A skyline in peril
Diary readers of a certain age will be celebrating the return of Dangermouse to our screens. Rest assured, he’s still the greatest, still fantastic and, yes, if there’s danger, he’s still there. So the silliness, the heroism and a world-weary voiceover are all present and correct. But this time around there’s sharp property comment too. In the opening episode as the camera pans over an animated London skyline, the narrator describes the buildings on screen: “the Gherkin, the Tennis Racket and the House of Cards”. An architectural premonition? Or the forecast of a bubble? All may be revealed in the next episode…
Student beds: the heat is on
London’s student housing market is too hot to handle. There are too many students and not enough beds, according to JLL’s metric the “Orgy Index”, so called as it calculates how many people there are to a bed – theoretically, of course. Even if London manages to provide the required pipeline of 18,400 beds in the next 10 years, it will still be 10,000 beds short of the conservative need determined by the mayor’s office. That’s a lot of bunking up. Come on developers, lend a hand and help out those poor, cramped students with beds of their own. They’ll (probably) thank you.
Rooms with a view
More saucy student-related news now – oh to be young and responsibility-free – and tales of a tantalising (rear) view. Some of the bijou rooms at Crosslane’s latest 259-room Athena Studios student housing development in Birmingham (see this week’s West Midlands Focus, p82) overlook tennis courts allegedly associated with a rather cheeky photo shoot. Crosslane named the block after the well-known 1970s and 1980s poster manufacturer, whose factory previously stood on the site. The firm produced one of the world’s best-selling posters of all time – a rear-view shot of a lady tennis player – and apparently the photo was snapped on the Brummie clay court. Diary understands that two ladies are now laying claim to being the poster star, but as the photographer died several years ago her true identity, and the location of the cheeky scene, may never be confirmed.
Beware of the watchdog
L&G is dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on its big purchase at the International Quarter in Stratford, with completion expected fairly soon. But contrary to expectations, it is buying just the one building – the TfL building – and not the other, which will be occupied by the Financial Conduct Authority. One reason for this is that, as agents would have it, the UK institution didn’t much fancy becoming the landlord of the body which regulates it, fearing tough talks over rent reviews might be best avoided.
Fiat takes tight corner
Staff at the newly opened 250,000 sq ft John Lewis flagship store in Birmingham’s Grand Central shopping centre had to go the extra mile recently as part of a major in-store promotion. It appears JLP must have Britain’s strongest men working on their team as they had to literally pick up a Fiat 500 in order to place it on one of the shop’s upper floors as part of a Delonghi coffee maker promotion. Gavin Williams, who heads the firm’s occupation team, said this was the first time that a car had been brought into a John Lewis store. “The car had to come up in a goods lift, where there was only two inches of clearance. The goods lift is over on the far side of the building, so the car needed to be wheeled across the shop floor,” he said. But problems arose when it became clear that there wasn’t a big enough turning circle for the car. Williams said: “We had to pick it up and lift it around the corners – which was a new added challenge.” Fortunately, there was no engine in the Fiat, so no worries over emissions.
