I've been away for a couple of days laying a patio at home and avoiding the Michael Jackson coverage as much as possible (that is of course entirely extraneous information) and as always while I have been off there has been an avalanche of activity at the Olympics site.
The first thing that has caught my attention on my return is the growing certainty in the market that the 1,439 private houses being built for the Olympics Village are uppermost in the Homes and Communities Agency's mind as it sifts through the reassuringly large number of expressions of interest in creating a private rented housing sector in the UK.
Of the 64 parties that have expressed interest in the pioneering proposals I understand HCA is currently focusing on a handful of heavyweight contenders with particularly exciting propositions coming from big pension funds and fund managers thought to include Legal & General, Schroders and Aviva.
And once again the private element of the Athletes' Village is being talked up as having the ideal scale and profile for a pilot.
Certainly Nigel Hugill who is spearheading the drive for HCA has long talked about the suitability of the development for a private rented sector fund.
And speaking to Elliot Lipton at last week he was understandably proud of the fund he has helped create to buy 1,379 affordable homes at the Athletes' Village in Stratford, E15.
His Triathlon jv with housing associations Southern Housing and East Thames Group will invest £268.7m in the village via a whopping £110m grant from the Homes and Communities Agency, a £63.5m loan from Barclays and £95.2m from the European Investment Bank.
That loan includes a guarantee that the buildings will have been retro-fitted ready to bring forward for affordable housing straight after the Games.
Lipton talked about it being a "new form of vehicle" which for the first time sees a private sector consortium secure a substantial HCA grant at the same time as securing the only private sector banking investment in the Olympics project.
He also talked about his desire to roll out the vehicle elsewhere. I can't be alone in thinking a very similar vehicle might be transferred to the private rented housing at the Olympics, with the housing pre-sold to an institutionally backed consortia prepared to manage the stock post Games.
An announcement on shortlisted parties will be made by HCA and adviser DTZ very soon. Don't be surprised to see the Olympics site being talked up openly by the lucky few soon afterwards.
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