C&W takes on 7 Towers and London to Paris bike ride
Cushman & Wakefield’s London markets team has climbed the stairs of some of London most iconic buildings in the 7 Towers challenge. After racing to the top of skyscrapers including 20 Fenchurch Street, City Tower, City Point, Broadgate Tower, 110 Bishopsgate, Tower 42 and One Canada Square, the team had climbed 1.17km, the equivalent to four times the Eiffel Tower. As they powered to the tower-tops, their colleagues in valuation and advisory were enduring a different challenge, cycling 160 miles from London to Paris. Their combined efforts have raised £78,000 for charity XLP, which aims to create positive futures for young people in London. The charity runs a community bus project where two specially modified double-decker buses travel to housing estates, targeting areas with little or no facilities for young people.
Support them at www.justgiving.com/7towers/
Great Portland cyclists go 150 miles for Willow
A team from Great Portland Estates has completed a 150-mile cycle to raise money for the Willow Foundation, a charity that provides special days for seriously ill 16- to 40-year-olds. The team, including Neil Thompson, Andrew White, James Pellatt, Martin Quinn, James Shipton, James Burrage, Ian Cartwright and Paul Howard, were joined by 50 consultants for the two-day ride from Ross-on-Wye to Cavendish Square, W1, and have raised £67,000.
Go to www.justgiving.com/TeamGPEBikeRide/
Townends’ big leap for Shooting Star Chase
Staff from Townends Estate Agents have launched themselves out of a plane in a tandem skydive to raise money for Shooting Star Chase. Most of those who took part jumped from an altitude of 10,000ft over the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. Some, however, paid extra to drop from 15,000ft, freefalling for more than 30 seconds. They raised more than £15,000.
Poucher swims first Dal Riata relay crossing
Adrian Poucher, a partner at Malcolm Hollis’s Belfast office, was part of the first-ever relay team to complete the gruelling 17km (10.5-mile) Dál Riata channel crossing. The team of four, named 210 SouthWest, undertook one-hour individual rotations under standard marathon swimming rules to complete the route that stretches across the Straits of Moyle at the point where the Irish Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. They battled extreme currents to finish the course in seven hours and 33 minutes. The team attempted the crossing earlier this year, but had to give up 800m from shore after being overcome by strong currents. “This time, despite the threat of currents, whirlpools, standing waves, cold water and lion’s mane jellyfish, we made it,” Poucher said.The crossing has been completed only once before, by South African Wayne Soutter in 2012.
Cyclists help injured rugby players
A team of property professionals has completed a 170-mile cycle ride from Cardiff to Twickenham in London in order to raise funds for injured rugby players. The 16 riders, led by Elliot Prosser of JP Morgan, set off from Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium and kept a pace of 27km per hour to reach Twickenham Stadium on 25 September. Hounslow council provided one of the support vans as part of its drive to get more people out of their cars and into the saddle.
The ride has netted the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust £2,000.
Support them at www.justgiving.com/TeamM2T/
BNP Paribas sets out three-point plan to help refugees in Europe
BNP Paribas is urging clients and staff to buy into a €5m (£3.7m) plan to support refugees in Europe.
It will be delivered in three ways:
● matching donations by employees worldwide and customers in France and allocating funds to Médecins Sans Frontières, CARE and the French Red Cross under its Rescue & Recover Fund;
● supporting humanitarian partners of the BNP Paribas Foundation, including Samusocial de Paris, Apprentis d’Auteuil and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees;
● supporting employees engaged in helping refugees via local associations through the BNP Paribas Foundation’s “Helping Hand” programme.
The BNP Paribas Foundation’s actions are part of a multi-disciplinary approach to philanthropy aimed at promoting projects dedicated to culture, solidarity and the environment.
Soho investors fund playground
Leading Soho property investors, including Shaftesbury, have co-funded the development of a new playground at Soho Parish primary school. The innovative playground replaces one that was no longer fit for purpose, and now provides a fun, multi-use educational play area, elevated decking, green spaces, play cubes and ropes. It was designed by urban natural play specialist Jane’s Pond.
Bales gets to Ironman World Championship
Ed Bales, a senior surveyor at Prime Retail, has qualified for the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.
This weekend Bales will be competing against 2,000 of the planet’s fittest athletes to complete a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile cycle and then a marathon (26.2 miles) in intense heat and humidity. In his qualifying event in Bolton in July, the 27-year-old finished in 10 hours 10 minutes and was placed 36th out of 2,000. To prepare for Hawaii, Bales, who is sponsored by his firm, has been running on a treadmill in a woolly hat.
