British Land sees profits jump but chief warns on political risks May 14, 2014 British Land, the developer of the City's Cheesegrater skyscraper, has reported an 8.4 per cent jump in underlying profit before tax, to £297m, saying good portfolio decisions and improvements in the commercial property and investment markets have helped it power forward. Full-year net asset value leapt 15.4 per cent, and its UK portfolio valuation rose 8.3 [...]
A third bolt just snapped on the Leadenhall building, aka the Cheesegrater January 14, 2015 Not a great couple of weeks for the capital's skyscrapers. After Londoners discovered their promised "park in the sky", aka the Walkie Talkie's Sky Garden, will be ticketed – and moaned vociferously about it – another bolt has snapped on close neighbour the Cheesegrater. That's the third to break so far. Eeeek. British Land, the [...]
The definitive guide to EU referendum night: From what time local areas will declare results, to the most marginal areas and key moments to look out for June 23, 2016 Ballot slips are being distributed, campaigning is about to end, and today, after the seemingly endless stream of televised debates, grandstanding speeches, claims, counter-claims and fact-checking, voting actually take place. Many across the country are preparing for a sleepless night. The polls opened at 7am and will close at 10pm, but the first results won't arrive until [...]
UK weather: Army to be deployed as Storm Eva rolls in, while government issues more advice for flood victims December 24, 2015 Hundreds of military personnel and Environment Agency staff are being deployed to parts of the UK as further flood warnings have been issued ahead of Storm Eva's arrival today. Armed forces are being brought in on standby to parts of the Scotland and the North of England, which have already been hard hit by Storm Desmond. [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne’s Help-to-Buy and other housing budget announcements are little more than empty rhetoric November 25, 2015 George Osborne’s big news today was the announcement that the government “chooses to build” and will double the housing budget to £2bn, reforming the housing system and pumping £7bn into building 400,000 more affordable homes. Described as "the biggest affordable housebuilding programme since the 1970s", it's great news for those in desperate need of affordable housing. However [...]
India isn’t the new China – but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s UK visit is worth exploiting November 11, 2015 In 2010, David Cameron chose Bangalore for one of his first transcontinental visits as Prime Minister, promising that taking the economic relationship between India and Britain “to the next level” was a political priority. Since then, bilateral trade, investment and banking have shrunk relative to the size of the two countries’ economies. Both nations have [...]
The end of the West: 2016 is the year a new order begins to arise January 4, 2016 “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Churchill, after the British victory at El Alamein This year will make it apparent to all but the most gormless that the comfortable, easy centuries of western dominance (under the Dutch, [...]
City Moves for 24 April 2015 | Who’s switching jobs April 23, 2015 Deloitte Real Estate Gerry Biddle has been appointed senior specialist business rates consultant in Deloitte’s real estate division’s valuation advisory and business rates team. He was responsible for setting up the London specialist rating unit of the Valuation Office Agency. Aviva Investors Simon Young has been appointed UK equities fund manager at Aviva’s asset management [...]
Remembrance Sunday 2014 in pictures: Queen leads commemorations at the Cenotaph November 6, 2015 The Queen led the nation in paying its respects to fallen servicemen and women today, 100 years on from the anniversary of the start World War One. At the Cenotaph in central London, the Queen laid a wreath following a two-minute silence in memory of Britain's killed military personnel. Following the Queen's lead, Prince Charles, [...]
Range Rover Sport SVR motoring review: is it as brilliant as it is brawny? January 18, 2016 The Oxford English Dictionary defines a sports car as, “A low-built car designed for performance at high speeds”. That makes the modern “sports utility vehicle” – high, heavy and often cumbersome – seem a contradiction in terms. However, not all SUVs are created equal, and the 162mph Range Rover Sport SVR is faster and more [...]