All Blogs articles – Page 18
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Blogs
Barrie blogs on the Candys
Interesting news that Christian Candy’s CPC Group has sold its Westminster headquarters on propertyweek.com today. This signals the start of a momentous year for the Candys after an annus horribilis in 2009. This started with them exiting Noho Square, continued with a monumental bust up with their Qatari partners at ...
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Blogs
Cycling 7,500 miles to the World Cup - Part Two
The Baptism of Fire is Upon Us It all starts with a toast. A toast to wish us well on our trip, but also a toast that comprised of two bottles of vodka kindly brought round by our Ozzie friend Justin (fixed everything for us, not just the booze). We ...
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Blogs
“If they’re that stupid, they deserve to be ripped off.”
This is the most common response I receive from Investors Chronicle readers whenever we run an expose on buy-to-let property clubs. With the FSA’s verdict on whether the buy-to-let mortgage market should be regulated nearing its conclusion, landlords are understandably angry that they face further box-ticking at the expense of ...
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Blogs
Pirate watch
There has been a lot of talk about pirates on Jamaica Lightning Bolt since I joined in Australia. Whether this is due to both race briefings for this leg mentioning tactics for pirate avoidance, whether the recent stories about people being taken hostage by pirates, or whether it’s just down ...
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Blogs
How Furniture Could Save Us All Some (MPs’) Expenses
As the MPs’ expenses scandal continues to rumble on, I’ve been thinking about second homes and furniture and how the system can be changed to offer better value to the taxpayer. MPs from outside of the South East should of course be reimbursed for their London pied-à-terres, but with second ...
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Blogs
Online property searches and the buzz about Google
In my last blog on these pages I wrote about a spike in the number of online searches regarding retail property conducted between Christmas and the New Year. Sadly, for all retail agents and landlords, I have to report that this surge was not sustained far into January and interest ...
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Blogs
Barrie blogs on Bernstein at the North West Property Awards
I sat with Sir Howard Bernstein as he came out fighting in Manchester yesterday. The Manchester City Council chief executive was one of the speakers among a star-studded line up at our North West 2010 conference and awards in the city yesterday. While Property Week readers and myself have been ...
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Blogs
Mountain to climb or downhill all the way?
Sure, the RBS Six Nations is a tournament. Five different battles to fight. But the sides that triumphed last weekend will feel opportunities opening up and those that lost will feel pressure, pain, and no small degree of anxiety. This week I’m looking at the fixtures through ...
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Blogs
Cycling 7,500 miles to the World Cup - Part One
From Cairo to Cape Town - The Beginning I thought I’d start my first official blog before I leave on my cycle adventure from Cairo to Cape Town with some sort of introduction. My name is Dickon Broadhurst and I am a 27 year old chartered surveyor. Tired of life ...
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Blogs
Barrie blogs on `the cloud’
What will be the workplace of the future? CoreNet Global UK President and Pricewaterhousecoopers property chief Paul Harrington was first out of the traps with this question at an illuminating seminar this morning. I chaired it, but sat back and listened to predictions from experts from Barclays Capital, EDF, Sun ...
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Blogs
Burj Khalifa, the pinnacle of building... almost
The impression that Dubai is in crisis has been given further fuel this week. First Dubai World was said to be considering selling its prized assets such as the QE2. Still, at least there was the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building at 828 meters. That was until the lift ...
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Blogs
'Change to win' or 'built to last'? – Saturday will reveal all
Change, change, change. You hear it everywhere! Obama, tick. Cameron, tick. But Johnno? No actually. He’s our man for stability. For sticking with what you’ve got because it will come right in the end. Like Mr Brown, he’s our man for ...
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Blogs
Giving tenants peace of mind . . . achieve more with less!
Housing minister John Healey’s proposals for increasing the practical help and protection available to tenants, as outlined yesterday in the Communities & Local Government report “The Private Rented Sector – Professionalism and Quality”, have got me thinking. The plans, including the introduction of a housing advice hotline, a ‘tripadvsor.co.uk’ style ...
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Blogs
Barrie blogs on Olympic cash
Why not divert unused contingency spending for the London Olympics on the ultimate legacy of the 2012 Games? This is an intriguing question doing the rounds in Whitehall, regeneration and sporting circles as the Games site itself motors towards completion next year. It is wonderful news that the bulk of ...
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Blogs
The War on Prop(erty) Trading
We live in strange days. The most left wing American president in my lifetime lurches so for to the left that he declares open warfare on the banks; the reaction from our labour government is appeasement, George Osborne agrees to join in the crusade unconditionally. You would have thought that ...
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Blogs
Social change for Chainbow
Since the beginning of the year, Chainbow’s had half a dozen unforeseen, emergency maintenance situations arise at developments we manage. These included a water pump breakdown at 6:00am on a Monday morning, a lift breakdown at the start of a weekend and a utility shut down where residents were temporarily ...
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Blogs
Barrie blogs on bullish Knight Frank
I have just emerged from the most bullish prognosis for property since go-go 2007. Knight Frank's Central London Offices breakfast at the Dorchester came up with some truly ballsy tips. That City prime rents will rise by 19% in 2010. That prime City yields will fall by up ...
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Blogs
Bring out the Branson bank
Furry-faced tycoon Richard Branson is already being hailed as the saviour of housebuilders and buy-to-let landlords. Last week, he moved a step closer to launching Virgin Bank, sealing the £12m takeover of weeny West Country lender the Church House Trust. Having fast-tracked his way to a banking licence, ex-Lloyds chief ...
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Blogs
Barrie blogs on Portillo and pay
I make no apologies for returning to bankers and their bonuses after Michael Portillo raised the issue again at today’s Investment Property Forum annual lunch. The event, at the Park Lane Hilton, was attended by 600 people and Portillo was the speaker after lunch. After trotting through his now-familiar gloomy ...
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Blogs
Barrie blogs on banks and bonuses
I am even more gripped by Andrew Ross Sorkin’s `Too Big to Fail’ after President Obama’s dramatic move to limit the activities of investment banks last week. Anyone in property reading the 600-page thriller could not have failed to notice the huge role real estate played in the ultimate collapse ...
