Peter Bill
Peter Bill is a former property editor, journalist, columnist for the Evening Standard from 2007-15 and author of Planet Property. You can follow him on Twitter @peterproperty
InsightStop building castles in the air
There is a housing crisis. More homes are needed. Private developers build 85% of all new homes. They complain of planning red tape and land shortages. Red tape must be cut and more land zoned for housing. Developers will then build more homes, won’t they? No.
- Insight
Towering ambitions in Docklands
At 7pm on Friday 9 February 1996, I was one floor up from Property Week, working at Building magazine.
- Insight
The lioness and her pussycat
PLP’s lead architect on 22 Bishopgate, Karen Cook, is a fierce defender of her craft, according to Sir Stuart Lipton, creator of the 1.4m sq ft City tower, which has just topped out at 945ft. “She is a lion; a brilliant architect,” he says. “But every lion needs a lion ...
- Insight
Something stirs in Wirral Waters
Something stirs in the long-still Wirral Waters. Dutch pension fund APG is close to taking a punt on John Whittaker’s Peel Holdings’ plan (pictured) to regenerate 500 acres of Birkenhead docks, aka Wirral Waters – far more mellifluous.
- News
JLL pulls out of Brunei contract
JLL has unilaterally withdrawn from managing nearly £2bn of hotel assets owned by the Sultan of Brunei.
- Online
Parliament’s restorative dome
Given the mood of the country, pitchforking parliamentarians into a shed in Tamworth and bulldozing their decaying talking shop would win more votes than spending £4bn restoring the Palace of Westminster. Insurers may view the shower (water, not people) that caused the Brexit debate to be suspended on 4 April ...
- Online
Lord Foster's 'pop-up parliament' considered as temporary home for MPs
Plans for a ‘pop-up parliament’ designed by Lord Foster for Horse Guards Parade are being considered amid fears that stalled plans to move MPs into the Grade II listed HQ of the Ministry of Health on Whitehall will add two years and £350m in costs to the £4bn restoration and ...
- Insight
Duking it out over section 106
The seventh Duke of Westminster should read Southwark Council’s 166-page report on why it last month rejected £800m plans to build 1,343 flats and a new school in Bermondsey. The council wanted 35% of the homes to be rented at 25% below market rent, rejecting Grosvenor’s 27.5% final offer.
- Insight
BL is backing IPSX and women
British Land will insert an iconic property, worth an eight- or nine-figure sum, into a special-purpose vehicle by the end of June. Shares in the SPV will be sold via an initial public offering. This will be the maiden float on the new International Property Stock Exchange (IPSX), which last ...
- Insight
2019 forecast: decade of disruption beckons
Come September, there will be an outbreak of punditry with punning ‘20/20 vision’ headlines forecasting the property trends over the next decade.
- News
Rothesay Life ready to move from Cheesegrater to Post
The insurance firm’s planned move to a new office in The Post Building would triple its London footprint.
- Insight
WeWork hipsters work the TRADS room
“Hi! We are the pretentious tossers,” cried Greg Miley, director of Broker and Real Estate Partnerships for Europe, Israel and Australia at WeWork, as he bounded out in front of an audience of dark-suited agents, a bearded pocket dynamo and one-time footballer in skinny jeans, his reddish hair scrunched in ...
- Insight
“Is Compass a money-blowing residential version of WeWork?”
Last week, WeWork backer SoftBank pumped $400m into Compass, a high-end US residential property site absurdly valued at $4.4bn. Some of that cash may well be splashed in London.
- Insight
Zap factoids; build homes on firm foundation of facts
For sanity’s sake, change the tune. Sixteen housing ministers since 1979 have accepted a factoid suggesting they are responsible for the number of new homes built.
- Insight
Croydon council prepares for Crexit possibilities
On 17 May, Westfield shareholders ticked the £18.5bn takeover offer made in December 2017 by French retail giant Unibail-Rodamco. A week earlier I’d asked Croydon council chief executive Jo Negrini if she was worried that the coming surrender of Westfield to the French might further delay the £1.4bn Whitgift Centre, ...
- Insight
Ditch CVAs for BVAs to keep stores turning over
”It’s like kicking a sick dog,” said one young analyst working at a major US fund last week at the Freehold drinks party.
- Insight
Will property’s social enlightenment survive a punch in the face?
Three comments over the past month have left me in two minds.
- Insight
The story behind British Land moving forward with Canada Water scheme
Developer hails submission of planning application as ‘important milestone’ in the delivery of the project.
- Online
British Land submits planning application for Canada Water scheme
British Land has signed a master development agreement with freeholder Southwark Council for the 53-acre Canada Water scheme and submitted a detailed planning application for 285 000 sq ft of office, retail and leisure space and 270 homes, 35% of which would be affordable.
- Insight
A vision being developed for Whitehall in darkened rooms
Fresh political thinking on the state’s real estate is due to be published next month.
