Latest letters
Students are part of the magic mix
Editor: Your recent ‘Solving the student housing shortfall’ roundtable (p26, 22.03.24) raised some interesting points, with Greystar’s Michela Hancock saying “mixed tenure should be encouraged”.
Why the flex office sector no longer needs WeWork
Editor: Adam Neumann has made headlines in recent weeks for his $500m bid to buy back WeWork.
Forsters’ partner Du Croz on the slow path to planning reform
Government has hiked fees and proposed local authorities return money when they underperform.
Help to Buy was no housing solution
Editor: Vernon Pethard advocates resurrecting the Help to Buy Scheme to assist young people and families on to the housing ladder (p25, 15.03.24). I profoundly disagree that this would be a sensible solution to the housing crisis.
Tax breaks for retrofit projects are long overdue
Editor: Owners of heritage buildings have long been calling for greater support to help them bring their assets up to speed with sustainability targets, so it is reassuring to see the City of London Corporation releasing a retrofit toolkit.
Is scrapping FHL yet another an attack on landlords?
The biggest headline-grabbing announcement from the Spring Budget as far as the property sector is concerned is the scrapping of the Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHL) regime. FHL provides those who hire out furnished properties as holiday lets with various tax advantages.
Why Help to Buy must be resurrected
While the chancellor delivered several welcome tax cuts in the Spring Budget, there was a disappointing absence of support pledged for prospective homebuyers.
Attitudes to safety must change now
Editor: If the property sector handled disasters like Grenfell as seriously as the airline industry takes its disasters, we would not have witnessed the horrific fatal fire in Valencia last month.
Construction industry can own digital transformation
Editor: Contrary to popular belief, a recent report has shown that the UK construction industry has been among the best at digital adoption. However, this has started to grind to a halt as a quarter (28%) of businesses in the sector believe digital transformation is easy for them to achieve.
Inflexible offices simply won’t cut it
Editor: In Nottingham and across the Midlands, we have seen some huge companies downsize and move into serviced office accommodation. They are doing so largely to cut costs, but the trend is also a reflection of a much-changed working environment in which employees prize greater flexibility.
How ‘hotelification’ breathes new life into high streets
Editor: As hospitality specialist architects and interior designers, we found last week’s edition of Property Week extremely relevant. Studio Moren is the team developing the Great Tower Street property in the City of London for Dominus.
Retail sector concerns are overblown
Editor: The 3.9% drop revealed in the latest Office for National Statistics retail sales volume report for non-food stores sparked panic in the headlines. Commentators and analysts rushed to outline the chaos on the high streets, with doom-mongering soundbites and accelerated calls for Bank of England rate cuts.
