Deputy chair of leaked HS2 review slams ‘whitewash’ report November 12, 2019 The deputy chair of the government-commissioned review into HS2 has savaged a late draft of the report, which urges ministers to press on with the project. Lord Tony Berkeley, who was co-author of the report until a matter of weeks ago, has written to chairman Douglas Oakervee demanding his name be removed from the document. [...]
Galliard Homes to develop £140m luxury flat complex above Crossrail station November 12, 2019 Galliard Homes will develop a £140m luxury residential and retail development above Tottenham Court Road’s Crossrail station. The property investor has exchanged contracts with Transport for London for £43m, it announced today. Read more: Crossrail will not open until 2021, bosses admit Tottenham Court Road West (TCRW) will include 92 flats – with prices for [...]
HS2: Leaked report urges government to press on with rail project November 12, 2019 The High Speed 2 (HS2) rail line connecting London to Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds should go ahead in its entirety despite the likelihood of massive budget overruns and falling benefit to the taxpayer, according to a draft of the official review into the project. Douglas Oakervee, a former chair of HS2 who was tasked with [...]
Six pictures that show the City of London skyline like you’ve never seen it before November 10, 2019 Photographer James Burns has been hauling his camera to the top of London’s tallest buildings for the last 10 years. He sees the story of London over the past decade as one of skyscraper proliferation. “When I started photography, London’s skyline was a little bit boring. I used to take photographs with the intention of [...]
Crossrail will not open until 2021 and could run £650m over budget, bosses admit November 8, 2019 Crossrail will not open until 2021 and will run up to £650m over budget, transport bosses admitted today. The long-awaited Elizabeth Line, which was originally due to open in December 2018, will not open until “as soon as practically possible in 2021”, Transport for London (TfL) said. Crossrail chief executive Mark Wild warned technical issues [...]
London house prices: How London boroughs’ house prices have changed since the last election November 7, 2019 Prime central London house prices have taken the biggest hit since the last general election, as previously less desirable areas gain popularity. London constituencies further away from the centre were the biggest winners between June 2017 and now as buyers sought cheaper properties. Read more: UK house price growth slows in October House prices made [...]
The neo townhouse: These enduringly popular London homes are getting a modern makeover November 4, 2019 London is an architectural patchwork of cottages and terraces, mansion flats, mews and tower blocks. And then there’s the townhouse. Definitions vary for this apparently all-encompassing name – for what is a townhouse? Is it no more than a house in town? If so, what is a “town”? Or is it a particular kind of [...]
‘Dirty business’: Rail firms will still be dumping raw sewage on the line next year November 3, 2019 Rail operators have been forced to backtrack on a promise to stop the “dirty business” of dumping excrement on tracks by the end of the year. Network Rail and a number of train companies have admitted the 2017 promise – to stop using carriages whose toilets flush sewage directly onto the track by the end [...]
Focus on Willesden: A well-connected area where North London buyers can upsize November 1, 2019 One of the universally acknowledged truths of the London housing market is that needing more space often means moving further out. But it need not mean going all the way out into the sticks – and the North West London neighbourhood of Willesden is testament to that. While it is on the zone two-three border [...]
Level up: Lessons from London for boosting the rest of the UK October 29, 2019 Britain’s economy has been distorted. London takes all the jobs, all the talent, all the investment, leaving crumbs for everyone else. For Britain to prosper, the capital needs to be cut down to size. In the wake of the financial crisis, and then of the Brexit vote, this is an argument that has become increasingly [...]