All Comment articles
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Online
The retirement communities sector – rising to the challenge
This has been a year defined by the global, social and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. As an increasingly important part of the UK’s social care provision, the spotlight has shone on the retirement communities sector like never before.
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Online
Sir Philip is no good guy, but he’s not the only one to blame for the High Street apocalypse
We have all missed something about this devastation strewn across our High Streets this week, and for the past few years for that matter.
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Insight
Time to restore trust in valuers
In July, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) directed four big accountants to set apart their audit arms by 2024.
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Insight
The self-employed deserve support during this crisis
There is clearly a real appetite for government and business to work closely together to limit the damage Covid-19 has done to the UK economy, and that is encouraging.
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Insight
The co-living sector is here to stay
Last October, we launched the world’s first large-scale, global, co-living fund with a focus on quality, convenience and Community. We aimed to provide flexible, inspiring space where people felt they belonged. We believed people wanted more from the place they called home.
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Insight
A new agent fee model is required
The fees that leasing agents get from landlords are linked to transactions and most of these transactions are linked to the granting of new leases. Increase the number of new leases and you increase your fee revenue. Simple.
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Insight
An outlook on the office market: we are seeing positive signs
Can we be optimistic about the future of the office, when homeworking continues to be our modus operandi with currently no end in sight? We have seen impactful, unprecedented and rapid change in the last six months, including the recent government u-turn after initially encouraging staff back to work, and ...
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Online
NewFlex launches new ‘Hybrid Office’ model
Flexible office operator, NewFlex has added a new offering to its portfolio. The ‘Hybrid Office’ will allow businesses to maintain their own managed smaller head office for team collaboration, in addition to regional and suburban micro-hubs, all on a needs-basis, which will help accommodate a blend of working from home ...
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Online
Every downturn ends in recovery – this one will be no different
The danger of writing a piece like this is the temptation to sound wise after the event, or to attempt to predict the future. As the Nobel prize-winning, behavioural economist Daniel Kahneman observed, “we are prone to overestimate how much we understand about the world and to underestimate the role ...
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Online
WFH doesn't work for everyone
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruption on a global scale, radically altering our lives and moving us rapidly into a ‘new normal’, which we’re still coming to terms with.
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Insight
Digital must pay its way
Shopkeepers in Britain have been brutalised by circumstance. The last 18 months have seen the feckless Theresa May government, the Brexit saga, the December 2019 general election and then, to top everything off, Covid-19.
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Insight
Interaction is key to creativity
Speculation that the Covid-19 crisis will herald the end of the office makes me think of Mark Twain’s quip that reports of his death had been greatly exaggerated. Just like Twain in 1897, the office has not died in 2020.
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Insight
It’s time for buildings to get smart
Long gone are the days of cubicles and typewriters, smoke-filled offices and the nine-to-five.
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Insight
The BTR sector is primed for success
Institutional property investment in the UK has historically given residential a wide berth.
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Insight
Covid-19: the lessons we can learn from Germany
Many public figures have described the current situation as the War Against The Coronavirus and with a military background, I appreciate and understand the importance of preparing for any eventuality.
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Online
Service charge challenge serves as a warning
The High Court has upheld a decision of a deputy master refusing to grant summary judgment for a landlord in a service charge dispute.
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Online
Empathy between occupiers and landlords essential ahead of June quarter
The government’s recent announcement that it intends to publish a code of practice imminently for commercial landlords and occupiers to adopt when discussing rental payments is certainly to be welcomed.
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Insight
It’s time to redefine our industry
There’s never a dull moment in the property sector, but the past year has had plenty of twists and turns with Brexit, a general election and Covid-19. Last July, I had the honour of being appointed as president of the British Property Federation (BPF) and as I reach the end ...
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Insight
Modular homes are the future
Just over a month before much of the world went into lockdown, at the 50th World Economic Forum in Davos, session after session was devoted to tackling the climate crisis.