Laura Chesters Editorial
Property Week
Laura CHesters no longer works at Property Week, and is now at the Independent on Sunday. She was the News Editor at Property Week.
Stories by this contributor.
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Waitrose to sign ahead of Bracknell regeneration
19 November 2010
Supermarket chain to expand in its home town as 3m sq ft scheme makes planning progress
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Pound stretches
12 November 2010
Value retailer Poundstretcher plans to “aggressively” expand to 500 stores in the UK by the end of 2012
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20-30-40-50: City of London senior surveyor Fiona Small
12 November 2010
Every week, we meet a property person from a different age group. This week, Laura Chesters talks to 35-year-old Argentine tango dancer Fiona Small, senior surveyor at the City of London Corporation
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Pradera walks with Egyptian
12 November 2010
Retail fund manager Pradera is to launch a fund that will invest in Egyptian shopping centres
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Whom to know Lawrence Hutchings
12 November 2010
Hammerson’s retail head supports a new global leasing structure
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Grosvenor Fund Management and Vega buy "The North"
10 November 2010
Grosvenor Fund Management and Vega Wharlock Properties, a retail property investment and fund management group has bought “The North” retail development for its Grosvenor Vega - China Retail Fund.
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Aurora to open dual branded out of town stores
10 November 2010
Aurora Fashions, owner of high street chains Oasis and Karen Millen, is creating a larger, dual-branded store format that will allow it to open in out-of-town retail parks.
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Co-op to open in central London convenience store
10 November 2010
The Co-operative Food has signed contracts with The Crown Estate for a new food store in central London.
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Marks & Spencer to accelerate growth of UK stores
9 November 2010
Marks & Spencer’s new chief executive has today revealed plans to open a raft of new UK stores to ensure 95% of the UK population will be within 30 minutes of a full-line M&S store by 2015.
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Hotelier Ian Schrager returns to London
9 November 2010
Founder of the boutique hotel concept, New York hotelier Ian Schrager, is to return to London to create a new boutique hotel.
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Rok goes into administration
8 November 2010
Rok, the London-listed construction group, has gone into administration today.
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St James's Hotel and Club sold
5 November 2010
The St James’s Hotel and Club has been bought by Far Eastern-based investors for around £60m.
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Vision for York takes shape
5 November 2010
The city of York has launched ‘New City Beautiful’- a vision document for York drawn up by a team led by urbanist Professor Alan Simpson.
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Morrisons to chase convenience market
05 November 2010
Morrisons is to fully expand into convenience stores in the UK, as part of a three-pronged growth strategy
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Westfield submits plans for Broadmarsh
4 November 2010
Westfield has submitted plans to Nottingham City Council for the re-configuration of the Drury Walk entrance of the Broadmarsh shopping centre. The move is the latest in a series of improvements to the Nottingham shopping centre.
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Wereldhave set for return to UK retail with £80m Poole buy
3 November 2010
Dutch property investment company Wereldhave has emerged as front runner to buy Grosvenor’s Dolphin shopping centre in Poole for more than the £80m asking price.
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BCSC 2010: Westfield and Hermes to refurbish and improve Guildford mall
2 November 2010
Joint owners, Westfield and Hermes Real Estate have today unveiled a multi-million pound repositioning plan for The Friary Shopping Centre in Guildford.
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Land Securities is front runner for Dundee's Overgate
2 November 2010
Land Securities is front runner to buy Overgate shopping centre in Dundee for more than its £130m asking price.
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BCSC 2010: Shopping centres get creative as marketing budgets cut
2 November 2010
The average marketing budget for UK shopping centres has reduced by 24% between 2008 and 2011, according to Savills latest survey.
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BCSC 2010: UK only G8 country to have old style lease structure
2 November 2010
“The UK is the only G8 country still to operate with our lease structure,” Lawrence Hutchings, managing director UK retail at Hammerson, said at the BCSC conference today.
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BCSC 2010: John Lewis at home to open in Exeter and Chester
2 November 2010
John Lewis revealed today at BCSC retail conference in Manchester that it will open a further two ‘at home’ shops in 2011.
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BCSC 2010: Retailers and landlords are foe masquerading as friends
2 November 2010
Terry Hartwell, group property director at supermarket chain WM Morrison, spoke out at BCSC conference about the relationship between landlord and retailers.
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BCSC 2010: The Co-operative gears up expansion plan
2 November 2010
The Co-operative Food, the supermarket chain, is to double the size of its acquisitions teams as part of its store expansion plan.
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BCSC 2010: Former Leslie Furness pair team up for new firm
2 November 2010
Well-known retail property agents Tim Hance and Jamie Ludlow have formed retail agency practice Prime Retail, reuniting the pair who formerly worked together at Leslie Furness & Company.
