All Comment articles – Page 12
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InsightHousing associations are now major players
As your recent piece on IPOs attests, the social housing sector is undergoing dramatic change , building on the trend of ‘mega-mergers’ - from London Quadrant (L Q) and East Thames last year to Notting Hill and Genesis most recently.
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Insight
Retailer consolidation set to transform warehousing
Shares in British supermarkets plunged last month when Amazon announced it was buying high-end grocer Whole Foods Market for £10.7bn, sending a shockwave through the grocery sector.
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Insight
Listed sector bounces back as specialist strategies pay off
“Perhaps the surprise of 2017 will be the outperformance of the UK-quoted real estate sector against the wider equity markets” was the closing sentence in my January column.
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Insight
Like it or not, Theresa May is not going anywhere – yet
As MPs dig out their buckets and spades, the rest of the country is breathing a sigh of relief. This has been a political year like no other.
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Insight
It's time to wake up to the impact of AI
Around 200 years ago, the industrial revolution heralded the era of steam-powered engines that transformed manufacturing. In turn, the advent of electricity in the late 1800s effectively disrupted the steam process, leading to the alteration of the factory layout and the creation of the production line.
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Professional
Well-designed public realm should be used to enhance urban areas
Placemaking has long been the buzzword of the real estate world but, aside from the anecdotal benefits, it has often been hard to measure the tangible advantages. Until now.
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Insight
New business districts offer more than cost savings
The days when businesses were grouped by sector, with law firms congregating in Holborn, bankers in the City, start-ups in Shoreditch and creatives in Soho, are long past. Instead, London’s locational barriers are disintegrating as companies that previously siloed themselves jockey for positions around emerging new business neighbourhoods across the ...
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Insight
UK's retail sector is still very much open for business
Recent political and societal events in the UK have put a dampener on our summer and, if we look back at the past six months, London and the rest of the UK have certainly been through the mill.
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Insight
No summer break for real estate investors
The end of H1 typically marks the start of the summer recess, but this year it seems the UK and European real estate markets do not want to take the traditional break. Global capital remains extremely active with domestic and global investors undeterred by continuing political instability.
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Insight
Amazon is less slayer and more saviour of food retail property
When Amazon announced its intention to acquire top-end American grocery chain Whole Food Markets (WFM) for just $14bn (£10.7bn) last month, the facial expressions of a lot of real estate magnates with a presence in the retail space would have been interesting to see.
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Insight
Teaming with BTR backers a win-win for councils
With local authorities struggling with central government cuts, it’s unsurprising many have turned to commercial property as an alternative source of income, as shown by Woking Borough Council’s purchase of Dukes Court last week
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Insight
Build-to-rent will be key to solving the housing crisis
Britain’s broad property sector was hit with uncertainty after last year’s Brexit referendum – and the outcome of this year’s general election has done little to calm the nerves of investors concerned about the outlook for UK property.
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Professional
Buildings can be designed with the recycling of their materials in mind
Things are starting to change in the way property and infrastructure assets are managed. The ‘circular economy’ provides a framework for us to think about how we use materials and how we get the most value from them over time.
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Insight
Rail freight has huge untapped potential for logistics
Although the past year has been a time of political drama across Europe and in the UK, one area that has stayed resolutely stable is the logistics property sector.
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Insight
The end of boom and bust – sounds too good to be true?
Sorry to disappoint you, but the objective of the Property Industry Alliance (PIA) Long-term Value paper is not “to end property booms and busts”.
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Insight
Will robots run construction sites? Not bleepin' likely
A short time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the boffins at Balfour Beatty envisioned a brave new world for construction. Robots would build offices, buildings would build themselves and the few earthlings involved would be controlled by ‘exoskeletons’.
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Insight
Now is the time to invest in retail leisure experiences
Remember when casual dining started being added to shopping destinations? What was revolutionary then is simply good business now.
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Insight
The financial services sector is back in style
The remarkable recovery of the New York City economy since the end of 2009 has been driven by a number of factors, including strong growth in sectors such as healthcare and tourism.
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Insight
Build-to-rent is evolving into a competitive sector
Following the general election, there is yet again uncertainty surrounding the politics of the UK housing market. The housing minister has changed, with Gavin Barwell losing his seat, replaced by Alok Sharma.
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Insight
Clarity of thought and purpose will be crucial for the Grenfell inquiry
From the point of view of broad public protection, it will be important that the official inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster is allowed to focus on the critical issues - that is to say the cause of the initial fire, why it spread so rapidly and why a complex ...
