Life and death with modern methods
2023-11-30T09:48:00+00:00By Lem Bingley
The case for modern methods of construction (MMC) has long been described in the most polarised terms.
Forgotten but not gone: what’s not in the Autumn Statement
2023-11-23T00:00:00+00:00By Lem Bingley
Every Budget or Autumn Statement is notable for the measures not announced as much as those presented at the despatch box.
Meta surrender epilogue: British Land outlines Regent's Place plan
2023-11-16T00:00:00+00:00By Lem Bingley
In September, I used this space to ponder the circumstances around Meta’s surrender of the lease it had taken out on 1 Triton Square, a redeveloped office building in British Land’s Regent’s Place scheme.
Building needs a zap, stat
2023-11-09T00:00:00+00:00By Lem Bingley
Most of us would welcome a drop in the headline rate of inflation, but we must be careful what we wish for. Deflation – or falling prices – is not healthy either, resembling instead the slowing beeps of a monitor as the patient slips away.
Decisions, decisions: from the Covid inquiry to levelling-up
2023-11-02T00:00:00+00:00By Lem Bingley
The current public inquiry into the handling of the Covid crisis has so far painted a deeply unflattering picture of the way central government arrives at decisions. Among an extraordinary amount of mud-slinging from former advisers, a couple of things stand out.
Logistics: highs and lows
2023-10-26T00:00:00+01:00By Lem Bingley
The government’s call for evidence on ‘Freight, Logistics and the Planning System’, a consultation that opened in July, closed earlier this month and we must now await a government response in the fullness of time, whenever that might turn out to be.
Is infrastructure on track?
2023-10-19T00:00:00+01:00By Lem Bingley
The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), an independent agency formed to give advice to government, now publishes a major review of infrastructure progress once every five years – the first National Infrastructure Assessment having landed in 2018.
A glittering performance?
2023-10-12T00:00:00+01:00By Lem Bingley
As protests go, showering someone in glitter is probably at the preferable end of hurled substances.
All change please
2023-10-06T00:00:00+01:00By Lem Bingley
“The right thing to do when the facts have changed is to have the courage to change direction.” So said prime minister Rishi Sunak in his speech to the Tory conference on Wednesday afternoon.
What to make of Meta?
2023-09-28T00:00:00+01:00
Meta’s astonishing decision to spend £149m wriggling out of its commitment to lease a London office building from British Land says more about the California-based social media giant than it does about the state of the UK office market.
All eyes on sustainability
2023-09-28T00:00:00+01:00By Adam Branson
As he wrestled with getting the economy back on track in the aftermath of the 2008-09 global financial crisis, then prime minister David Cameron was reported to have told ministers and civil servants alike to “cut the green crap”. This from a man who just a few years previously had ...
Beware the sunlit uplands
2023-09-21T08:27:00+01:00By Lem Bingley
As I write hastily on Wednesday (20.09.23), I assume speech writers in the back rooms of No 10 Downing Street will be hammering their keyboards with even greater urgency, tasked with framing the government’s shift on climate policy in the best possible light. I don’t envy their task in polishing ...
The money men
2023-09-15T00:00:00+01:00By Lem Bingley
This week we publish the inaugural Property Top 40 – a list detailing the best-paid executives running UK-listed firms in the property sector.
Good, cheap and fresh: pick any two
2023-08-25T00:01:00+01:00By Lem Bingley
The irony of being probed for anti-competitive practices in the midst of a transparently difficult year will not bring much comfort to the major housebuilders.
M&S lesson: don’t diss retrofit
2023-07-28T00:00:00+01:00By Lem Bingley
Michael Gove’s decision last week to throw out plans to redevelop the M&S flagship building on Oxford Street must have been particularly galling for the retailer, given that the secretary of state seems to have prioritised protecting the visual impact of the Selfridges store next door.