Living – if you dare – in a Halloween home October 27, 2011 WITH Halloween weekend here, some people cannot resist the excuse to look at a haunted house. Strangely enough, there are buyers for whom a distinguished relationship with the dead makes a property all the more attractive. “Haunted houses are a funny one,” says veteran estate agent Kevin Allen of John D Wood & Co. “It [...]
There is more to Rioja than wine (although that would be plenty) January 24, 2012 PRINCE Charles surely wouldn’t approve. In the dell of Villabuena de Alava, a sleepy, sloping village squatting among the vineyards of Spain’s Rioja Alavesa region, sits the jagged, unruly modernism of Hotel Viura. It is one of those “impossible” buildings, an optical illusion that seems to squeeze in more angles, surfaces and textures than logic [...]
There is more to Rioja than wine (although that would be plenty) January 24, 2012 PRINCE Charles surely wouldn’t approve. In the dell of Villabuena de Alava, a sleepy, sloping village squatting among the vineyards of Spain’s Rioja Alavesa region, sits the jagged, unruly modernism of Hotel Viura. It is one of those “impossible” buildings, an optical illusion that seems to squeeze in more angles, surfaces and textures than logic [...]
City property vital to London’s world standing March 13, 2011 LAST week I joined 15,000 leading practitioners from across the property industry at MIPIM, the international property conference hosted in Cannes every year. Contrary to what you may have read, I can assure you it is not all sun, champagne and parties on yachts. Throughout the week, I spoke publicly about the challenges facing the [...]
Hong Kong’s top regulator comes home May 10, 2011 THE City might be in the doldrums about its declining global status, but there is at least one well-respected financial expert that London has tempted back from an Asian hot spot – he just happens to be a regulator. Martin Wheatley, current chief executive of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, will return in September [...]
City law firms’ moves show a new prudence in the Square Mile August 17, 2010 THE Heron Tower building is probably the most prestigious new location in the City, and a few weeks ago a law firm became the first to rent space in it. American firm McDermott Will & Emery will leave its current home – the rather traditional sounding 7 Threadneedle Street – in about a year’s time [...]
City law firms’ moves show a new prudence in the Square Mile August 17, 2010 THE Heron Tower building is probably the most prestigious new location in the City, and a few weeks ago a law firm became the first to rent space in it. American firm McDermott Will & Emery will leave its current home – the rather traditional sounding 7 Threadneedle Street – in about a year’s time [...]
Doing the Wild West in style December 4, 2011 IT’S with a spirit of rebellion that three girlfriends and I sip G&Ts, descending over Las Vegas, the first leg of what we planned to be a mammoth 30th birthday blowout road trip to the Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, and the Big Sur. The trip is as much about commemorating a key cornerstone in our [...]
Doing the Wild West in style December 4, 2011 IT’S with a spirit of rebellion that three girlfriends and I sip G&Ts, descending over Las Vegas, the first leg of what we planned to be a mammoth 30th birthday blowout road trip to the Grand Canyon, Los Angeles, and the Big Sur. The trip is as much about commemorating a key cornerstone in our [...]
Shell says rate of North Sea oil leak has reduced further August 14, 2011 INVESTORS will be watching oil giant Royal Dutch Shell closely this morning after the company said that the oil leak from its Gannet Alpha platform in the North Sea was “under control”. Shell, which detected a leak in a flow line on Wednesday last week, stressed that an inspection by a remote-operated vehicle (ROV) on [...]