20 July 2012
Property Week
View all stories from this issue.
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Mountgrange rises to Mercury portfolio
20 July 2012
Fund manager beats Palmer, Rowan, JP Morgan and F&C Reit to £184m assets
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Muscovite’s $650m home buy shows record low yield
20 July 2012
O1 Properties buys two of Moscow’s biggest office properties from Hines and Evans Randal
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Property’s latest torchbearer
20 July 2012
Chris Grigg took up presidency of British Property Federation on 10 July
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TfL brings on board Cushman
20 July 2012
Property adviser to improve leases and shops at London stations
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"Stick it on the credit card for now."
20 July 2012
The phrase is normally associated with jewellery or last-minute flights — not the buying and selling of commercial real estate.
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£150m student accommodation stake up for sale
20 July 2012
A 75% stake in a £200m London student accommodation portfolio is to be brought to the market in September.
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Aberdeen Asset Management buys Cheshire retail and office scheme
24 July 2012
Investment and development company Bluemantle has sold a retail scheme in Alderley Edge and a Chorley college for a combined £10.9m, the businessdesk.com reports.
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Administrators close remaining Clintons stores
20 July 2012
The administrators of the Clintons Cards business have announced that they have been unable to find a buyer for the remainder of the business not bought by American Greetings Corporation and are to close the sites, thebusinessdesk.com reports.
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Allied London unveils Clarence Dock vision
26 July 2012
Mike Ingall’s Allied London yesterday revealed its masterplan for a major overhaul of Clarence Dock in Leeds, which is to be rebranded as New Dock.
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Argent and Altitude submit plans for Paradise Circus
26 July 2012
Argent and Altitude have submitted plans for their 1.8m sq ft Paradise Circus development in Birmingham.
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Aspinal signs fifth London site
26 July 2012
Aspinal of London has taken a 903 sq ft store on Marylebone High Street, expected to open in October.
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Avon calls Asda to large shed
20 July 2012
Asda has signed one of the biggest industrial lettings deals this year, on the outskirts of Bristol.
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Avon Capital Estates buys BNP Paribas site in Leeds
26 July 2012
Maybrook Industrial Park in Leeds has been bought by Avon Capital Estates for £5.19m, reflecting a net initial yield of 8.9%.
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Big names play it Safe
20 July 2012
The uncertain impact of the proposed October VAT increase on self-storage supplies means there will only be “limited scope” for a positive rerating of the two listed players in the market, Big Yellow and Safestore, research published by Espirito Santo Investment Bank shows.
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Blackstone buys €203m of French sheds
24 July 2012
Blackstone’s love affair with sheds continued today with the agreement to buy 28 French assets for €203m.
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British Land confirms £130m Clarges House purchase
25 July 2012
British Land has confirmed its purchase of Clarges House in Piccadilly, London, for £129.6m which it plans to redevelop into luxury residential apartments and offices, as revealed by PropertyWeek.com.
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Bush House set for £50m overhaul
25 July 2012
The Japanese owners of London’s Bush House complex are to refurbish the 300,000 sq ft set of buildings, following a final broadcast there from the BBC World Service two weeks ago.
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Calthorpe names new CEO
26 July 2012
Calthorpe Estates has appointed Mark Lee as its new chief executive.
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Canadians make White City splash
20 July 2012
A Canadian pension fund has emerged as one of two backers in Stanhope’s £200m purchase of BBC Television Centre, which completed today.
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Capital & Regional default on €158m debt
20 July 2012
Capital and Regional has defaulted on €158m of debt used to fund its German Portfolio, 4, which is jointly owned with AREA Property partners.
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Capital values fall as euro woes persist
20 July 2012
Property values fell by 2% in the first half of the year, as austerity measures at home and political wrangling in the eurozone continued to stifle growth outside London.
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CareCapital Group prescribes demerger
20 July 2012
CareCapital Group is aiming to demerge its healthcare property development arm.
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Carnwath quits Barclays
25 July 2012
The chairman of Land Securities, Alison Carnwath has resigned as a non-executive director of Barclays with immediate effect.
