Galliford Try lands £360m development for 1,100 homes in east London September 15, 2014 Housebuilding and construction group Galliford Try has been chosen as the preferred developer by the Greater London Authority to build the Silvertown Way development. Located in Canning Town, East London with over 1,100 mixed tenure homes across 11 blocks, the gross development comes to a hefty £360m, ranking it as the largest standalone scheme Galliford [...]
JD Wetherspoon share price up as boss claims VAT “biggest danger to pubs” September 12, 2014 JD Wetherspoon has reported record sales and profit in its full-year results, yet founder and chairman Tim Martin has described the government's VAT on pubs as a danger to the industry. Shares in the company have risen 1.31 per cent in early morning trading. Profit before tax and after exceptional items was up [...]
West End landmark Trocadero to be turned into budget hotel September 11, 2014 THE TROCADERO in Piccadilly is to be given a makeover after Europe’s largest hotelier Accor announced yesterday it had struck a deal to turn the famous West End landmark into a budget three-star hotel. Owners Criterion Capital, run by property magnate Asif Aziz, have already begun work on redeveloping the building into a 583-room hotel, [...]
Service industry looks to an improved Britain September 11, 2014 BUSINESS SERVICES of the year In uncertain times, companies that are willing to try something different – be that a new management team, an innovative business structure or a better use of technology – are those that tend to succeed. Our choices come from the transport sector, catering, white-collar recruitment, online professional networking and management [...]
Skanska wins £600m Battersea Power Station building contract September 10, 2014 Skanska has been chosen as preferred bidder to redevelop the Battersea Power Station building, it emerged yesterday, in a major coup for the Swedish construction firm. The company is understood to have beaten Balfour Beatty, Lend Lease and Mace to win the estimated £600m job. A formal announcement is expected to be made within the [...]
Whitbread share price rises as Costa Coffee injects caffeine into sales September 9, 2014 Shares in leisure giant Whitbread opened 1.6 per cent higher, after it posted a trading statement showing Costa Coffee delivered like-for-like sales of 5.8 per cent in the 24 weeks to 14 August, helping to make up for more sluggish growth of 3.1 per cent in its restaurants. Costa enjoyed growth in worldwide sales of [...]
Chapel Down gets taste for crowdfunding September 8, 2014 Chapel Down has turned to crowdfunding to raise up to £4m for its next phase of growth as Britain’s biggest wine-maker more than doubles in size. The Kent-based group, which makes sparkling and still wines as well as craft beers, said yesterday it is seeking to raise between £1m and £3.9m through Seedrs, the UK [...]
Celebrity photos iCloud hack? Steve Jobs wouldn’t have let this happen September 5, 2014 So, it would appear that if I did take loads of photos of myself naked, shot a mucky video or a whole manner of other salacious digital tomfoolery, there’s a good chance it would get backed up to iCloud and I’d be hunted down by hackers who would expose me to the world. Thank goodness [...]
Focus On… The City: residential is finally taking off in the Square Mile September 5, 2014 When it comes to residential developments, the Square Mile has a bit of an image problem. The ancient financial heart of the City of London has been abuzz with business for 1,000 years and it’s still graced by some of the capital’s most impressive architecture. Around 370,000 people go there to work every day, but [...]
Conran feasts on profits from restaurant sale August 31, 2014 CONRAN Holdings, the design empire founded by Sir Terence Conran, has made a return to profit after selling its restaurant business last year. The company behind The Conran Shop and the design consultancy Conran & Partners, made a £6.4m profit from selling its 51 per cent stake in in D&D London, whose sites include Coq [...]