Good morning. Her is your AM bulletin with the latest news and views from EG, along with a few of the best bits from national press.
A coalition of more than two dozen businesses, councils and charities has written to the PM and levelling-up secretary Michael Gove to object to the planned infrastructure levy. They say it will not encourage more affordable housing, but will simply result in fewer homes being built.
Meanwhile, a major central London development opportunity has been brought to market, with offers expected to be upwards of £180m. The one-acre site of 125 Shaftesbury Avenue currently houses 180,000 sq ft of offices and shops, and was last sold by Almacantar in 2018 for £267m.
Whitbread is restricting the £600m-plus auction of 250 of its pub-restaurants to exclude pure-play property investors. In the interests of a quick sale, it has instructed Goldman Sachs to only accept offers from established pub operators.
The Treasury committee has hit out at plans to scrap the Office for Tax Simplification, saying overly complex UK taxes are stifling businesses and more needs to be done to streamline them, not less.
BNP Paribas Real Estate has hired Knight Frank’s Tom Stanley as national head of development and planning.
Welly company Hunter Boot collapsed owing landlords and suppliers £17m. But as it owed nearly £100m to secured creditors, its auditors say there is no chance landlords will see a penny.
And there is good news and bad from EG’s latest LGBTQ+ Attitudes & Actions in Real Estate survey. This year’s report shows the highest percentage ever – 84.1% – saying their firm was a safe place for LBGTQ+ people. But more than three quarters of respondents think more needs to be done. And transactions and capital markets remains the least inclusive part of the sector.
