Tech and media firms pile into central London October 16, 2013 TECHNOLOGY, media and telecoms companies have come out in force this year, snapping up 24 per cent more office space than both 2012 and 2011 respectively, according to property consultancy Colliers International. Take-up across central London stands at 2.9m square feet (sq ft) in the year to date, driven by major deals such as Google’s [...]
The Iranian deal is truly historic – but not because it resolves nuclear crisis November 25, 2013 THE HISTORIC interim agreement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and (primarily) the West over the former’s nuclear ambitions is the real deal – an actual current event that lives up to the “historic” tagline far too easily given out by breathless commentators. However, on its immediate merits, the best that can be said of [...]
The neo-Malthusian perma-bears will be proved wrong again December 9, 2013 THERE is a view, rather fashionable in economics at the moment, that the Western economies are facing long-term stagnation. The reason cited by the pessimists is that – in their view – technological innovation and progress have ground to a halt. The argument generally goes something like this: the real, massive innovations – plumbing, the [...]
Awkward laughs prove to be just what the doctor ordered November 28, 2013 THEATRE IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY) St James Theatre | By Simon Thomson Four Stars IT’S THE dawn of the electrical age in a spa town near New York, and the enterprising Doctor Givings is treating hysterical patients. With vibrators. This is the West End transfer of Sarah Ruhl’s Tony-and-Pulitzer-nominated comedy In [...]
Thrills, spills and Brazil: We’re in for vintage 2014 January 5, 2014 Sports editor Frank Dalleres looks forward to a World Cup, Commonwealth Games, Winter Olympics and much more FOOTBALLWorld Cup, 12 June – 13 JulyGold and green, questionable samba references, sweltering temperatures: this year is all about the World Cup in the Beautiful Game’s spiritual home, Brazil. The hosts, Argentina, Germany and Spain are the favourites, [...]
A village in the heart of London October 10, 2013 It’s a tale of two towns with Clapham, but this new property in the Old Town allows residents to sample the best of both worlds CLAPHAM is the Dr Jekyll of south London districts. By day, it’s as genteel as you like. Well-to-do mothers crowd the streets, sipping good quality coffee while gently rocking babies [...]
Lessons of the crisis loom large for challenger November 21, 2013 Metro Bank’s Craig Donaldson is determined not to make the same mistakes as the big banks METRO Bank has made a splash since it was granted a banking licence just over three years ago. When it launched in 2010 the new lender was the first to the high street in more than 100 years – [...]
How ending the letting free-for-all could save our failing high streets November 7, 2013 THE RECENT purchase of much of the retail property along London’s Queensway by Meyer Bergman and a Brunei family was a keynote deal. As all successful retail property investors know: control the mix of shops, and you control the fortunes of the area. Control the Queensway mix and you can restore a down-at-heel shopping offer [...]
Great Portland wins consent at Rathbone Place October 16, 2013 GREAT PORTLAND Estates has won planning approval to go ahead with redevelopment of the Royal Mail’s old sorting office in what is expected to be one of the company’s largest and most profitable developments to date. Westminster Council approved plans on Tuesday night to redevelop the 2.3 acre site off Oxford Street and build 42,000 [...]
Giant panda numbers are up: see them in Chengdu February 23, 2014 They famously eat shoots and leaves. LISA YOUNG gets up-close and personal with the Chinese city’s most famous residents IT’S a warm August morning, the time of year when the sizzling Chengdu summer gives way to cooler climes. Chengdu sits in a fog-filled bowl 500 metres above sea level in the Sichuan Province of south [...]