As well as protecting jobs, the government must enable a safe return to the workplace September 28, 2020 Fittingly, the weather has taken a turn for the worse over the last week just as the economic headwinds facing the UK risk turning into a perfect storm. After many months of lockdown, the number of people returning to their City workplace had visibly started to pick up in recent weeks – particularly as schools [...]
We must find a new way of funding Transport for London September 25, 2020 London without the tube would be like the Shard without any lifts. And, just like the lifts in the Shard, it costs pretty much the same amount of money to run the tube every day, regardless of how many people use it. But unlike the lifts in the Shard (and unlike any comparable metro system [...]
London is a great city – and much of it could be on your doorstep September 25, 2020 We live in cities because we want to be in the heart of the action. We are often willing to overlook the daily downfalls — expensive rent and overpriced pints to name a few — simply because there is no better place in the world to work, socialise and embrace opportunities than in this city. [...]
The future of the construction industry is digital September 4, 2020 The double-whammy of a pandemic and a recession has made 2020 one of the most challenging and disrupted years in living memory. But the bright spot, in an otherwise battered economy, is construction, which forms a major part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ”Build Back Better” campaign. Britain’s construction industry grew at the fastest rate in almost [...]
Can office workers save the day for local businesses ravaged by Covid-19? September 2, 2020 The sudden shift to remote working put in place by the majority of UK businesses may herald the end of the office, at least as we know it. Five months and multiple government campaigns later, and the shift to the kitchen table continues, seemingly unabated. According to a survey from US bank Morgan Stanley, just [...]
Build back better? No, let’s build back smarter and take carbon out of construction August 27, 2020 Boris Johnson has set out his plans to “build back better”, and major changes have recently been announced to planning regulations to enable faster decisions on planning applications. It sounds like a developer’s paradise. But construction already accounts for nearly two fifths of UK carbon emissions, so where does that leave the government’s equally vaunted [...]
General Election 2019: Labour pledges 20 per cent property tax for foreign buyers November 23, 2019 Labour has pledged to put an extra 20 per cent levy on foreign companies buying property in the UK. The party has said it would charge firms and trusts from abroad looking to buy properties an additional 20 per cent on top of existing stamp duties and surcharges. Read more: General Election 2019: Jeremy Corbyn [...]
Billionaire businessman Teddy Sagi buys Grade II-listed Holborn building for £300m September 17, 2019 Billionaire businessman Teddy Sagi has bought a Grade II listed building in Holborn for £300m through his co-working investment vehicle Labtech. The 300,000 sq ft Victoria House, a neoclassical building constructed in the 1920s, is Labtech’s largest acquisition to date and brings the total value of its property portfolio to around £3bn. Read more: Belgravia’s [...]
Punching power: F45 is innovating gyms using technology September 16, 2019 Fitness is a cut-throat business. Competition is intense: there are over 7,000 gyms in the UK, and the market is worth about £5bn. Around one in seven people are paying some form of gym fee. Unsurprisingly, new fitness brands are popping up all the time to capitalise on the health and wellbeing trend. To stand [...]
Police release daredevil climber who scaled London’s 95-storey Shard skyscraper July 8, 2019 A man who was filmed climbing the outside of The Shard early this morning was let go by police later today, after reaching the building’s 95th floor. Police said the daredevil had been taken inside Britain’s tallest building with officers, after they were called at 5.15am to reports of a person scaling the tower. The [...]