Battersea Power Station third stage: Construction firm Bouygues UK wins £1bn redevelopment deal September 16, 2015 The third and final phase of the Battersea Power Station redevelopment is about to kick off. The developers behind the regeneration of Europe's largest red brick building have awarded Bouygues UK a £1bn-plus contract to build a new high street on the 42-acre site as well as 1,305 homes designed by architects Norman Foster and Frank Gehry. [...]
Red tape drives up costs for small businesses ahead of inflation September 15, 2015 The cost for small businesses of complying with regulations is soaring ahead of inflation, despite improvements in the economy and pledges by the government to cut red tape, a leading business group has warned. The Forum of Private Business, which represents thousands of small businesses across the UK, said that 86 per cent of members [...]
Peckham High Line: Boris Johnson backs plans for Peckham rails tracks to be turned into New York’s High Line-style urban park September 15, 2015 Boris Johnson has thrown his weight behind a project to turn disused railway tracks in Peckham into an “elevated urban park” to rival New York’s High Line. The London mayor said he will invest £285,000 in 20 local community projects across 15 boroughs as part of his £9m High Street Fund set up last year [...]
Sir Charles Dunstone’s Freston Road Investment to bring US pizza chain MoD to UK after Five Guys success September 14, 2015 Sir Charles Dunstone has moved from backing burger joints to pizza chains after striking a joint venture agreement to bring US restaurant chain MOD Pizza to Britain. MoD, which stands for Made on Demand, allows customers to pile as many toppings as they want on their artisan-style pizza base for the same fixed price. It [...]
Living Wage: Morrisons boss Dave Potts joins Next, John Lewis and Whitbread in warning of extra staff costs September 10, 2015 The cost of the National Living Wage is stacking up rapidly. Morrisons has today admitted that the introduction of the government-imposed measure next year is going cost the supermarket group “10s of millions of pounds” on top of the costs the business is already battling with to turn itself around. From April next year, businesses [...]
Flower Power: Laura Ashley plots expansion in India and China September 9, 2015 Laura Ashley is plotting its first foray into India and mainland China, where it believes its floral prints and home accessories will be a hit with shoppers. The retailer is in talks with a number of potential partners in both countries with the view of having its first stores up and running within two years, [...]
BHS to leave Oxford Street flagship store September 9, 2015 It could soon be the end of an era for BHS as the ailing department chain's new owners move closer to a deal that could see it leave its Oxford Street flagship altogether. Retail Acquisitions, a consortium comprising an eclectic mix of investors including former racing driver Dominic Chappell, is in talks to sell the [...]
Queen could have racked up £1bn rent during her 63-year reign September 8, 2015 The Queen would have forked out over £1bn had she had paid rent on Buckingham Palace and her other six properties during her 63 year and seven month reign. As Queen Elizabeth II becomes the UK’s longest serving monarch, lettings agent Rentify has crunched the figures to see how much she might have paid had [...]
John Lewis shakes up management team promoting Andrew Murphy to group productivity director September 8, 2015 John Lewis has reshuffled some of its management team after promoting its retail director Andrew Murphy to a new role focused on coming up with new ideas for boosting the performance of the department store chain. The retailer said Murphy’s new position as group productivity director will see him work closely with the board to [...]
Property firm LMSL teams up with crowdfunding platform to launch £9m east London bond September 8, 2015 A property investor is offering small retail investors the chance to buy a slice of east London property after launching a £9m mini-bond via crowdfunding platform CrowdBnk. LMSL Group, which owns 160 rental properties in east London worth around £52m, said it aims to raise at least £9m to plough back into the ongoing regeneration [...]
