Walkie Talkie owner to submit plans to fix ray January 22, 2014 PROPERTY giant Land Securities said yesterday that it is close to submitting plans to solve the Walkie Talkie’s ultra-bright reflective rays that dazzled passers-by and melted parts of nearby cars last summer. Chief executive Rob Noel said it will submit a planning application to fix “the solar glare issue” to the City of London next [...]
Miseryville: Thames floods worsen February 10, 2014 Evacuations by the Thames as floods continue RESIDENTS in communities along the river Thames have pleaded with the government to send in the army as river levels continued to rise overnight with more rain forecast for the rest of this week. Thames Valley Police declared a major incident in east Berkshire, the Environment Agency warned [...]
Sydney, Australia: the global cultural capital of the future April 27, 2014 Forget the stereotype, Australians can do hipster as well WHAT’S the difference between Australia and a petri dish? If you leave a petri dish for long enough it will eventually develop a culture… Or so the joke used to go. But anyone who’s visited Sydney recently would struggle to justify that view. Australia’s economy has [...]
Costain to build Crossrail support November 25, 2013 Engineering firm Costain has won the contract by Crossrail to build Paddington New Yard, between Crossrail’s tunnels and the Great Western railway. The firm said the contract is worth around £30m and is expected to be complete by December 2015. The project includes building a bus parking deck to allow space for Crossrail trains to [...]
Hong Kong’s Gaw buys M&S London offices November 21, 2013 HONG KONG-based private equity firm Gaw Capital Partners and three South Korean investors have teamed up to buy the London headquarters of retailer Marks & Spencer for around $321m (£198m), adding to a string of property deals by Asian investors this year. Asian investors, including insurers and banks, are buying into European properties as a way [...]
Network Rail to open click and collect shops December 2, 2013 COMMUTERS will be offered the chance to pick up their parcels from the train station as part of a trial being run by Network Rail. The rail operator announced today that it will soon open the prototype branch of Doddle, its new delivery shop, in Milton Keynes Central. Visitors to the station, including around 3,000 [...]
British Land is upbeat after it outpaces rival November 13, 2013 BRITISH Land outshone its biggest rival Land Securities yesterday after the property giant reported a strong rise in rents and values across both its office and retail empire. The owner of the Cheesegrater skyscraper in the City said its net asset value (NAV) per share – a key industry measure of performance – rose 4.5 [...]
British Land snaps up mall September 4, 2013 BRITISH Land has bought a 50 per cent stake in Bath’s SouthGate shopping centre for £101m. The property giant, has been on a spending spree since raising almost £1bn in March through its placing and the sale of Ropemaker Place. In April it paid £48m for Tesco’s 50 per cent stake in Surrey Quays shopping [...]
Commuter crush: Seven out of 10 most overcrowded trains in Britain go to London July 24, 2013 The latest figures from the Department for Transport show that of the 10 most overcrowded train services in Britain, seven are London-bound. All of the worst journeys started at or ended in the capital last spring. Services running during spring and autumn of 2012 were monitored by the government, and this top 10 list represents [...]
Few predicted London’s reinvention but we can build for its future growth December 12, 2013 LONDON is changing. But then again, it always is. The theme of my new book Reinventing London is that change is the lifeblood of a great city. Over the past 30 years, the capital has replaced around 1m jobs in manufacturing, largely around the edge of the city and along radial routes, with over 1m [...]