Page 3 of Fighting Mr. Knight

They plan to create a whole new urban village full of flats, bars, restaurants and artsy buildings to house all the hipsters flooding in. It will be the new Thames South Bank of the east.

At its helm is local East Ender property tycoon, Jack Knight, propping up the top forty under forty UK rich list, not to mention national tabloid gossip with his rampant, outrageous sex life.

In his own words, he plans toreshape the east of London.At this rate, he’ll own more land than the Crown.

It’s the largest regeneration project London has seen in years and every architect’s wet dream.

One of the most exciting projects of my career if we win the bid.

The catch?

Jack Knight.

I’d rather work for Satan on designing hell after what he did.

“Yes, I wanted to spend a decent amount of time discussing this.” Max looks pointedly at Layla.

“I have news,” he continues irritatingly slowly, looking around the room until he’s confident he has everyone’s undivided attention.He unsuccessfully tries not to grin.“We’ve nailed it. The project’s ours.”

A loud cheer breaks out.It’s not often the office celebrates, but this is a huge deal for us.

As part of the wider regeneration, Knight’s vision is to convert London’s oldest factory, the London Motor Works,lying derelict for decades, into apartments and shops.

To work on a historic landmark like this?

CV gold dust.

“We beat Porter & Partners?” I ask incredulously. They’re a global powerhouse and front-runner for the bid.

“They didn’t feel it was a good fit.”

“Porter & Partners backed out of the bid?” Nisha asks slowly, her chin tilting to the floor.

Max’s nostrils flare to full capacity. “That’s not what should be the focus here, but they turned it down.”

We stare at him blankly.

“So, we didn’t nail it,” I murmur, exchanging glances with Nisha.

“Why on earth would they do that?” Darren pipes up from the back.

Max raises his palms. “It’s not relevant. What’s relevant is that we have won the work and will do our damnedest to show we are the best for the job. Now, as you may be aware, Jack Knight and I go back a long way, so I’ll be overseeing this project.”

I internally roll my eyes. Max isn’t exactly on Jack’s speed dial.Due to one common connection, they occasionally attend the same parties.Max learnt most of his knowledge from Knight’s biography, hidden in his sock drawer. I thought it would emasculate him if I told him I found it.

“Several of you will be reassigned to the project ASAP. Lexington expects to see condition surveys, treatment plans and conceptual design drafts within twelve weeks.”

Nisha gasps.

I inhale sharply. We haven’t even visited the site yet. That’s an unreasonable ask for a building of that size and complexity.

“Now we know why Porter turned it down,” Nisha says. “We’d never pull together credible designs within a few weeks even if we weren’t dealing with listed buildings.”

“Uh-huh.” Max, irritated, raises a brow. “Are you going to be the one to tell Jack Knight that?”

“Won’t he listen to you, Max?” She pouts. “Isn’t it already in the bag if you guys,” she makes air quotes, “go back a long way?”

It’s not even in the trolley, never mind the bag.

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