How to find the perfect Maldives August 8, 2010 BEST FOR: FAMILY FUN ANANTARA DHIGU Lots of resorts in the Maldives have kids’ clubs, but it’s the little touches at Dhigu that make a difference. From dusk til dawn, your sandy, sticky-handed brood will be smiling. At breakfast, you can send them off to bark orders at the guy in the pancake and waffle [...]
ONWARDS MEANS UPWARDS FOR MACE August 2, 2010 MACE, the private construction company building the Shard skyscraper (pictured above), posted a 30 per cent rise in profit to £19.3m yesterday. The builder of the London Eye and British Museum courtyard said the growth stemmed from expansion into UK infrastructure and projects in Vietnam, Africa and the Middle East. Turnover increased 18 per cent [...]
CITY SKYSCRAPERS UNDER CONSTRUCTION July 25, 2010 20 Fenchurch Street The Walkie Talkie Developer Land Securities Predicted completion 2014 Estimated construction cost £300m Size 500 feet high; 639,000 square feet of space 122 Leadenhall St The Cheesegrater Developer British Land Predicted completion at least 2012 Cost £286m Size 736 feet high; 612,000 square feet of space 22 Bishopsgate The Pinnacle Developer Arab [...]
TfL bought out of Shard to make way for richer tenants June 14, 2010 TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has accepted a multi-million pound payment in exchange for abandoning plans to move into the Shard of Glass development near London Bridge in 2012. The building’s owners, Sellar Property and the Qatar Central Bank, bought back TfL’s lease to allow them to cash in on rising rent prices in the capital. [...]
Skyscrapers to surge in building boom May 20, 2010 LONDON office space has been the subject of much consternation amongst the financial elite. The recession caused office construction to grind to a shuddering halt as firms battened down the hatches and waited for the worst to pass. As the economy shifted into growth, the construction industry lagged behind and office rates crept up. Prime [...]
Borough Market gets a taste of Caribbean cacao May 19, 2010 THINK of premium, top-end chocolate and you probably think of exquisite truffles or smooth, silky bars in luxurious packaging, creations of meticulous artisan craftsmanship with the words “Swiss” or “Belgian” included somewhere. You wouldn’t think of inelegant, lumpy, rough-hewn shards of the stuff sold in no less elegant paper and plastic bags with a sticker [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 18, 2010 RWC Partners The asset manager has hired Schroders fund managers Nick Purves (pictured) and Ian Lance. Purves and Lance will manage both value and income funds at RWC, building on their track record with the Schroder UK Equity Income Fund, the best-performing fund in the IMA UK equity income sector over the past five years. [...]
Lack of fresh London development to drive a renewed spike in City rents March 18, 2010 THE City of London is currently suffering from a shortage of Grade A commercial property but plans for fresh new build projects remain few and far between, developers warned yesterday. Speaking at MIPIM – the property industry’s annual conference in Cannes – developers said despite projects coming on stream over the next few years, including [...]
CITY HEAVYWEIGHTS GET THE URGE TO SLOG IT OUT IN THE BOXING RING January 13, 2010 THE High Court case rumbling on and on between BGC Partners and Tullett Prebon might not have exactly brought the City’s main money broking camps closer together, but at least it’s helped forge some more playful liaisons between those on the same side. Tullett’s boss, City veteran Terry Smith, is well known for his prowess [...]
Qataris make millions from Barclays sale October 20, 2009 GULF state vehicle Qatar Holding yesterday offloaded half of its share warrants in Barclays, netting the bank’s biggest shareholder a fast profit of over £600m. Qatari investors, who still hold a direct shareholding of over seven per cent in Barclays, were issued with the warrants last November at a subscription price of 197.775p, as part [...]