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Cisco surrenders Reading offices to Oxford Properties
24 July 2012
IT networking manufacturer Cisco Systems has agreed a deal to surrender leases on 517,000 sq ft of offices at Green Park business park near Reading, as revealed by Property Week.
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Clever landlords will help their occupiers
20 July 2012
Sir, I read “Retail lease lifeline” and was encouraged to hear that some of the UK’s largest landlords have recognised the need to ease a tenant’s passage into a commercial property (front page, 29.06.12).
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Columbus Capital to buy regional mall at 75% discount to 2007 price
24 July 2012
Columbus Capital is poised to buy the Metquarter shopping centre in Liverpool for around a 75% discount to what the mall was bought for at the height of the market.
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Consultation begins on £18m Lancashire scheme
24 July 2012
The developer behind an £18m regeneration scheme in a Lancashire town is to launch a public consultation on the project.
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Contacts, creativity and graft key to property game
20 July 2012
Tuesday night’s party, held at Irwin Mitchell’s City office, for Property Week’s Hot 100 nominees was a high-octane affair, full of young people brimming with ambition in tough times (analysis).
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Co-operations balloon ahead of NoMa move
20 July 2012
Relocation to NoMa and takeover of Lloyds banks signals new era for Co-op. Rachel Hunter reports
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Crawley confirms developer for next phase of regeneration
26 July 2012
Stanhope has been chosen to develop the second phase of the regeneration of Crawley town centre.
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Credit Suisse sale in Germany
20 July 2012
Union Investment has bought the Europa-Galerie shopping centre in Saarbrücken, Germany, from a Credit Suisse fund that is being liquidated.
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Credits roll on Stanhope’s £200m Television Centre purchase
20 July 2012
Stanhope is expected to complete its £200m purchase of BBC Television Centre within days, after contracts exchanged last Saturday.
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Crown Estate lets 33,000 sq ft in Regent Street
24 July 2012
The Crown Estate has signed 4C Group, a global digital subscription foresight services provider, to office space at its AirW1 scheme in Regent Street.
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Crown Estate's Regent Street letting
24 July 2012
The Crown Estate has signed 4C Group, a global digital subscription foresight services provider, to office space at its AirW1 scheme in Regent Street.
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CSC reports rental income decline
26 July 2012
Capital Shopping Centres Group has reported a flat NAV in the first half of 2012, falling by a nominal 0.3% to 390p, a result, it said, of unchanged capital values.
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CSC reports rental income decline
26 July 2012
Capital Shopping Centres Group has reported a flat NAV in the first half of 2012, falling by a nominal 0.3% to 390p, a result, it said, of unchanged capital values.
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Delancey powers up iCity
20 July 2012
London’s Olympic Park is to become home to a giant technology campus, funded by Delancey.
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Douglas Duff strikes again
20 July 2012
Sir, I wish to clarify a couple of points in the article “Louch Shacklock & Partners rises from ashes of Douglas Duff” (Herts, Beds, Bucks + Oxon, 22.06.12).
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Dutch fashion brand to open first UK store
23 July 2012
Dutch fashion brand SuperTrash has signed to make its UK debut with a store on South Molton Street, in central London.
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Estates take freehold legal loophole to Supreme Court
20 July 2012
West End test case could pave way for commercial leaseholders to exploit enfranchisement rules
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Evidence of a slowdown on streets of London
20 July 2012
Eurozone crisis and lack of growth take toll on consumer confidence. By Richard Donnell
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Flood pact risk
20 July 2012
The number of properties at “significant” flood risk will double over the next 20 years to 630,000, unless the government increases investment in flood defences, a study by the Committee on Climate Change has revealed.
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Galliford Try builds first London community land trust
20 July 2012
Housebuilder Galliford Try will incorporate the capital’s first community land trust into the redevelopment of St Clements, a grade II-listed former hospital in east London, following an eight-year campaign by local residents.
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Generation Techs is future
20 July 2012
Sir, Your article, “Generation Techs”, accurately picked out the fundamental shift taking place in the working patterns of the new generation of non-institutional workers (analysis, 15.06.12).