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REO confident of restructure
29 October 2010
Real Estate Opportunities (REO) said today it was confident it would get both NAMA’s approval for its business plan and a deal with an equity partner for the financing of its Battersea Power Station scheme.
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One New Change welcomed by half term shoppers
29 October 2010
Land Securities yesterday opened One New Change – its City shopping and office complex in London.
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Full consent for £4.5bn Cricklewood scheme
29 October 2010
Barnet Council this week granted full consent for the £4.5bn Town Centre scheme in Brent Cross in Cricklewood, north London.
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Maybourne Hotel Group in talks to sell £200m stake
29 October 2010
Maybourne Hotel Group, which owns Claridges, the Berkeley and the Connaught Hotel, is now in exclusive talks with private equity investor Northwood Investors to sell a £200m stake in the company.
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Christmas pops up at Trafford Centre
29 October 2010
Three Christmas pop up shops have opened at Trafford Centre in Manchester this season.
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Targetfollow falls as High Court sends in administrators
29 October 2010
Subsidiaries of private property company Targetfollow have been placed into administration after a High Court hearing this week
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Pradera primed for retail park fund
29 October 2010
Pradera UK is to launch a UK retail park-focused fund and plans to raise £250m in equity
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Henderson in play for half of Westfield’s Stratford City
29 October 2010
Westfield is in talks to sell a 50% stake in the £1.5bn Stratford City shopping centre close to the 2012 Olympics
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Westfield Stratford City 75% let
28 October 2010
Westfield London, Westfield ‘s London shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush, is on track to achieve sales of more than £800m in its second year - up from over £700m in year one. Footfall is also growing at over 22% on last year.
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New Centre Director appointed at thecentre:mk
28 October 2010
Robert Hall is to join Milton Keynes shopping centre, the thecentre:mk, as centre director.
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Suits You in administration
27 October 2010
Speciality Retail Group, the company behind 66-store menswear chain Suits You, has been bought by restructuring specialists GA Europe and put into administration.
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Targetfollow subsidiaries in administration
27 October 2010
Subsidiaries of private property company Targetfollow has been placed into administration, a court heard this afternoon.
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Terrace Hill signs up Sainsbury's
27 October 2010
Terrace Hill Group has signed a development agreement with Sainsbury’s for a supermarket in Whitchurch, Shropshire.
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Area Property Partners in talks to buy Hermes stake in X Leisure
27 October 2010
Bill Benjamin’s Area Property Partners is in talks to take Hermes Real Estate’s 30% shareholding in leisure park fund X Leisure.
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Westfield in talks to sell stake in Stratford mall
25 October 2010
Westfield is in talks to sell a stake in its £1.5bn Stratford City shopping centre in east London.
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Meyer Bergman teams up for £100m Mayfair buy
22 October 2010
European real estate investment and fund management firm Meyer Bergman is thought to have teamed up with Thor Equities to buy the £100m Burlington Arcade in Mayfair.
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Cathedral of capitalism
22 October 2010
Land Securities’ One New Change is a radical attempt to bring mixed use to the City of London. Will it work?
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Development Securities to buy former Kemsley assets
15 October 2010
Development Securities is in talks to buy part of Paul Kemsley’s former property empire
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George Davies GIVes up
15 October 2010
Retail entrepreneur George Davies is to abandon selling his year-old GIVe brand from standalone stores
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Forever 21 adds three in Europe expansion
15 October 2010
US “fast fashion” group Forever 21 has stepped up its expansion into the UK and Europe
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Capital Shopping Centres’ £500m plan
15 October 2010
Capital Shopping Centres is to embark on a 1.5m sq ft extension programme of its shopping centre portfolio, as an alternative to buying new centres
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Cowell Group buys Hilton London Hyde Park hotel
14 October 2010
Cowell Group has also completed on the purchase of Hilton London Hyde Park, as first revealed by Property Week.
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Punch to close more pubs
13 October 2010
Punch Taverns is to close up to 1,500 pubs as it focuses on gastro venues.
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Mount Anvil gets green light for Highbury Park
13 October 2010
Specialist London residential developer and contractor Mount Anvil has secured planning permission this week to develop a prime site in Highbury Park in North London.
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Simons plan for Dorchester gets go-ahead
13 October 2010
Simons has won planning permission for a major town centre redevelopment in Dorchester in Dorset.
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Chesterfield calls for investment
13 October 2010
Chesterfield Borough Council has launched Destination Chesterfield’s Modern Awakening – to attract new investment to the area.
