurement office issuing them did not buy more durable stuff to start with.