Be wary of taking the golden goose of London for granted November 8, 2018 Last week’s Budget saw two infrastructure spending announcements for London. The first was a cool £291m to buy more DLR trains and convert a depot into housing. This will facilitate 18,000 homes – in reality, about four months’ worth of London’s annual need for housing. The second was £5m for a Westminster Ceremonial Streetscape project. [...]
Addison Lee launches self-driving taxi trials in Canary Wharf November 7, 2018 Private hire firm Addison Lee has begun trialling self-driving car technology, created by UK startup Oxbotica, on the streets of London. Driving around the skyscrapers of Canary Wharf, Addison Lee's manned cars are creating a three-dimensional street map of the city in order to create the backdrop for future driverless cars. Organised together with Canary [...]
London’s unfinished Scalpel tower already half-let November 7, 2018 National Australia Bank and insurer Lombard International are the latest occupiers-to-be at the newest office tower on London's skyline, The Scalpel, at 52 Lime Street. Over half of the tower, which owes its unusual shape to protected views of St Paul's Cathedral, is now pre-let or under offer as the building nears completion. National Australia [...]
UK data watchdog fines Arron Banks’ insurance firm and Leave.EU campaign £135,000 November 6, 2018 An insurance firm owned by Arron Banks, as well as the Leave.EU campaign he founded, face fines totalling £135,000 from the UK's data watchdog. Banks's Leave.EU Brexit campaign and his company Eldon Insurance (trading as Go Skippy) were each given notice of fines of £60,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for serious breaches of the Privacy [...]
You can live opposite Queen Elizabeth II for £47,000 per week November 5, 2018 A palatial mansion opposite Buckingham Palace is available to rent for £2.4m for a year, provided the resident purchases the property if they like it. The "try before you buy" £47,000 per week rental arrangement gives potential buyers a test run before committing to the £76.5m price tag. In addition to the Grade II-listed mansion, residents [...]
Employers prepare to hand 180,000 workers a pay rise as real living wage increases November 5, 2018 Over a third of FTSE 100 companies are set to hand workers a pay rise this week as the real living wage rises to £9 an hour, an increase of 25p on the hourly rate. At least 180,000 staff and sub-contractors will receive the salary boost, which in London will rise by 35p to £10.55 an hour. The [...]
DEBATE: Will Ikea’s new small store format in urban centres help save the high street? November 5, 2018 Will Ikea’s new small store format in urban centres help save the high street? Adrian Moorhouse, managing director of Lane4, says YES. Ikea’s experiment with smaller city centre stores is a great example of a brand evolving to stay connected to its customers, by accommodating the changing ways in which people both live and shop. As a lot [...]
Our once-in-a-generation opportunity to ensure that the City is fit for the future November 5, 2018 Firms across the Square Mile have had to spend a disproportionate amount of time recently planning for the short term. With less than five months to go before the UK leaves the European Union, it is right that businesses urgently prepare for all possible outcomes, including a possible no-deal scenario. There are many pressing issues [...]
Two stabbed at Sony Music’s Kensington headquarters as police make arrest November 2, 2018 Two people were stabbed at Sony Music’s London headquarters this morning, police said, as one person was arrested. Their injuries are not life-threatening, the Met said, as armed police were called to Derry Street in Kensington at around 11am. Officers and London Ambulance staff are still in attendance. Sony Music's office was filmed being evacuated. [...]
Stephen Haddrill steps down as FRC audit watchdog boss amid probe November 2, 2018 Stephen Haddrill, chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), is stepping down amid a government probe into the watchdog’s operations. Haddrill has led the FRC, which monitors and regulates the audit sector, since 2009. The news comes in the wake of mounting pressure on the FRC, which has come under examination following several recent scandals within the UK’s [...]