Why the government must give more support to London’s hospitality sector October 1, 2020 Hospitality and tourism have felt the force of Covid-19 like no other sector. Green shoots started to emerge during the summer months, as Eat Out to Help Out, a staycation boom and the warm weather put much-needed cash in the registers of hotels and restaurants across the UK. While London remained quiet, there was some [...]
The government’s short-term ‘cures’ are doing far more damage than the virus itself September 29, 2020 For the best part of this year, our societies have been torn apart by this Covid-19 pandemic. It has thrown challenges to all businesses and all people in almost every country around the world. My home country, Italy, was the first in Europe to see how devastating this virus could be. We all remember those [...]
As well as protecting jobs, the government must enable a safe return to the workplace September 28, 2020 Fittingly, the weather has taken a turn for the worse over the last week just as the economic headwinds facing the UK risk turning into a perfect storm. After many months of lockdown, the number of people returning to their City workplace had visibly started to pick up in recent weeks – particularly as schools [...]
We must find a new way of funding Transport for London September 25, 2020 London without the tube would be like the Shard without any lifts. And, just like the lifts in the Shard, it costs pretty much the same amount of money to run the tube every day, regardless of how many people use it. But unlike the lifts in the Shard (and unlike any comparable metro system [...]
London is a great city – and much of it could be on your doorstep September 25, 2020 We live in cities because we want to be in the heart of the action. We are often willing to overlook the daily downfalls — expensive rent and overpriced pints to name a few — simply because there is no better place in the world to work, socialise and embrace opportunities than in this city. [...]
The future of the construction industry is digital September 4, 2020 The double-whammy of a pandemic and a recession has made 2020 one of the most challenging and disrupted years in living memory. But the bright spot, in an otherwise battered economy, is construction, which forms a major part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ”Build Back Better” campaign. Britain’s construction industry grew at the fastest rate in almost [...]
Can office workers save the day for local businesses ravaged by Covid-19? September 2, 2020 The sudden shift to remote working put in place by the majority of UK businesses may herald the end of the office, at least as we know it. Five months and multiple government campaigns later, and the shift to the kitchen table continues, seemingly unabated. According to a survey from US bank Morgan Stanley, just [...]
Build back better? No, let’s build back smarter and take carbon out of construction August 27, 2020 Boris Johnson has set out his plans to “build back better”, and major changes have recently been announced to planning regulations to enable faster decisions on planning applications. It sounds like a developer’s paradise. But construction already accounts for nearly two fifths of UK carbon emissions, so where does that leave the government’s equally vaunted [...]
General Election 2019: Labour pledges 20 per cent property tax for foreign buyers November 23, 2019 Labour has pledged to put an extra 20 per cent levy on foreign companies buying property in the UK. The party has said it would charge firms and trusts from abroad looking to buy properties an additional 20 per cent on top of existing stamp duties and surcharges. Read more: General Election 2019: Jeremy Corbyn [...]
Billionaire businessman Teddy Sagi buys Grade II-listed Holborn building for £300m September 17, 2019 Billionaire businessman Teddy Sagi has bought a Grade II listed building in Holborn for £300m through his co-working investment vehicle Labtech. The 300,000 sq ft Victoria House, a neoclassical building constructed in the 1920s, is Labtech’s largest acquisition to date and brings the total value of its property portfolio to around £3bn. Read more: Belgravia’s [...]