Addison Lee returned to profit ahead of £270m takeover February 28, 2025 London’s premium private hire cab service, Addison Lee, returned to the black in the year before being acquired by transport giant ComfortDelGro for almost £270m, it has been revealed. The business, which has a network of 7,500 drivers and 5,000 vehicles, achieved a pre-tax profit of £1.8m in the 12 months to 31 August, 2024. The [...]
HS2 is beyond saving and poses risk to UK’s reputation, MPs conclude February 28, 2025 HS2 is beyond saving and must be studied by future governments as a “cautionary tale” on how “not to run a major project,” a cross-party group of MPs has concluded. In one of its most damming-ever reports, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it was “long past the point” of offering recommendations on how to [...]
The UK needs a rules-based zoning system for planning February 28, 2025 Under the discretionary planning system created in 1947, no part of England has ever been able to harness private sector development to meet housing targets at the scale we now need. It’s time for a radical overhaul, says Andrew Carter The government has rightly made improving workers’ take-home pay a measure of success for this [...]
Gatwick expansion raises questions over Heathrow third runway, Khan says February 27, 2025 Sir Sadiq Khan has said the government’s pathway towards approving plans for use of a second runway at Gatwick “begs the question” over the need for a third runway at Heathrow. The mayor of London made the comments following the launch of his London Growth Plan at Imperial College this morning which sets out how [...]
Growth plan: Sadiq Khan wants to boost London economy by £100bn February 27, 2025 Sir Sadiq Khan unveiled his plan to “turbocharge” London’s economy, claiming it could boost the capital’s coffers by £107bn by 2035. The mayor unveiled what he’s called the London Growth Plan at Imperial College London’s campus, in a speech to council leaders, businesses and media. Sir Sadiq’s plan for the capital aims to put an [...]
Transport secretary ‘minded to approve’ Gatwick expansion February 27, 2025 The transport secretary is “minded” to approve Gatwick Airport’s plans for a second runway but only if it accepts certain revised requirements, it has been announced. Heidi Alexander on Thursday gave the £2.2bn project a ministerial nod of approval should the airport agree to some additional demands. These include noise mitigation and the extent to [...]
The London office market has ‘definitively turned’ as prime rents set to double February 27, 2025 Analysts have said the London office market has turned a corner after two major commercial real estate investors released positive results. Dewent London reported rental growth doubling to 4.3 per cent, the highest since 2016, and it expects estimated rental value growth – an estimate of the rent that a property could earn if it [...]
How to fix London’s growth problem February 27, 2025 Sadiq Khan has pledged to be the most pro-business Mayor ever. Muniya Barua explains how he can turn rhetoric into reality The Prime Minister has made clear that growth is his government’s most important mission. The Chancellor has been busy selling that message around the world and urging regulators at home to get with the [...]
Heathrow to pay first dividend in five years to new owners February 26, 2025 London Heathrow Airport plans to pay its owners a first dividend in five years after passenger numbers reached record highs in 2024. The West London hub has settled on a payout of £250m over the coming weeks, the first since before the pandemic. Heathrow’s ownership underwent its most significant change in decades in 2024 after [...]
Plans for £1bn battery gigafactory and over 1,000 new jobs revealed February 26, 2025 Plans to create a £1bn 10GWh battery gigafactory in Coventry which will create over 1,000 jobs by 2030 have been revealed. Volklec, a battery manufacturing start-up which set up shop in the West Midlands city last year, has entered into an exclusive license agreement with China-based Far East Battery (FEB). The deal will see Volklec [...]