New data suggests that London no longer belongs to the UK, but the World

by • Comment, News, Property

One of the subjects touched on in the first episode of Evan Davis’s BBC documentary series about the economic distinctions between London and the rest of the UK Mind the Gap was the impact of investment by the global super-rich into London property. At one point he asked the Malaysian investor behind the £8 billion Battersea Power Station redevelopment whether he’d considered investing in other cities in the UK. The response was a straight no, but the accompanying glance said rather more. London is no  longer a British city but one that belongs to the world, it said, so any comparison with Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh is meaningless. You might disagree with this point of view, but a raft of new data appears to make it very evident indeed that London is now shaped by global plutocrats in a way that cannot be mirrored in the rest of the UK.

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World Green Building Council to quantify productivity benefits of sustainability

by • Architecture, Environment, Facilities management, Property

UK Green Building Council sets out future plans for sustainable futureIn an attempt to broaden the business case for sustainable building, the World Green Building Council has launched a new initiative to define the productivity and wellbeing benefits associated with low carbon and sustainable property.  The initiative, launched ahead of this week’s Ecobuild conference in London, will be steered by a group of experts who will produce a final report later in the year. The premise of the study is to show that, as well as cutting costs and improving environmental performance, green buildings have a beneficial effect on the health, wellness and productivity of occupants. According to the announcement, around 85 per cent of an average organisation’s costs are associated with salaries and other costs of employment so a modest improvement in productivity can have a huge impact.

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UK Government urged to push ahead with zero carbon commercial buildings

by • Architecture, Environment, Facilities management, Legal news, News, Property

light bulb turbine croppedThe UK’s Green Building Council has fired off its latest salvo in an ongoing battle with the Government over the implementation of environmental legislation for commercial buildings. A new report from the organisation’s Task Group urges the Government to push ahead with plans to ensure that by 2019 all new non domestic buildings will be built to zero carbon standards. The report claims that the implementation of appropriate regulations is hampered by a lack of clarity, including confusion over what zero carbon actually means as well as the government’s own stop-start  approach to the environment. The current 2019 commitment to zero carbon buildings falls a year ahead of the deadline specified in European Law, but a recent focus from the coalition on reducing relevant legislation has added to confusion about the overall approach.

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City of London grants planning permission for ‘Gotham City’

by • Architecture, News, Property

Leadenhall1-MakePlanning permission has been granted from the City of London for a £12.7 billion scheme at 40 Leadenhall Street. The building – dubbed ‘Gotham City’ – is located beside the Gherkin at the heart of the City’s eastern cluster of tall buildings and will vary in height between 7 and 34 office storeys. It will feature two additional basement levels, a roof level plant (total height 170m AOD), a flexible retail/café and restaurant uses at ground floor level and café/restaurant with roof terrace overlooking Fenchurch Street.  The total size of the building is 910,000 sq ft, split between 890,000 sq ft office and c. 20,000 sq ft retail. As part of the design by Make architects; a grade II listed building at 19-21 Billiter Street, built in 1865, will be restored and integrated into the proposed scheme. (more…)

London conference debates international office measurement standard

by • Facilities management, News, Property

Measuring officesThe implementation of an international property measurement standard for offices (IPMS for Offices) moved forward last week when a group of leading professional bodies from across the world met at RICS’ HQ in London. The two-day meeting (20-21 Feb 2014) brought together representatives from many of the 31 member organisations of the International Property Measurement Standard Coalition (IPMSC), who discussed plans for the launch and implementation of IPMS across international real estate markets. A rise in cross-border property investment and expansion by global corporate occupiers has exposed the difficulties that can arise when dealing with differing national and local measurement practices. The first of its kind, IPMS seeks to standardise the way office space is measured around the world. (more…)

European cities vie to wear Tech Hub crown

by • News, Property, Technology

© Walt Disney Productions

© Walt Disney Productions

You may not realise it, but apparently there is a close fought race being run between European cities for the title of European Tech Hub. According to a new report from Colliers International the front runners are London, Berlin, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Munich and, in a Eurovision-like extension of Europe’s borders, Tel Aviv. London is currently in pole position but Berlin and Dublin are hot on its heels as they vie for the title of Europe’s ‘Silicon Valley’, according to latest research from Colliers International, global real estate advisors. According to the report, London needs to stay on its toes if it is to fend off the upstarts from Germany and Ireland.  Berlin, in particular, is expected to add some 100,000 jobs to its tech sector within the next seven years.