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Germans in £60m Scotland buy
20 July 2012
A German open ended fund manager has entered exclusive talks to make one of the largest regional office purchases of the year, propertyweek.com can reveal.
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Gladedale to finish Edinburgh asset
20 July 2012
Gladedale Group has decided to develop rather than sell its 19 acre Quartermile development site in Edinburgh.
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Government and Portas announce more Portas Pilots
25 July 2012
The government has announced 15 more Portas Pilots to help rejuvenate struggling high streets and has set aside a £5.5m pot to help support all those town centres not selected for the initiative.
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Government and Portas announce second tranche of help for struggling high streets
25 July 2012
The government has announced 15 more Portas Pilots to help rejuvenate struggling high streets and has set aside a £5.5m pot to help support all those town centres not selected for the initiative.
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Government opens reuse of existing buildings consultation
20 July 2012
The government has opened a consultation that could allow more liberal conversion of hotels to residential homes and increase the number of pop-up shops.
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Great Bear takes takes last remaing space in Kettering
20 July 2012
Logistics provider, Great Bear has taken the remaining 123,000 sq ft of vacant space at Prologis Park in Kettering.
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Great Portland continues strong financial performance
24 July 2012
Great Portland Estates this morning showed why it is the darling of the listed property sector with another strong financial performance.
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Great Portland expands Piccadilly site
23 July 2012
Great Portland Estates has bought out Capital & Counties’ half share in the £120m Jermyn Street Estate, giving GPE complete ownership of a potential 200,000 sq ft long-term development site on Piccadilly.
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Gulf investors go Native
20 July 2012
Native Land has sold a 45% stake in the business to a group of Gulf investors linked with the Qatari royal family, enabling it to plough an initial £1bn into London residential sites and projects over the next two years.
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GVA wins Oxford university mandate
25 July 2012
The University of Oxford has appointed GVA to manage its estate.
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Hammerson reveals Croydon plans
26 July 2012
Hammerson has today unveiled its rival plans for the redevelopment of Croydon town centre.
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Hammerson reveals Croydon redevelopment plans
26 July 2012
Hammerson has today unveiled its rival plans for the redevelopment of Croydon town centre.
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Hammerson tipped for £265m retail deal
24 July 2012
Hammerson is the frontrunner to buy the Junction fund, in what will be the biggest out of town retail deal since the downturn.
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Hammerson’s Whitgift storm
20 July 2012
Hammerson and its partners have sent a bullish letter to the freeholder of the Whitgift Centre in Croydon, urging it to drop their rival, Westfield, and join forces — and warning that, legally, they believe the freeholder would struggle to stop their plans.
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Harvey Nicks reveals plans for new format
26 July 2012
Harvey Nichols has unveiled plans for its 22,000 sq ft standalone beauty store at Liverpool One shopping centre, due to open in late autumn 2012.
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Havas picks Jones Lang LaSalle to consolidate London offices
26 July 2012
French media group Havas has picked Jones Lang LaSalle to help it find 150,000 sq ft of office space in London.
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Helical Bar and Grainger’s King Street development height reduced
25 July 2012
Helical Bar and Grainger are to reduce the height of their King Street development in Hammersmith as a result of concerns from the mayor of London and the Greater London Authority.
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Helical Bar appoints non-exec directors and a finance director
25 July 2012
Helical Bar has appointed two new non-executive directors and a finance director.
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Helical unveils brick houses
20 July 2012
Developer and Aviva Investors plan 1,150 homes and 200,000 sq ft of offices at White City
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HOT 100: 100 - 70
20 July 2012
It has been five years since Property Week compiled its first Hot 100 list.
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HOT 100: 30-1
20 July 2012
30 - Tom Leeming, partner, Cushman & Wakefield
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HOT 100: 69-31
20 July 2012
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Imperial West gets green light
26 July 2012
Imperial College London has got planning permission for its 1m sq ft Imperial West scheme on the former BBC Wood Lane site in west London.
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Independence day for six cities
20 July 2012
The government has finalised “devolutionary deals” in a further six English cities, in addition to those in Liverpool and Greater Manchester earlier this year (public sector, 05.04.12).
