City leaders demand firm pledge on London airport expansion November 11, 2014 Sir George Iacobescu leads businesses’ demand for parties to pledge London airport expansion City leaders and business groups are demanding firm promises from politicians to expand airport capacity in London, amid fears it will be kicked into the long grass yet again. Aware that they could be in for a major bust up with the [...]
Telford Homes calls for reforms to boost supply May 27, 2015 TELFORD Homes said yesterday that London’s “chronic” housing shortage means that it is selling homes quicker than it can build them, as it posted a 31 per cent surge in full-year profits. The housebuilder, which builds primarily in London, targeting more affordable areas that are undergoing regeneration, sold 661 homes over the year, up from [...]
BBC TV centre homes to go up for sale July 27, 2015 Homebuyers will soon be able to own a slice of TV history. Kasmira Jefford reports. THE scenery block at the former BBC Television centre in London’s White City is eerily quiet. For over 50 years the cavernous space used to bustle with carpenters and designers assembling sets for some of Britain’s best known programmes, including [...]
Canary Wharf sets its sights on becoming residential landlord July 24, 2014 The boss of Canary Wharf Group said yesterday that government attempts to pour cold water on the housing market would do little to ease the UK’s housing crisis as the group prepares to make a push into residential. Sir George Iacobescu said that while the Bank of England had “tightened the screws on finance…it doesn’t [...]
Tower Hamlets is broken: How City philanthropists can put it back together June 10, 2015 Tower Hamlets goes to the polls today to elect a new mayor. Whoever takes charge from Friday will inherit a rotten borough, hollowed out by the behaviour of the previous administration. Former mayor Lutfur Rahman was kicked out of office in April after an electoral court found him guilty of electoral fraud. The bitter irony [...]
London’s General Election: Lib Dem Bermondsey battler Simon Hughes still going strong May 5, 2015 Our second seat profile sees Charlotte Henry join the Lib Dems in Bermondsey. Find the first profile in our series here: Battle for Poplar and Limehouse at the edge of the City Being a Liberal Democrat candidate in London is a tough ask at the moment, with Labour aiming to make gains in the [...]
Chinese insurer in talks to buy Canary Wharf tower for £780m June 11, 2014 A state-back Chinese insurance firm is thought to be in advanced talks to purchase law firm Clifford Chance’s headquarters in Canary Wharf for £780m. China Life, China’s largest life insurer, is understood to have been on the hunt for trophy assets to buy in London, providing further evidence of mounting interest from Chinese investors in [...]
Government gives green light to redevelopment of Shell Centre June 6, 2014 COMMUNITIES secretary Eric Pickles yesterday signed off on the planned £1.2bn redevelopment of the Shell Centre on the Southbank. The plans for the 1.45m square foot scheme – a joint venture between the Canary Wharf Group and Qatari Diar – have been masterplanned by architecture firm Squire and Partners, and comprise a mix of offices, [...]
The space age: Condeco’s Paul Statham talks trickle-down economics, expansion plans and why being a business leader feels so good August 2, 2015 Back in the early 1980s, the Statham family started an electronic security business in their garage. “We grew it into a fairly formidable company; we had 200 people working for us,” says Paul Statham, son, and now founder and chief executive of Condeco Software. The family sold Masco Security in 1999, in a multi-million pound [...]
Osborne announces plans to explore the future of Bitcoin August 6, 2014 George Osborne has announced plans to explore how cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin can play a role in the UK financial system. The chancellor has commissioned the Treasury to produce a report on digital currencies, examining their potential benefits and risks, which is set to be published in the Autumn. Osborne said he aims to make the UK [...]