Spanish retail billionaire zeroes in on £600m London building deal December 2, 2019 A Spanish retail billionaire who owns fashion chain Zara is close to acquiring a West End office block for £600m. Amancia Ortega, via his real estate investment vehicle Pontegadea, is set to acquire The Post Building a 320,000 sq ft development in an ex-Royal Mail sorting office on Museum Street in Holborn. A deal is [...]
Regent’s Crescent: How John Nash’s iconic Georgian terrace is being reborn September 27, 2019 Walk around London’s west end, your eyes skywards, and you’d be hard pressed not to spot the work of John Nash. The architect to the Prince Regent (later George IV) built countless buildings in central London – from Marble Arch, to Clarence House, to All Souls Church on Langham Place. And then there’s Park Crescent. [...]
Corporate services firm Hawksford opens new London office October 1, 2018 Corporate services firm Hawksford has launched a new London office following the acquisition of audit and accountancy practice SH Landes. The New Oxford Street office, which will be led by Steven Landes, demonstrates confidence in London as a global centre for international finance, the company said. Read more: We found dogs and ice cream rotas in [...]
She speaks for the President—but is anyone listening? April 14, 2020 Last week a snippet of news dropped into my inbox, announcing that Donald Trump had taken time out of his busy schedule of bullish-if-confused press conferences to announce a new White House press secretary (the fourth since he was sworn in at the beginning of 2017, if anyone’s counting). Number three, Stephanie Grisham, thanked the [...]
Crossrail’s coming: Here’s the date the Elizabeth Line will open in December July 5, 2018 London has long been counting down the days for when the Elizabeth Line finally goes live, and now we have a date. While the launch of the Elizabeth Line may have been slightly dampened by the news it might not be accompanied by a pedestrianised Oxford Street after Westminster City Council (WCC) unexpectedly pulled the [...]
UK economy: Is the Bank of England’s 2021 rebound scenario too optimistic? May 7, 2020 The Bank of England today said the UK economy could suffer its worst economic crash in 300 years this year as the coronavirus lockdown batters the economy. Yet it said it is likely to bounce back relatively quickly. Despite the dire report it stopped short of launching more bond-buying or “quantitative easing” (QE) and left [...]
Real estate giant swoops in for prime London student property September 4, 2018 One of Europe’s largest real estate investors agreed to buy a prime central London student block for nearly £70m today, in a move that reflects the growing level of property investment being poured into the capital’s student accommodation sector. Aberdeen Standard Investments, which manages more than £43bn of real estate assets, has splashed out £68.8m [...]
Extinction Rebellion targets City of London in two weeks of protests October 4, 2019 Climate change activist group Extinction Rebellion is preparing to launch another mass demonstration across London. The protest group claims the fortnight of action, which begins on Monday, will be five times bigger than demonstrations in April, which saw hundreds of people arrested. Read more: Eight arrested after Extinction Rebellion lose control of fake blood fire [...]
Theresa May’s Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins set to join Goldman Sachs September 9, 2019 Theresa May’s former Brexit negotiator will join the investment bank Goldman Sachs it was revealed today, months after the deal that he worked on was rejected by the Commons. Olly Robbins will start as a managing director for the firm’s investment banking division. Read more: Bercow’s controversial tenure comes to an end as he pledges [...]
Sports Direct slams ‘greedy’ House of Fraser landlords August 28, 2018 Mike Ashley's Sports Direct has slammed "greedy landlords" as the group conducts discussions over the future of 59 House of Fraser stores. Several branches of the department store chain which were due to close in early 2019 have been given a reprieve after the new owners negotiated with landlords. But the fate of several shops [...]