Thing of the week: Rest in peace, Isambard

Petty theft is experiencing a renaissance, according to the government – and while Place Midlands would never condone that sort of thing, we’re not averse to nicking the odd idea from our swaggering northern colleagues at Place North West either.

And it’s in that proud, entrepreneurial spirit – along with a helpful prod from one of our readers – we’re delighted bring you our first ever Thing of the Week, although Midlands Thing can make no specific promises about becoming a weekly occurrence.

Thing of the month, anyone?

Boring Brunel.

To be clear, we’re big fans of HS2 here. But something else the newly-minted Midlands Thing is definitely not above is a giggle at some of the project’s more lackadaisical elements – and in that regard, historically, we’ve been somewhat spoiled for choice.

The project delivered what was, in fact, a very important announcement last week, the news that tunnelling into the terminus at London Euston was now under way.

The TBM’s four-and-a-half mile journey into central London will pass directly under the final resting place of Isambard Kingdom Brunel in Kensal Green cemetery, one of the most famous figures in engineering history, and one who also set standards for building a modern railway, as the architect of the Great Western in the early 19th century.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel pre-emptively ponders the scrapping of the northern leg of HS2. Credit: Public domain

The GWR, connecting London with the country’s main sea port at Bristol, was completed in just six years and originally constructed using an entirely new gauge of railway than had been used previously, due to Brunel’s insistence that wider gauge railways would serve high-speed routes better than the old narrow ones.

Brunel’s original vision had been to allow passengers to buy a single ticket in London and board a train to New York via Bristol, where they would board a paddle-steamer to stop their feet getting wet, the kind of visionary thinking which the noted Victorian engineers became famous for.

HS2 was launched in 2010 with the somewhat more hum-drum target of getting people to Leeds in less than two hours, although even that quickly proved too ambitious for a modern-era big government infrastructure project.

It is, of course, a bit of a cheap shot to draw contrasts between progress on the GWR and HS2, and wonder what Brunel might have made of things had he been around today. But what do you know? We’re not above that either.

Let’s hope the tunnel borers have their calculations correct. Rest in peace, Isambard.

The kids are alright. Virtually speaking.

They say younger generations are a bit less likely to engage in the traditional British student past-times these days, time honoured aids to learning such as getting so drunk you can’t feel your face, and never attending a lecture before lunch.

But even in the new age of austerity, where few people can afford to do anything remotely spontaneous and fun anymore, a new initiative from Staffordshire University might be breaking new ground in sensible student-hood.

Thanks to the efforts of undergraduates at the university, prospective learners can now explore the uni’s 700-home student village virtually, six months prior to completion on the scheme, via what is apparently known as the StaffsVerse.

Would-be students can take a virtual look at Staffs Uni’s new student accommodation blocks. Credit: University of Staffordshire/YouTube

The StaffsVerse, we’re told, is a virtual recreation of the University’s three main campuses in Fortnite, created by students in the computing department, under the clever guise of it being a learning activity.

After getting a person under the age of 30 to explain what Fortnite is (‘a popular first-person video game, m’laud‘) Midlands Thing can’t help but be impressed by the dedication of the students involved – and can only imagine the unbridled shenanigans involved in completing such a task.

“We were proud to collaborate with our partners in Willmott Dixon to bring the student village to life in our virtual campus,” beamed Professor Chris Headleand, head of the University’s games institute.

“The StaffsVerse will provide a unique, and immersive opportunity to explore our state-of-the-art student accommodation.”

Cool. Anyone fancy a pint?

Keeping it real.

One final thing that caught our keen, LinkedIn-roving eye this week, was this clever tool by Swedish super-boffin Magnus Hambleton.

Antirender takes those lovely, shiny CGI’s you often see supplied by architects and turns them into something more relatable for our troubled times – stripping out the smiling, kite-flying children and making the lighting and weather more closely resemble a grey February afternoon in Willenhall.

Antirender makes your architectural CGI’s look a bit more… earthy. Credit: Antirender

Is this the pinnacle in human uses for AI? Will we be seeing Antirendered renderings submitted with planning applications for shiny Birmingham mega-towers in future?

Possibly not, in both cases, but planning committees seeking more down-to-earth depictions of the schemes they’re being asked to decide might be tempted to give it a go.

Put your favourite shiny CGI’s through the system at antirender.com – and maybe support the service with a few pennies if you want it to stick around in time for the next planning meeting.