'Blue sky' Birt's ceiling falls

Lord Birt was director general of the BBC from 1992-1999

Tony Blair's "blue skies thinker" Lord Birt has found there is a ceiling over his ideas - and it has fallen down.

The office ceiling of the former BBC director general - taken on by Mr Blair to devise original policy ideas - collapsed while the room was empty.

The incident in 10 Downing St could have caused serious injury, says a memo seen by the Financial Times.

The building has been used by prime ministers since 1735 and there are proposals to refurbish its buildings.

'Old buildings'

The memo about the ceiling collapse was circulated by Jay Jayasundara, an accommodation manager at No 10, according to the FT newspaper.

It said: "The ceiling in John Birt's room collapsed overnight: fortunately the room was empty at the time; had he been in the room he would have sustained serious injury."

A Downing Street spokeswoman said she would not comment on any memos.

"Problems occur in buildings of this age from time to time," she said.

Modern office space?

Downing Street says Lord Birt has looked into a number of different issues but refuses to give details of his work. Transport is one policy area he has examined.

Before the incident in his office, there were already plans to refurbish No 10 and other buildings in Downing Street.

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said no decision had yet been taken on the plans, which also cover other Whitehall buildings.

The work is needed "to ensure the buildings are fit for purpose for a modern working environment," she said.

But the spokeswoman stressed the priority was not to provide "funky, open plan" office space.

Instead, any changes would aim to preserve the heritage of the buildings and be in line with their listed status, she said.

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