Autumn Statement: London is getting £3.15bn of funding for 90,000 affordable homes November 23, 2016 London is getting £3.15bn of funding for 90,000 affordable homes by 2020-21, chancellor Philip Hammond announced in the Autumn Statement today. The chancellor said in his first Autumn Statement today that housing remains unaffordable for too many in the UK and that London will be getting its share of the affordable housing budget. Read more: [...]
How the chancellor can unlock more private capital for infrastructure November 23, 2016 Chancellor Philip Hammond is widely expected to outline a more flexible approach to deficit reduction when he delivers his first Autumn Statement today. Flexibility seems wise, given the scale of uncertainty as the UK prepares to leave the EU. Ministers have identified investment in infrastructure as a means to boost the UK’s competitive standing. In [...]
Travel delays in central London as Kings Cross station is evacuated and closed November 23, 2016 Commuters were facing delays in central London this morning after King's Cross station was evacuated and closed for safety reasons. The station has since been reopened and trains are stopping there again. Transport for London revealed the station had been closed to prevent overcrowding. https://twitter.com/piccadillyline/status/801351227632209920 However, witnesses tweeted that the station had been evacuated due to [...]
Chancellor Hammond must focus on the quality of infrastructure spending, not its quantity November 22, 2016 Keynes is back, or so it seems. Both left and right wing movements across the West are calling for greater government borrowing to finance infrastructure projects. In the US, Donald Trump is proposing to invest $500bn. In the UK, Labour’s John McDonnell wants an even more lavish £500bn programme, equivalent to around a quarter of [...]
Minicab drivers are staging an anti-Uber protest in Westminster November 22, 2016 A fresh anti-Uber protest has hit the capital, aimed at piling more pressure on the Mayor of London to "take action" against the startup. Minicab drivers are staging a protest from Edgware Road, past Transport for London's offices in Victoria and which arrives at Westminster at 2.30pm. Members of drivers union United Private Hire Drivers (UPHD) are calling on Sadiq [...]
Steel group Severfield sets its sights on 1 Undershaft and Google’s new HQ after posting bumper first-half profits November 22, 2016 Steelmaker Severfield has posted bumper first-half profits for 2016 and set its sights on helping construct City skyscraper 1 Undershaft and the new Google headquarters in the capital. Shares in the structural steel group were up 12 per cent today to 69.79p after Severfield posted a 69 per cent rise in underlying profit before tax, at £8.1m, in the [...]
Gatwick boss Stewart Wingate wants government to approve his “complementary scheme” to Heathrow expansion November 21, 2016 The government gave Heathrow expansion the go-ahead last month, but Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate isn't feeling despondent. His focus is still on getting the government to give Gatwick the green light too. Speaking at the Airport Operators Association's annual conference, Wingate said: "My objective is to secure an additional runway at the earliest opportunity." "I [...]
Focus On Stoke Newington: Why leafy north London enclave Stoke Newington went from zero to hero on the housing market November 21, 2016 Stoke Newington, a leafy north London borough untroubled by a connection to the London Underground network, has become a byword for the kind of middle-class urban elite that drives UKIP voters round the bend. Once dismissed as a undesirable destination, the gentrification of Hackney has seen Stokey’s fortunes turn full-circle, and while it doesn’t yet [...]
Over three quarters of UK subcontractors don’t benefit from national infrastructure projects November 21, 2016 With Philip Hammond's first Autumn Statement on the horizon, the general expectation is that it'll be an infrastructure-laden announcement. And UK subcontractors are among many hoping they'll get some attention. Over three quarters (78 per cent) don't benefit from national infrastructure projects, according to new research from specialist funder Bibby Financial Services (BFS). Helen Wheeler, managing director [...]
Why there won’t be much property magic in the Autumn Statement November 21, 2016 There is a long list of measures which, were they to appear in this Wednesday’s Autumn Statement, would be regarded as a magical outcome for us real estate types. For example: serious increases in the capital budget to fund infrastructure, which is both a facilitator of new development and a prerequisite for community acceptance of [...]