14 of EG’s best moments
Amber Rolt, reporter: “Eating golden quails eggs at the JLL 40th anniversary Christmas party at Claridge’s.”
Alex Horne, reporter: “When a sultan came to the office.”
Damian Wild, editor: “Not a good moment per se, but the protests outside MIPIM UK felt like the shape of property to come. Protestors yelled abuse and complained of ‘dirty deals’. But what was being demanded outside and what was being pursued in the conference halls were not dissimilar. Reconciliation is needed.”
Samantha McClary, deputy editor/head of content: “The generosity of the property market. Not just the tens of thousands of pounds donated to my Challenge, but through all this year’s many charitable events. Real estate gets a hard time, but the sector we have the privilege to write about is actually rather wonderful.”
Julia Cahill, associate editor: “Interviewing Gavin Turk about public art in property development. Or sampling London’s finest street food, all in the name of research.”
Emily Wright, features and global editor: “Interviewing Terence Conran on designing for Picasso. Or Land Rovers, potholes and airport dramas in Nairobi.”
Stacey Meadwell, regional editor: “5am on 19 September. The first Scottish referendum results suggested a ‘no’ vote. I did a dance around my kitchen.”
Chris Berkin, reporter: “Getting to hound the PRs of Luis Suarez and Mikel Arteta, then being hounded in turn by the Daily Mail sports section over the story.”
Rebecca Kent, special projects editor: “Watching property rivalries play out in a blindfolded five-a-side competition, in Regent’s Park in April. Everyone looked, well, a little silly – hands flailing, falling over fences and missing goals by a mile.”
Nathan Cross, multimedia editor: “Meeting former New York mayor Rudi Guiliani for an interview. And a selfie.”
Nadia Elghamry, data editor: “Aldi overtaking Waitrose as the sixth-largest supermarket.”
Jack Sidders, news editor: “Irvine Sellar crashing Slovak developer HB Reavis’s lunch party at the Shard’s Shangri-La. Clearly he was there to check out his new competition in the midst of the rights-to-light dispute between Sellar’s Seal House scheme and HB Reavis’s 33 Central development.”
Joanna Bourke, senior reporter: “My trip to the Middle East. That and building up my collection of sports-themed podcasts.”
Sophia Furber, reporter: “Visiting Mumbai and touring the Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust project in Bhendi Bazaar, one of south Asia’s largest urban regeneration projects.”
14 Quirky marketing tools
1 Strutt & Parker Christmas socks
2 PROPS breakfast tights
3 Blackstock pre-MIPIM portable phone chargers
4 TFT MIPIM beach balls
5 Leadenhall cufflinks
6 Derwent Turnmill Building mini bricks
7 TIAA-Henderson Real Estate cuddly pandas “to symbolise growth ambitions in Asia”
8 Leicestershire Melton Mowbray pork pie
9 CWM vintage sweets (including the now-infamous everlasting lemon bonbons)
10 Enstar Capital Snow Queen Kazakh vodka
11 Bellway stress ball
12 CBRE flip-flops
13 Keygrove chocolate Advent calendars
14 The circa 7.5m cupcakes –the property industry loves a bit of sugar icing branding
14 Best diary stories
1 24-hour property people – Argent boss David Partridge launches his own brand of Ibiza club-wear
2 Dial another day – an insider reveals everyone chooses to stash their phones in drawer number 007 when asked to hand them in upon entering 10 Downing Street
3 Goo goo for Gaga – Cathedral Group creative director’s photo of Gaga-themed protestors retweeted to the singer’s 43m followers by the lady herself
4 Loitering within tent – an amorous couple caught “canoodling” behind a marquee at the National Surveyors Sevens
5 JLL pulls off swimming masterstroke – names displayed at a Commonwealth Games swimming event read “Guy”, “Grainger”
6 It gets verse – Cardiff agent’s voicemail is a poem recorded by his daughter. Possibly unbeknownst to him
7 New homes for Thrones House sales lift in Belfast, where part of Game of Thrones is filmed, forcing cast and crew to look further afield for accommodation
8 Problems with coupling – Savills’ Sloane Street office loos are blocked by “a tangle of condoms”
9 Little property shop of horrors – miniature estate agent tops the list of terrifying London-themed kids’ Halloween outfits
10 Planning a break – Diary runs into the cast of Orange is the New Black at the Corenet conference (well, Soho House) in Berlin
11 Appointment blue their minds – Start-up agency instructed on a shed walks in on racy film set, mid-action
12 Monumental competition – Bompas & Parr and Sir John Soane’s Museum launch funereal architecture competition in “celebration of death”
13 The trouble with Tinder – homebuyer discovers the lady he has been pursuing on dating app Tinder is in fact his property lawyer
14 Sweeping it under the carpet – company refurbishing office long after secretary had left discovers she had “filed” every letter she didn’t know what to do with under the carpet for 10 years
14 Top video/podcasts
1 Inside Rupert Murdoch’s News UK HQ at London Bridge
3 Can you rent in London on less than £500 a month?
4 Thousands compete in soaring temperatures at the JLL Property Triathlon
5 Battersea Power Station phase three designs unveiled
6 PropSki property pros schmooze in the Alps
7 DTZ Capital Markets Europe wins LSH Ski Challenge 2014
8 Lowe Cost Living video diary
9 Fog starts to lift from Northern Ireland property market
10 Farebrother and Tuckerman launch new agency
11 Cycle to MIPIM 2014 departs London
13 NHS England chairman Sir Malcolm Grant on NHS reorganisation and NHS estate
14 Grosvenor launches 33 Davies Street
Watch all of EG’s videos at www.estatesgazette.com/videos
emily.wright@estatesgazette.com
Review of the year 2014:
