New tall building at 55 Gracechurch Street approved as developers embrace post-pandemic office trends January 26, 2021 The City of London Corporation has today (26 January) granted planning permission for a 30-storey office-led development in the City Cluster, the Square Mile’s first tall building approval of 2021. The approved Tenacity scheme at 55 Gracechurch Street, located between Monument station and Leadenhall Market, embodies many of the emerging trends for post-pandemic office space [...]
The ‘lifeblood of the City’ must return to offices after pandemic, Peel Hunt boss says January 26, 2021 The chief executive of Peel Hunt called on “the lifeblood of the City” to return to offices after the pandemic, as the investment bank announced it is moving to a new building in Liverpool Street in a vote of confidence in London’s recovery. Peel Hunt boss Steven Fine said that the firm – which allowed [...]
Steve Jobs had it right: the office is a hub for creativity January 7, 2021 IN 1986 Steve Jobs became the majority shareholder of a little-known company called the Lucasfilm Graphics Group. For the small sum of $5 million, Jobs acquired a motley crew of 40 computer scientists and graphic artists. But it wasn’t long before the company started making a loss. Products weren’t shifting. Something had to give. Under [...]
Wework unsure over long-term liquidity due to how Covid-19 changed the way we work January 6, 2021 Flexible office space giant Wework has raised concerns over its long-term future after the Covid-19 pandemic sparked a dramatic shift to remote-working. The company said today that it has sufficient liquidity to “mitigate the near-term uncertainty associated with Covid-19”. However it said the key judgements in relation to approving the company’s accounts as a going [...]
The three Cs driving WFH and their impact on global cities January 5, 2021 Investors in the office sector face a divergent picture due to the working from home (WFH) trend, says fund manager Tom Walker. Recent encouraging news regarding a Covid-19 vaccine means many of us are looking forward to resuming our “normal” lives. Getting out of the house will be top priority for many, particularly those of [...]
As we look back on 2020, what can we learn from this unprecedented year? December 18, 2020 The end of any year is traditionally a time of reflection. It’s a chance to take stock and look back on the past 12 months: the successes, the lessons, and the opportunities for improvement. And while other traditions like the office Christmas party have been replaced by virtual events, taking time to step back and [...]
Google accounts back up again after global outage December 14, 2020 Google’s UK accounts appear to be up and running again after multiple services including Gmail and Youtube all experienced outages. There was a huge downtime spike for Google’s services at around 11.30am GMT according to outage site Down Detector. Google’s Play Store, Drive and Calendar were also all reportedly down. Problems have mainly been reported [...]
Canary Wharf redevelopment gets green light as landlords seek Covid-friendly offices December 1, 2020 Redevelopment plans for a Canary Wharf office block have been given the green light, as property owners seek to capitalise on demand for Covid-19 secure office space. Real estate asset management firm Quadrant and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management have secured planning permission to redesign 30 South Colonnade in the east London financial district. [...]
How smart buildings can power the green revolution November 25, 2020 The Prime Minister’s decision to base last week’s so-called “reset” around a 10-point plan for a green industrial revolution tells us a lot about where he thinks the country needs to go over the next decade. Indeed, it hints at what kind of country we are after Brexit: not one that looks back complacently to [...]
DEBATE: Are fears about remote working’s damage to Britain’s creative potential overblown? November 20, 2020 Are fears about remote working’s damage to Britain’s creative potential overblown? Kristine Dahl Steidel, vice president EUC EMEA at VMware, says YES. The future of work has arrived in the form of distributed workforces, and businesses should not be using this as an excuse for stagnant growth. The facts speak for themselves: new research shows [...]