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Investors celebrate niche sector’s good health
20 July 2012
Property Week Analytics report reveals how healthcare property is moving into the mainstream
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IPD: Ireland property values down 66% in downturn
25 July 2012
Irish real estate values continued to decline in the second quarter – by 1.8% - and have now fallen by a cumulative 66% since September 2007, according to the latest SCSI/IPD Ireland Quarterly Property Index.
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It behoves a tenant to obey rules on owner occupation
20 July 2012
The message: Tenants may be able to free themselves from obsolete lease restrictions, but their conduct can have a bearing on whether or not this is possible.
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IVG to list €1.35bn German REIT
20 July 2012
IVG has applied for admission to the Munich Stock Exchange for its €1.35bn IVG-REIT.
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JLL pilots industrial reshuffle
20 July 2012
Jones Lang La Salle is launching a specialist trade counters division within its industrial and logistics agency teams.
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John Lewis agrees Eastgate prelet
23 July 2012
Retailer John Lewis has signed heads of terms to anchor the 350,000 sq ft first phase of Hammerson’s Eastgate Quarters in Leeds, paving the way for a potential start on site in early 2014.
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John Lewis agrees Eastgate prelet
23 July 2012
Retailer John Lewis has signed heads of terms with John Lewis to anchor the 350,000 sq ft first phase of Hammerson’s Eastgate Quarters in Leeds, paving the way for a potential start on site in early 2014.
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Keep swaps simple and everyone’s a winner
20 July 2012
When I entered the world of property finance 30 years ago, one of the basic principles I was taught at an early stage, was that interest rate protection — hedging — was an important aspect of almost any deal
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King heads to real estate
20 July 2012
King & Spalding has launched a UK real estate practice.
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Leasehold Valuation Tribunals cost cap under review
20 July 2012
Shake-up could include striking out claims early and uncapped costs. Sarah Townsend reports
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Lunch with … Little Chef chairman Graham Sims
20 July 2012
Sarah Stewart ate lunch at a new-format Little Chef restaurant in Wisley South on the A3 with chairman Graham Sims to find out his plans for the roadside restaurant chain
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Luxury Indian hotel group to open first London hotel
23 July 2012
India’s largest private hotel company is planning to open its first luxury hotel outside its home country on the banks of the River Thames, opposite Tower Bridge.
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Malaysians drop bid to buy London Designer Outlet
24 July 2012
The Malaysian Employees Provident Fund is no longer bidding to buy into Quintain’s London Designer Outlet scheme in Wembley.
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MedicX fund acquires 31 primary care centres
23 July 2012
The primary care infrastructure investor MedicX Fund has acquired a portfolio of 31 completed and fully let primary care medical centres across England and Scotland.
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Monday Bulletin: Hammerson
24 July 2012
Editor-in-Chief Giles Barrie and Executive Editor James Whitmore present the Monday bulletin.
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MORNING AFTER: Hot 100 Launch
20 July 2012
On Tuesday night we launched our Hot 100 list of property’s rising stars at law firm Irwin Mitchell’s City offices.
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MORNING AFTER: Sociable Surveyors 2012 awards
25 July 2012
The winners of Sociable Surveyors’ 2012 global internship program were named at an awards evening held at Allen & Overy’s Bishops Square office last week.
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Natixis and AEW launch €500m debt fund
25 July 2012
Natixis Asset Management and its subsidiary, AEW Europe, today launched a European real estate loan fund.
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Need to know: YESSS confirms entry to market
20 July 2012
Who is this new addition to the trade counters sector?
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New European CMBS guidelines revealed
24 July 2012
CRE Finance Council Europe, the commercial real estate finance body, today launched a consultative document designed to stimulate the moribund European commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) market.
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New Shell Centre revealed
20 July 2012
The developers behind the redevelopment of the Shell Centre on London’s South Bank, Qatari Diar and Canary Wharf Group, today revealed a new image of the proposed scheme.
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Next signs in Burnley
25 July 2012
The fashion retailer Next has signed up to open a 20,000 sq ft store in Addington Capital’s Charter Walk shopping centre in Burnley, Lancashire.
