Accounting anomaly buries HS2 contract labour costs in government transparency data May 17, 2018 The actual monthly costs for the controversial High Speed 2 (HS2) project have been buried in the government’s transparency data due to an accounting anomaly that one pressure group has called “nonsensical”. The Department for Transport (DfT) uploaded its payroll and headcount data publicly in April, giving a breakdown for costs for staff and non-payroll [...]
Private equity giant Carlyle picks up prime London City building on Liverpool Street next to new Elizabeth Line station for £43m May 17, 2018 Private equity group Carlyle has acquired the City’s Crosspoint building on Liverpool Street from Lord Alan Sugar’s property group Amsprop for £43m. The building is set to form part of Carlyle’s new flexible office and co-working business Uncommon that the company founded together with the Adir group in June 2017. The newly rebranded ‘Uncommon Liverpool [...]
Rail nationalisation? It’s time Britain got on with a real privatisation instead May 17, 2018 Returning the east coast mainline to public ownership yesterday prompted the inevitable calls for full renationalisation of Britain’s rail network. As transport secretary Chris Grayling demanded Stagecoach hand back the keys, trainspotters purred at the prospect of the resurrection of the London and Northern Eastern Railway (LNER) livery. Meanwhile, the unions hailed the removal of [...]
Government renationalises East Coast rail franchise stripping it from Virgin East Coast owner Stagecoach May 16, 2018 The government today renationalised Britain’s East Coast railway, stripping Stagecoach of its loss-making franchise. Transport secretary Chris Grayling appointed an “operator of last resort” to replace Virgin Trains East Coast – a joint venture between Stagecoach and Virgin. The historic London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) livery will return. A new board and an independent [...]
Khan faces calls to make London third launch city of Uber’s flying taxi programme May 16, 2018 London mayor Sadiq Khan is being urged to nominate the capital as the third city in the world to take part in Uber’s eye-catching flying taxi programme. UberAIR, as it will be known, has already picked Dallas and Los Angeles as its first two potential launch cities, and now City Hall is under pressure to [...]
TfL names Helen Murphy as head of new consulting arm as it eyes millions in revenue from work on transport projects across the world May 15, 2018 Transport for London’s (TfL) new consulting arm is picking up steam, with the appointment of a new boss for the business, as the transport organisation eyes millions in fresh revenue to help boost its finances. Last year, mayor Sadiq Khan said there was “significant scope” for the transport body to pursue opportunities to generate revenues [...]
London mayor Sadiq Khan launches initiative to get more women into leadership roles May 14, 2018 The mayor of London Sadiq Khan has today launched an initiative that aims to get more women into leadership positions. Called ‘our time: supporting future leaders’, the scheme aims to address the gender imbalance in leadership roles and bridge the gender pay gap. It will work by pairing potential future female leaders with senior staff [...]
Uber appoints Amazon guruJamie Heywood as regional manager of northern and eastern Europe May 14, 2018 Uber has poached Amazon’s director of electronics as its new regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe as the management shakeups continue. Jamie Heywood will join Uber next month to take on the role that covers its operations in more than 70 cities and 12 countries, including the UK. The role was previously held [...]
We meet Annabel Karmel, the celebrity cook who leaves children hungry for more May 14, 2018 Annabel Karmel comes bounding into the room like a bundle of sunshine. With her yellow dress and immaculate makeup, she seems a world apart from the drab Bloomsbury bar where we meet. For millions of parents, Karmel is a household name, with major supermarkets stocking her baby and toddler food. It was her first book, [...]
How much is property in Mayfair? May 11, 2018 Last month, Mayfair knocked Knightsbridge off the top spot as the most expensive place to buy in London for the first time in 10 years. Local agent Wetherells, which commissioned the report from Dataloft, puts this dethroning down to a lack of new homes being built in Knightsbridge, whereas that certainly isn’t the case in [...]