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Targetfollow wins two week reprieve
12 October 2010
The administration process for property company Targetfollow has been adjourned and delayed for two weeks, a court heard today.
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Date confirmed for St Pancras hotel opening
12 October 2010
St Pancras Renaissance Hotel London is to open 5th May 2011.
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Metric buys Congleton park
12 October 2010
Metric Property Investments has exchanged contracts to buy Congleton Retail Park in South Manchester from North West based investor and developer, Bluemantle, for £14.8m.
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Crown confirms housing sale to Peabody
12 October 2010
The Crown Estate has chosen London housing specialists Peabody to buy its Cumberland Market, Millbank, Victoria Park and Lee Green housing estates.
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Ralph Lauren's ‘Rugby’ store debuts in Covent Garden
11 October 2010
Capital & Counties Properties has signed Rugby, the luxury lifestyle brand from Ralph Lauren, for its first store in the UK
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Manolo Blahnik takes office space in Chelsea
8 October 2010
Footwear designer to the stars Manolo Blahnik has signed up to take a 2,466 sq ft office in Chelsea.
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Soldiers of good fortune
08 October 2010
While most UK REITs are enduring a difficult downturn, Derwent London’s elite group are proving they ain’t no fools
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Pramerica's reservation with Park Plaza hotel ground lease
08 October 2010
Global fund manager pays £16m for ground lease of Park Plaza Riverbank on Albert Embankment
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Mountgrange powers up Peterborough
08 October 2010
Real Estate Opportunity Fund to forward fund energy-from-waste plant
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Frogmore leases 50 St Mary Axe
7 October 2010
Frogmore has let an entire floor of its 50 St Mary Axe development in the City to executive search company Wilton and Bain.
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Former CPC Group Beverly Hills site bought by Hong Kong investor
6 October 2010
A site formerly owned by Christian Candy’s CPC Group’s Project Lotus, in Beverly Hills, has been bought by a Hong Kong based investor for $350m less than CPC bought it for in the boom.
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Conservative Conference 2010: Tax increment financing endorsed
5 October 2010
Plans to encourage commercial development received a boost this week with further endorsements from ministers at the Conservative conference.
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Plans submitted for Edge Lane Retail Park
5 October 2010
Derwent Holdings has submitted plans for a £200m redevelopment of Edge Lane Retail Park in Liverpool.
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First Property Group sets up opportunity fund for Poland
5 October 2010
First Property Group, the AIM-listed property fund manager, has set up an opportunity fund.
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Hermes Real Estate to sell its 7.5% Bluewater stake
5 October 2010
Hermes Real Estate is to sell its 7.5% stake in Kent mega mall Bluewater.Hermes has been one of the principal owners at Bluewater since opening, but is now looking to rebalance the BTPS real estate portfolio, in which Bluewater sits.It is also looking at sales of its stakes in joint ventures that own shopping centres, including with Westfield at the Westfield Derby shopping centre. It is in talks with potential bidders.It hopes to sell its stake in Bluewater for around £1
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Best Buy set to open stores in Hayes, Rotherham and Enfield
4 October 2010
Best Buy, the US electronics retailer, is set to open stores in Hayes, Rotherham and Enfield during 2011.
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Castlevale submits planning application for Yorkshire homes
1 October 2010
Castlevale has submitted a formal planning application for a residential led scheme at Sowerby Gateway following an extensive period of public consultation in Yorkshire.
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BNP Paribas Real Estate Property Management buys AEW Europe's central Europe management business
1 October 2010
BNP Paribas Real Estate has strengthened its international property management business through the purchase of the property management subsidiaries of AEW in Central Europe.
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London & Stamford Property sells Aintree retail park to The Crown
1 October 2010
London & Stamford Property has sold its Racecourse Retail Park in Aintree to The Crown Estate for £101.5m, reflecting an initial yield on the sale of 5.3%
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Oxford Properties buys UBS’s 50% stake in Watermark Place
1 October 2010
Oxford Properties, the real estate arm of OMERS pension fund, has exercised its pre-emption right to purchase a 50% stake in Watermark Place from UBS.
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Tottenham Hotspur gets go ahead for new stadium and lines up Olympic bid
1 October 2010
Tottenham Hotspur got the go ahead for its new stadium scheme, the Northumberland Development Project, last night.
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Kandahar appoints JLL for retail advice
1 October 2010
David Ross’s Kandahar has appointed Jones Lang LaSalle to advise on the potential sale oit’s Drakes Circus shopping centre in Plymouth.
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London & Stamford Property becomes a REIT
1 October 2010
London & Stamford Property has today listed on the London Stock Exchange and became a REIT.