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Olympic Park South Plaza: pictures revealed
26 July 2012
Olympic chiefs this week submitted plans for a 28-acre public space to be created at the Olympic Park as the final curtain descends on the London 2012 Games.
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Overseas buyers keep London on top as market looks up
20 July 2012
UK investment volumes increased by 14% in the second quarter and overseas buyers have continued London’s domination of the market.
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Overseas investors find pockets of regional cheer
20 July 2012
Prime yields edged up to 5.83% in June — their highest level since March 2010 — Cushman & Wakefield reports.
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Paris scheme refinancing
20 July 2012
MGPA has completed a €190m refinancing of Le Madeleine, an office and retail scheme in Paris’s central business district.
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Parker's point Blanc
20 July 2012
Twenty years after spending a night on an exposed rockface on Mont Blanc, City agency stalwart Andrew Parker (left) returned for more.
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Patron and Revetas go east with new fund
20 July 2012
Patron Capital Partners and Revetas Capital Advisers have joined forces to invest up to €100m in distressed property opportunities in central and eastern Europe.
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Pension fund scores Goals
20 July 2012
Five-a-side football group Goals Soccer Centres has agreed to a £73m takeover by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
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People Moves: 20 July
20 July 2012
Paul McNamara, the leading property researcher, is retiring from the Prudential after 25 years at its property fund management arm.
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People Moves: Hark Group, Chesterton Humberts, CBRE, Titanic Quarter and more...
20 July 2012
Paul McNamara, the leading property researcher, is retiring from the Prudential after 25 years at its property fund management arm.
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Peverel reveals first results of new era
24 July 2012
Peverel Group, the property management and retirement services firm formerly owned by the Tchenguiz family, has published its first results since it was bought out of administration in March.
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Planning's lightbulb moment
20 July 2012
Last month Ludgate asked readers what, if anything, was funny about the planning system.
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Plans submitted for fifth NoMa phase
25 July 2012
The Co-operative Group has submitted a planning application for the redevelopment and refurbishment of Hanover, the early 1900s building opposite the entrance to Victoria Station in NoMa, TheBusinessDesk.com reports.
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Plans submitted for Yorkshire's Sculpture Park
23 July 2012
Plans to transform Bretton Hall into a luxury hotel and business park creating 400 jobs have taken a major step forward, TheBusinessDesk.com reports.
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Podcast: City A.M. Editor "Libor scandal is devastating blow for the City of London"
25 July 2012
City A.M. Editor Allister Heath joined LBC’s James Max at Property Week to talk about the recent banking scandal and London’s future as a major financial hub
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Primark dons Milton Keynes anchor
20 July 2012
Two retail developments in central England moved a step closer this week as Primark agreed to anchor the extension at the Centre:MK in Milton Keynes, and Delancey and Wolverhampton City Council agreed plans for the Mander Centre.
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Property Week Digital Edition - 20 July 2012
20 July 2012
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Propertyweek.com named top business website
20 July 2012
Property Week’s digital operation was named the “best of the best” at the “Oscars” for the online publishing world.
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Punitive effects of community infrastructure levy start to emerge
20 July 2012
The Community Infractructure Levy (CIL) is a mess.
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Quintain appoints new finance director
24 July 2012
Quintain has today appointed a new finance director to succeed Becky Worthington, who was promoted to deputy chief executive on 24 May.
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Rumours of Hammerson takeover bids hammer on
20 July 2012
There is a sense of deja vu when Hammerson comes under the takeover spotlight.
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Savills names Newsom successor
20 July 2012
Savills’ head of UK valuations William Newsom will be replaced by director Ian Malden, the firm announced today.
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Savills Spotlight - London Housing Supply Summer 2012
26 July 2012
In this report Savills’ review the supply of land for new housing in London, when the land is likely to come forward for development and the market segment in which each scheme is likely to be launched.
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Savills spotlight: Student Housing
26 July 2012
Putting national and global risks in perspective
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Savills spotlight: The World in London July 2012
26 July 2012
London is one of the most, if not the most, cosmopolitan cities in the world. Over 35% of the residents of the whole Greater London were bornabroad.
