Meanwhile, in another part of England, the decision has come down on who will be awarded the contract to design the landscapes for the 2012 Olympics. The winner is LDA Design, who, along with Hargreaves Associates, will start up next year in taking on building all the public spaces and parks, places that not only have to be finished and ready to impress three and a half years from now, but will stick around long after for the good of London. How's that for a pretty good, high-profile gig? Here's a bit:

In 2009 work will start on the parklands and public spaces that will help form part of the largest new urban park in London since the great Victorian era of park building.

After the Games the Park will be made up of different areas suiting a variety of needs including allotments and other food-growing areas, meadows, wetlands, wooded valleys, orchards, new wildlife habitats and facilities for sports such as canoeing, mountain biking and climbing.

More info from The Guardian, here.