London barometer April 24, 2014 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DOUGLAS & GORDON THE SPRING market is already as busy as we expected with buyers up around 15 per cent and stock levels increasing slightly each month. Homeowners seem keen to take advantage of the strong sales market but many are surprised at the speed with which their properties are going under offer. [...]
The great spring clean of luxury furnishings April 24, 2014 High-end interiors firm Carden Cunietti to sell off 20 years’ worth of treasures WANT to get your hands on a lamp destined for the home of an A-lister? Ever wondered what a rock star’s rug would look like? Now’s your chance as Carden Cunietti, an interior design firm to the stars, is offloading two decades’ [...]
Work in Progress: Five stars and fluffy foxes at The Shard’s Shangri-La Hotel April 24, 2014 SOMETIMES I find myself coughing on sawdust on building sites. This – along with hard hats and hi-vis jackets made for adult-sized humans (not five foot nothing ones that still get given Velcro shoes in bowling alleys) – is an unfortunate by-product of touring London’s most exclusive addresses and landmarks before they’re built. Apart from [...]
Q & A April 24, 2014 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DOUGLAS & GORDON Q I have been renting out my flat but the letting agent looking after the property never seems to be available when I want to contact them. What can I do to make them return my calls? A It doesn’t sound like you’re off to the best start with your [...]
Don’t fear the quantified workplace April 24, 2014 While it has shades of Big Brother, personal analytics could make your job happier and easier SELF-KNOWLEDGE is the first step towards self-improvement for the personal analytics evangelists. If you can use wearable sensors to acquire data about yourself, and then analyse your performance over tasks, you can deploy this information to change your behaviour [...]
Barca’s transfer reprieve offers Man City FFP lift April 24, 2014 MANCHESTER City could look to leverage Fifa’s decision to suspend Barcelona’s transfer ban to delay any punishment they incur for possible breaches of European financial fair play (FFP) rules, experts say. Barca had their freeze on buying and selling players lifted temporarily yesterday, meaning they will be free to trade this summer, after football’s world [...]
Three ways you can bounce back after being fired April 23, 2014 Having an explanation ready for any abrupt departure is vital THE LATE Steve Jobs said that being fired from Apple in 1985 was the best thing that could have ever happened to him. “The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me [...]
Just three reforms would transform UK recovery into long-term boom April 22, 2014 WHISPER it, but things finally seem to be looking up. Investment is rising, unemployment is falling, and the deficit seems to be coming under control. But it could be a lot better. Real wages will not recover to their pre-crisis peak until 2020. And expected growth of 2.7 per cent this year is well below [...]
Hate meetings? There are solutions April 22, 2014 You can’t escape the corporate meeting boom, but you can stop wasting so much time OVER a third start late, we lose the equivalent of 31 hours a month each because they’re unproductive, and many people hate them anyway. Meetings are the bête noire of corporate life and, according to one survey, 39 per cent [...]
Shale to boost jobs across the supply chain April 22, 2014 THE UK’S burgeoning shale gas industry will create tens of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds worth of investment across the supply chain, according to a new report set to be published this week. The study, commissioned by the UK Onshore Operators Group and undertaken by EY, is expected to warn that the country [...]