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Savills: Residential Property Focus 2012
26 July 2012
Residential property is now a two-way street. An asset that used to be viewed as something in which you invested your income in order to create capital has become a capital asset that people are putting equity into in order to obtain an income.
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Self-storage operators to challenge damaging VAT ‘cock-up’
20 July 2012
Sector faces 10% revenue reduction. Sarah Stewart reports
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Short-term pessimism tempered by medium-term faith
20 July 2012
Economic uncertainty dominates, but investors still favour property. Mike Phillips reports on the latest Lloyds property confidence monitor
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Stamp duty exacerbates stagnation
20 July 2012
In 2010/11 stamp duty on residential property yielded the government £4bn or 0.75% of total tax receipts, writes Richard Donnell.
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Stanhope shares bought by overseas investors
24 July 2012
Mitsui Fudosan and Alberta Investment Management Corp have taken significant shareholdings in developer Stanhope.
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Student Urbanest planned in Waterloo
20 July 2012
Nick Porter’s group poised to buy Westminster Place from Delancey and SWIP as Ogilvy & Mather prelet folds
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Student Urbanest planned in Waterloo
20 July 2012
Nick Porter’s group poised to buy Westminster Place from Delancey and SWIP as Ogilvy & Mather prelet folds
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Summer 2012 is a retail write-off for all but savviest shopkeepers
20 July 2012
Over the last few weeks, most of the quoted retailers have been obliged to update the City on their early summer trading trends.
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Take five … truths and consequences of the recession
20 July 2012
There are forces and outcomes beyond our comprehension playing out in the UK, European and global markets, both politically and economically that have huge implications for us all.
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Take two: car servicers In’n’out and Halfords Autocentre change it up a gear
20 July 2012
In’n’Out struggled after the recession, while Halfords bought out a rival. Both companies are now looking for ways they can expand in a tough climate. Sarah Stewart reports
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Tallest building in Cardiff bought
25 July 2012
The tallest building in Cardiff has been bought by Topland Group for £12.35m.
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The prison break club
20 July 2012
The Property Professionals Breakfast Club might think twice about choosing a restaurant for its next meeting, after causing mayhem at HMP High Down last week.
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The Property Lexicon
20 July 2012
Bookmatched /b kmæt?ed/a. Process of matching two marble surfaces, so the grain appears to reflect itself. An indispensable part of any super-prime residential bathroom: “You will notice the marble on the walls is bookmatched. We actually travelled to the quarry in Italy to select it ourselves.”See also: Company-funded jaunts to hot places.
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Time to dip your toes in? Recession is still biting
20 July 2012
Part of our family ritual, as we head off to Cornwall for our annual holiday, is to watch Jaws with the kids — a useful way to ensure they don’t take the kayaks too far from the shore.
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Trowbridge trouble
20 July 2012
Sir, We welcome the interest in Trowbridge development, but the article “This town ain’t big enough for the both of us” contains a series of errors (south-west, 13.07.12):
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Unite student halls fund is top of class in AREF/IPD index
20 July 2012
The £660m Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund has taken over from the X-Leisure Unit Trust as the top-performing UK pooled property fund this year.
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Wainbridge to undertake West End redevelopment
20 July 2012
Wainbridge Capital Limited has bought two West End office buildings for its Wainbridge Global Opportunity London fund for £9.25m from a private investor.
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Wainbridge top-up rescues London property from forced sale
26 July 2012
Wainbridge and Longbow have averted the sale of a 340,000 sq ft office block that was being circled by opportunistic buyers by completing a refinancing this week, Property Week can reveal.
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Well-connected VanHan wins luxury of Palmer backing
20 July 2012
Luxury London agency with links to princes is debut investment for Palmer Capital Residential
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Wholesale regeneration of Birmingham City Centre approved
26 July 2012
The wholesale regeneration of parts of Birmingham City Centre has been approved by the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnershi, the businessdesk.com reports
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Workspace Group sees rent roll rise
26 July 2012
Workspace Group has reported a 2% increase in its cash rent roll to £45.5m for the second quarter of the year, while like-for-like occupancy went up 0.6%.
