All Blogs articles – Page 16
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Blogs
Thunderbirds ethos helps with property management
Broadly I think the 1960’s TV programme, Thunderbirds, highlights all human nature and reaction. There are those who will be stuck in trouble waiting to be saved; those on the sidelines grateful that someone can step in and avert disaster; those that don their flying suits and race to the ...
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Blogs
Ronson’s `10 commandments’
King of the house builders Tony Pidgley today told us his friend the `Guv’nor’ Gerald Ronson’s 10 Commandments for property success in a speech at the Heron annual lunch. Here they are: 1: Keep it simple 2: Control everything 3: Put your own money into deals 4: Buy prime 5: ...
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Blogs
Election Week One
What should property make of the first week of the election campaign? Firstly, that the industry is going to play a bigger part than usual in the big debate. This is because property is at the very heart of yesterday’s big talking point: efficiency savings. Our own Professional Editor and ...
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Blogs
Google’s Real Estate Search in the UK – it’s coming sometime (soon maybe?)
Back in January I wrote on these pages about reports that Google was turning its attention to the UK property market and the rumours that it was looking to bring its “Real Estate Search” to these shores following its introduction in the USA and Australia. Around that time it was ...
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Blogs
Barrie on Wheeler `tragedy’
I went along to the Tim Wheeler industrial tribunal again yesterday – and the overwhelming feeling about the whole episode is now one of sadness. The former chief executive of Brixton has had his say, and his former board colleagues led by ex-chairman Lady Patten have had their say – ...
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Blogs
Cycling 7,500 miles to the World Cup - Part 7
Abound in Abyssinia Call me a lout, call me a yob, call be a Stella drinking Brits-on-tour hooligan, I don’t care. The Muslims have got it all wrong. Beer is good. Fact! This particular epiphany, this moment of clarity, this biblical vision came to me as I crossed the border ...
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Blogs
Cycling 7,500 miles to the World Cup - Part 6
Escape From Khartoum The further I travel south, the less efficient internet systems seem to be. Subsequently, if I could ask you to click on the following link to get my blog that details my tales of cycling from Cairo to the World Cup. I have done my best to ...
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Blogs
Home Show Reveals Poor Property Standards
The Ideal Home Show has come to an end and what a fantastic experience speaking there has been! I did not take advantage of being able to tour around the stands so I avoided the temptation to buy some gadget that looked as though it would make my life complete ...
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Blogs
Savings habit is hard to acquire
One of the figures to stick in my mind after last week’s budget was the average £33,000 first time buyers have to save up for a deposit on their first property. The British Property Federation were quick to point out that scrapping stamp duty on homes under £250,000 will not ...
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Blogs
Barrie on Boris’s Olympic Orbit
My spies in City Hall tell me the Mayor is gearing up any day to launch `Olympic Orbit 2012’ – his personal legacy from London’s Games. Over a drink in Southwark last night a GLA friend showed me the plan for the Anish Kapoor-designed viewing tower. I would attempt to ...
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Blogs
Property Week Six Nations Blog 2010 - Tournament Review
Mark Rigby is Chairman of London Wasps and a 25-year veteran of the commercial property industry. So, is that supposed to be good enough? No, I’m not talking about my predictions for this year’s Championship (less said about that the better) but the more substantial question of whether England have, ...
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Blogs
Budget 2010: What difference does it make?
‘Vote for change,’ scream the Tory banners, with airbrushed-Dave peering down creepily like the ghost of Gareth Gates. ‘The choice,’ we’re told, is of ‘five more years of the same pants, or queuing up in M S to buy some new ones.’ And you know how long the queues are ...
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Blogs
So what does "niche" mean, anyway?
There was a sense of frustration hanging in the air at this Monday's IPD Property Derivatives Conference. Bankers and brokers were lamenting the patchy communication they experience when seeking to engage with potential traders on pricing positions. Their frustration was at the lack of appetite for a market once heralded ...
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Blogs
Busy back in Blighty
A well wisher has kindly sent me a video of my impromptu presentation at lunch in Cannes last week on the merits of the MIPIM London Stand. I was either very brave (or foolhardy!) as the comments which have been captured for posterity were made in the presence of our ...
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Blogs
The Stamp Duty `Great Escape’
With only residential property included in the rise in Stamp Duty to 5% today commercial property can breathe a huge sigh of – probably temporary – relief. Chancellor Alistair Darling said the 1% rise for properties worth more than £1m would apply to residential properties alone. The move will fund ...
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Blogs
Faint heart never won fair maiden…
So the saying goes. Now, I don’t know Mrs Martin Johnson but, based on Johnno’s reaction to the Murrayfield stalemate and his bold changes for Paris, you would have to say she should be pretty tidy. I suspect I was not alone in being thoroughly bored by ...
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Blogs
Ideal Opportunity at the Ideal Home Show
I remember my parents going to the Ideal Home exhibition in 1970 and bringing back a Mickey Mouse sweet dispenser for me. At that time I was a huge fan of all things Disney so I was thrilled with my gift but had little comprehension of what the Ideal Home ...
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Blogs
Will the last property fund to leave Aim please switch off the lights?
nother week, another overseas property fund announces it is to quit London’s Alternative Investment Market (Aim). CREO is the latest to turn tail, and will shortly be adding its name to nearly 80 Aim-traded property funds that have delisted since the slump, either through take-private deals or nefarious financial management. ...
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Blogs
Nothing much has changed in 50 years
The Kray twins made a good living threatening and extorting money around the East End during the 50’s 60’s. Both got life; not unreasonable for the murders and destruction. Rackman made a good living in the 50’s 60’s terrorising people in their homes and using intimidating ...
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Blogs
Shed loads of online property searches (and things to look out for).
“Shed Shifters” reading this will be pleased to learn that the search levels on Google for industrial, warehousing and manufacturing properties are currently enjoying a bit of a surge, with the volume of searches in this sector during February reaching levels not seen since the first quarter of 2009. The ...