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UPP opens Exeter student digs
1 October 2010
UPP has opened the first phase of £133m student digs at the University of Exeter.
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Westcore buys loan secured against City office
1 October 2010
Westcore Europe, part of US investment group Westcore Properties, has bought a £84.5m loan secured against a City office building.
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20-30-40-50: HVS valuation head Russell Kett
01 October 2010
Every week, we meet a property person from a different age group. This week, Laura Chesters talks to hotels group HVS’s valuation head Russell Kett, 57, who has grimmemories of Blackpool
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Sol Melia rescues stranded Strand hotel
01 October 2010
A Spanish hotel group is to make its UK debut with a site on London’s Strand.
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‘Property values to rise 40% over five years’, says research
01 October 2010
UK prime property values could rise 40% in the next five years, predicts an upbeat report by Chesterton Humberts and the Centre for Economics and Business Research.
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Carlyle spots room for improvement at B&B
01 October 2010
Carlyle has bought a European budget hotel group for €480m, as private equity appetite for the sector increases.
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Waitrose to open in Leeds city centre
30 September 2010
Waitrose is to open its first shop in central Leeds.
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Spanish hotel group set to buy London hotel
30 September 2010
A Spanish hotel group is set to buy a half-built luxury hotel on London’s Strand.
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Tesco head of UK development to leave
29 September 2010
Philip Coles, Tesco’s development director, is to leave to set up his own development business.
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Prupim looks to outsource property management
29 September 2010
Prupim is to enter talks with a number of third party service providers to discuss the possible outsourcing of some of its property management services.
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Michelin star chef takes Pitcher & Piano site on Pollen Street
29 September 2010
Jason Atherton, former executive chef of Gordon Ramsay’s Maze restaurant, has signed up to open his first restaurant - a 6,549 sq ft site on Pollen Street from vendor Marston’s.
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Justin Taylor appointed head of UK retail agency at Cushman & Wakefield
29 September 2010
Justin Taylor has been promoted to Cushman & Wakefield’s CEO of its UK retail and leisure agency team.
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Carlyle buys B&B Hotel Group for €480m
29 September 2010
US private equity firm Carlyle has bought a chain of 223 budget hotels in Europe for €480m from European investment firm Eurazeo.
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Pop Up shop experts join London Fashion Network event
28 September 2010
The London Fashion Network is holding a talk on Pop Up shops in London tonight with a panel of retail, property and legal experts.
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Grosvenor puts for sale sign over £80m Dolphin shopping centre
28 September 2010
Grosvenor has put its Dolphin shopping centre in Poole up for sale.
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Hoteliers have a good August
28 September 2010
August was a healthy month for many hoteliers across the UK, according to preliminary monthly figures released today by PKF Hotel Consultancy Services.
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High Street sales grow for third month running
28 September 2010
Retailers have reported a sales rise across the UK this month.
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Fidelity spends £85m in UK
27 September 2010
Fidelity Investment Managers has expanded its European Real Estate team and has bought five assets for its UK Real Estate Fund.
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Construction restarts on Grosvenor House apartments
27 September 2010
Construction work is to start again at the Park Lane Apartments next to the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane in London.
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BNP Paribas Real Estate begins City move
24 September 2010
BNP Paribas Real Estate has begun its move into its new UK headquarters at 5 Aldermanbury Square, in the City of London.
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Travelodge in Bromley appoved
24 September 2010
Plans submitted by Skillcrown Homes and Travelodge for a 92 bed hotel and shop on London Road, Bromley, were approved unanimously by Bromley Council’s planning committee last night.
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Ravenscraig development moves forward
24 September 2010
Consultants have been hired to draw up plans for the second phase of Ravenscraig - the redevelopment of the former Lanarkshire steelworks in Scotland.
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OFT tells Asda to sell 47 Netto stores
24 September 2010
The Office of Fair Trading is to force supermarket chain Asda to sell 47 Netto stores to satisfy competition concerns.
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Targetfollow seeks legal advice as Lloyds pushes for administration
24 September 2010
Targetfollow has lined up its lawyers to seek advice if its lender Lloyds forces it into administration.
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Native London and Grosvenor submit fresh Holland Park School plans
24 September 2010
Native Land and Grosvenor this week submitted a fresh planning application for luxury residential at London’s Holland Park School site at Campden Hill, which they bought earlier this year for £100m.
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Targetfollow faces administration
24 September 2010
Lender Lloyds lodges notice of intention to appoint administrators
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Covent garden’s retail diva
24 September 2010
I have survived a recession, my first baby and a demerger,” says Bev Churchill, referring to the milestones that have graced her short time at central London REIT Capital & Counties.
