Search Results for: london

The creative talent in the UK’s regions (other than London) is quietly thriving

by • Comment, Property, Technology, Workplace

We can now be very confident that the UK economy is on an enduring upward path. We can also be sure that the UK that emerges from five years of recession will be very different to the one that entered it. And on that score things look pretty promising too, because we have the skills and talent needed in some of the world’s most in-demand sectors such as digital media, banking, software development, telecoms and publishing. In fact a recent report from Deloitte says that London employs more people in these and similar knowledge-based sectors than any other country in the world. But while London has an inevitable tendency to grab these sorts of headlines, it’s also great to acknowledge that London doesn’t have a monopoly on this pool of talent, and may even be less attractive as a base for some firms.

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Sale of premier real estate portfolio More London announced

by • Company news, News, Property

City Hall, part of More London portfolioMore London has been sold to Kuwaiti firm St Martins Property Group for approximately £1.7 billion, according to Reuter’s sources. Owners London Bridge Holdings said it had originally intended to refinance More London (which is located adjacent to Tower Bridge and opposite The Tower of London), by the early summer of 2014 but had been persuaded to capitalize on “a highly attractive offer,” the details of which it has not yet disclosed. In a statement London Bridge Holdings said the transaction had underscored its success in transforming “a blighted, brown field site into a vibrant and vital global business centre.” The site was acquired in 1998 and is now a fully managed estate, with occupiers that include the Greater London Assembly – housed in City Hall, as well as PwC and Ernst and Young.

Rail fares and grind make London based staff yearn for flexible working, claims survey

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

London commutersPerhaps one of the least talked about factors driving the uptake of flexible working in the UK is the cost of getting into work. But a new survey commissioned by Citrix of 500 commuters in the capital claims that more than a fifth (22 percent) of London based employees are considering a job outside the city following the latest above-inflation increase in fares although the majority of the want-aways (79 percent) would stay in their current job if they could work from home at least once a week. Just under half (45 percent) would like their employer to offer flexible working, 58 percent feel they would be more productive if they didn’t have to commute, and 62 percent felt that flexible working would improve their quality of life. Ed: For those of us who already work outside London but get the occasional glimpse of the horror of commuting, those numbers are bafflingly low. 

In pictures: plans revealed for East London iCity development

by • Company news, Property, Technology

Offices at iCity

Offices at iCity

While Parliament debates the reality or otherwise of the 2012 Olympic legacy, the firms behind iCity on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London (above) have submitted detailed planning proposals and launched a new website to promote the development which they claim will become ‘a world-leading centre of innovation, education and enterprise’. The joint venture between property consultancy Delancey and datacentre operator Infinity SDC claims it will offer almost unlimited bandwidth connectivity and provide up to 400,000 sq. ft. of office space, including for digital start-ups, as well as a 250,000 sq. ft. datacentre, studio and production space and a convention centre. The plans have been drawn up Hawkins\Brown architects.

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Boom in London commercial property development, but demand still outstrips supply

by • News, Property

London cranesOffice construction in the City of London is higher than it has been for five years, according to a report from Deloitte Real Estate. The London Office Crane Survey found that there are over 5 million sq.ft. of office developments at 23 schemes in the Square Mile including major landmark and well known buildings such as the Walkie Talkie and the Cheesegrater. Elsewhere in London, development is at a 4 year high in the central area which covers the West End, King’s Cross, Midtown, South Bank, Docklands and Paddington, with 71 schemes set to create some 9.7 million sq. ft. of new commercial property.  The report claims that in 2014 alone, some 6.6 million sq ft of office developments will be complete in central London. (more…)

Chinese banks set to take up to 2m sq. ft of commercial property in London

by • Briefing, News, Property

Bank of China HQ, London

Bank of China HQ, London

According to a new report from commercial property consultancy Savills, the global expansion of Chinese financial institutions may see them take up as much as 2 million sq. ft. in the City of London over the next decade. The report claims that Chinese firms see London as one of the key centres for global finance and will take up the opportunities offered by setting London as a base as part of a $1 trillion investment in the West over the next seven years. With four in ten of the World’s largest banks now Chinese, and the sector expanding rapidly since the 2008 downturn, the investment will not only change the structure of the City but also consolidate its position as a global financial centre.