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London’s West End retains position as world’s most expensive office location

by • News, Property

West End

World’s most expensive location

For the second year running, the most expensive office space in the world is to be found in London’s West End, according to the latest edition of Cushman & Wakefield’s annual Office Space Across the World report. Rents rose by 5 percent in the area, driven largely by an ongoing mismatch between demand for high grade space and its supply, as we have previously reported. Worldwide, office rents rose by 3 percent in 2013, with certain high growth regions such as Africa and the Middle East experiencing an increase in rents of as much as 10 percent in specific locations. Hong Kong was the second most expensive location according to the survey while the central business district of Moscow rose to third place, up from sixth in the previous survey.

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Innovative new work space planned for the home of Dave

by • Company news, Facilities management, Property

Dave finds a new homeThe media company which counts Dave, Yesterday and Gold amongst its ten channels has announced its intention to move its 250 staff from its Hammersmith Road location to a ground-breaking new London headquarters by July this year. UKTV has signed a lease for 32,500 sq. ft. of an ecologically-recognised development at 10 Hammersmith Grove, London, and plans to work collaboratively with interior design and architecture studios PENSON to create a new headquarters that is inspirational, distinctive and “built for innovation”. The building itself is highly sustainable: one of the first in London to be entirely lit by LED lights and powered by solar panels and over the three floors of the development, there will be sociable working spaces, a café-bar and outdoor terrace, studio facilities and a screening room. (more…)

Fin solution for Walkie Scorchie melting problem submitted by developers

by • Architecture, News, Property

CheesegrateretcThe 37-storey tower at 20 Fenchurch Street – dubbed the Walkie Scorchie last summer, after its sloped design was found to be melting cars in the area, will be fitted with a brise soleil shading system to stop it reflecting damaging sun rays reports the Construction Enquirer.  Joint development partners Land Securities and Canary Wharf Group have just submitted a planning application to the City of London to fit horizontal light diffusing aluminium fins from the third floor to the 34th floor on the south-facing façade. The fins have been designed by the building’s architect Rafael Vinoly Architects alongside solar glare experts Loisos + Ubbelohde. Once planning consent is granted, the refit project, expected to cost less than £10m, should take around six months to complete.

Small steps to innovation debated at Workplace Futures 2014

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Property

Siemens eröffnet Stadtentwicklungszentrum The Crystal in London

New or refurbished workplaces are often described as ‘innovative.’ But while the architect and designers behind a building’s design are often credited with innovation, when it comes to the FMs tasked with managing the property, things are less clear cut. Although the FM sector is increasingly under pressure to demonstrate innovation, whether as services provider or as an in-house department; determining what exactly this constitutes, much less being able to demonstrate it in practice, is a lot more difficult. The 2014 i-FM Workplace Futures Conference, held this week at the Siemens Crystal building in London’s Docklands, bravely aimed to address this conundrum. It was, as the organisers admitted, a tall order to ‘nail this innovation theme,’ but it seems that taking small incremental steps may be the key to success. (more…)

Government BIM target ‘unachievable’, claim construction industry experts

by • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Property

ConstructionThe majority of building industry experts surveyed by law firm Pinsent Masons believe that one of the key UK Government target for the uptake of Building Information Modelling  is now unachievable due to unfit contracts and the lack of a collaborative approach between clients and builders. The Government had hoped that all central Government construction projects would achieve BIM Level 2 by 2016. But according to the new report, nearly two thirds (around 64 percent)of the 70 people surveyed claimed it was impossible for the target to be met. ‘Level 2’ refers to a collaborative 3D setup in which all project information, documents and data are electronic with fully integrated software and interfaces.

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London office rents are set to reach historic high by 2018

by • News, Property

Capital's office rents to increase by a quarter by 2018 as techies move in

London office rents are set to reach an historic high by 2018, fuelled by demand from the technology, media and telecoms (TMT)  sector. Demand for office space by technology and media firms across central London was more than double of the finance sector in 2013, with major deals signed by Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, News Corp, and Ogilvy & Mather. According to data from Knight Frank, record levels of overseas investment are helping London build its reputation as a global hub. Geographically, it is not just the City and the West End that are seeing a massive surge in demand; take-up in Docklands increased by nearly 20 per cent last year, while completely new districts are emerging which include London Bridge, Battersea and Nine Elms. (more…)

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