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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
InsightPeter Bill on how home goals bring Labour pains
If Labour wins power next year and can re-tool the compulsory purchase order regime to permit the purchase of tens of thousands of acres of land at existing use value then, yes, it’s possible a start on heralded ‘nationally significant developments’ will be made by the end of its first ...
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InsightThe good ship RICS isn’t about to sink
“There is no such thing as the BBC,” wrote Times columnist Matthew Parris a fair while back, defending ‘Auntie’ from periodic attack. A reminder to those who periodically assault RICS. There’s no corporeal substance into which a knife can be plunged, just a bodiless spirit.
InsightConfusing desire with demand
‘Supply and demand’ definition: the relationship between the quantity of a commodity producers wish to sell at various prices and the quantity that consumers wish to buy.
InsightPeter Bill on the property industry’s nervousness and optimism
Last Thursday lunchtime in the City, Montagu Evans managing partner Rob Bower summed up the mood of the sector as “jittery”. There is reassurance at the mending economic outlook, but jumpiness each time higher-priced money causes a financial fuse to blow, resulting in yet another repossession in a market hardwired ...
InsightFrench connection, UK ambitions
When it comes to British commercial property, folk don’t come earlier educated than Phillippa Prongué. ‘Pip’, to friends, is as English as a Barbour jacket and Hunter wellies. The surname? Pip’s husband is French.
InsightOver-store homes risk JLP’s soul
Cleverness is one thing; common sense another. Watching chair Dame Sharon White impair the John Lewis brands is saddening.
InsightPeter Bill on planner gains and competition authority pain
Should planning consultants get overage? An essentially moral question, one which came up when confronted with the slightly shocking news two weeks ago that a few in the profession are so confident in their warm relationship with Local Planning Authority officers that they boast of being able to get more ...
InsightPeter Bill on artificial certitude, real estate certainty
Last week, Microsoft founder Bill Gates suggested the coming of artificial intelligence (AI) was “every bit as important as the PC and the internet”. So I decided to put the much-touted AI app Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) to the test.
InsightNew flight path for Canary Wharf
Tom Venner’s first public statement since joining Canary Wharf Group (CWG) as development director last July offers one clue about his main task. The job in question being to draw up a new masterplan covering the 130-acre estate.
InsightZombie offices are a scary prospect
Part two of a potted history of property. Penned to give a sense of perspective of what might be coming, given a downturn. Last month told of redundancy fears among agents. This month mulls the future for office values, given profound changes in demand.
InsightGlimpsing the moon’s dark side
A potted history to give a sense of perspective of what might be coming: between mid-2007 and mid-2010, the top UK commercial agents shed 3,300 fee-earning staff, a decrease of around 20% during the deepest recession since the 1930s. Capital values fell by 24% between July 2007 and September 2008. ...
InsightTime to keep calm and carry on
“When you’re feeling in the dumps/Don’t be silly chumps/Just purse your lips and whistle, that’s the thing, and…/Always Look on the bright side of life.”
InsightNew minister faces a hard road
It feels like a time for reflection. I’ll draw a curtain over my gauche joke when confronted by the Queen as she visited the RICS headquarters in 1999 to celebrate the centenary of its George Street home. Let’s stick to political thoughts, given that a new administration is finding its ...
InsightMighty monument to passing era
In late May, it took half an hour to half-circle the unfinished 330m-long Google Plex at King’s Cross, including stops to gawk and wonder if this skinny, 11-storey landscraper will one day become an object of Ozymandian curiosity. Maybe a stop on the tourist trail?
OnlineSouth Bank showdown
Last month, Michael Gove deployed his Section 31 powers again – this time to stop the demolition of the ITV Studios on the South Bank. His actions have threatened to chill relations with the property industry and heated up the debate on what counts as carbon-saving development. Peter Bill reports
NewsOffices: abandon hope values
Abandon hope value, all ye who seek to double or treble the size of your office block.
NewsBeware of Mike the Merciless
Mike the Merciless has been in action again. Last month, Michael Gove stun-gunned housebuilders into shelling out for cladding repairs.
NewsTime to un-trap blighted blocks
It may seem churlish to ask Michael Gove to execute two further initiatives in favour of leaseholders trapped in blighted blocks. After all, look below at what the housing secretary has accomplished this month.
InsightSadiq Khan must open door to builders
London mayor Sadiq Khan would rather sup with the devil than a developer, even though the latter might be able to help with a looming political liability: namely broken promises on affordable housing delivery.
InsightPinch from planning registers
A tip for smaller landlords facing the forbidding prospect of spending £200/sq ft rejuvenating elderly office blocks in order to merit mandatory Energy Performance Rating ‘B’ by 2030.