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Workplace Week announces details of visits to London Government buildings

by • Events, Facilities management, Flexible working, Public Sector

DfE London HQ

DfE London HQ

For the first time, Workplace Week includes visits to two Government offices, the Department for Education at Sanctuary Buildings in Great Smith Street (pictured) and the Department for International Development on Whitehall. The DfE is just a stone’s throw from the Houses of Parliament and boasts outstanding views of several major landmarks. The building is home to some 2,000 staff who work in a flexible environment with 7 desks for 10 people. The Department for International Development moved to its new London HQ, the oldest purpose-built office in London, at the beginning of the year. The DfID has created a modern, flexible environment which encourages collaborative working, whilst being sympathetic to the historic nature of the building.

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Record breaking quarter for Central London commercial property markets

by • News, Property

West EndAccording to a new report from property consultancy Colliers International, the West End of London has enjoyed a record £2.8bn of investment in the third quarter of 2013. Office occupancy increased by over 1m sq ft. in a market driven by activity in the tech and media sectors which accounted for 40 percent of the market. Also prominent are several major deals including the purchase of Paddington Central by British Land. Occupation of grade A office space reached more than 1.1m sq ft across central London. The figures mark the highest level of activity since the start of the downturn and 2013 activity is now only 1 percent lower than that for the whole of 2012.

Two major new London fit-out contracts for ISG

by • Company news, Workplace design

Colegreave HouseMultinational fit-out and construction firm ISG has won a contract for the fit-out of clothing retailer Arcadia’s UK headquarters near Oxford Street in London and is believed to have won a £50 million contract to fit out the ‘Baby Shard’ at London Bridge for Rupert Murdoch’s News UK. The £32 million Arcadia project for the reinvention of Colegreave House, designed by Sheppard Robson, involves the fit-out of four storeys and 155,000 sq. ft. of the existing building. Staff at the firm responsible for High Street brands such as Dorothy Perkins, Top Shop and Burton will remain in situ for the duration of the phased project which includes the installation of glazed roofs over the atria at the heart of the building to provide new community areas for staff.

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Planning permission granted for development at East London Crossrail site

by • Company news, Property

Poplar Business ParkPlanning permission has been granted for a mixed use scheme including 58,000 sq. ft. of office space at the Poplar Business Park next to the new Crossrail station just North of Canary Wharf in East London. Crossrail is the South East’s most important infrastructure project linking commuters in the Home Counties and Essex with central London and will complete in 2018. Jamie Hopkins, the CEO of developers Workspace claimed, “It is a significant redevelopment in an area that will be experiencing a lot of change over the coming years with the arrival of Crossrail at Canary Wharf.  Poplar Business Park will be a thriving residential and business location in the heart of one of London’s future hotspots.”

Plans for a new high rise office development in City of London unveiled

by • Architecture, News, Property

Plans for a new high rise office development in City of London unveiled

DBOX for Henderson Global Investors and MAKE

Plans for a new high rise office development in the City of London have been unveiled by Henderson Global Investors. Designed by Make architectural practice, the high buildings at 40 Leadenhall Street, EC3 will vary in height between 7 and 34 office storeys, with two additional basement levels, a roof level plant, and café and restaurant uses at ground floor level.  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. A grade II listed building at 19-21 Billiter Street, built in 1865, will be restored and integrated in the proposed scheme, which it is estimated will create 390 construction jobs, with around 7,000 people expected to work in the completed building. (more…)

New City of London skyscraper melts parked car

by • Facilities management, News, Property

Walkie TalkieIn Philip Kerr’s 1995 novel Gridiron, a smart building which is programmed to function as its own facilities manager goes rogue and starts bumping off its occupants in a number of interesting and spectacularly violent ways. This might sound like the perfect wish fulfilment fantasy of your average FM, but looks prescient with the news that one of the new tranche of landmark buildings in London has become its own death ray. The Walkie Talkie in Fenchurch Street has been blamed for reflecting and magnifying light from the sun, (literally) glaring at the neighbours and melting parts of a car parked in a nearby street.

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