Conducting research for Estates Gazette’s New York Investor Guide this week, Diary came across a real estate trend that definitely hasn’t arrived in London yet. Hudson Yards, the new city-sized development in eastern Manhattan being built by Related Companies, has inspired its own perfume. The scent, which shares a name with the development, from perfume maker Bond No 9, smells of wet petals of lily of the valley, sparkling freesia, pink pepper oil, peony buds, rose oil, lychee, orange flower, ibis and white ray of musk, apparently. It is, in fact, part of a series of scents celebrating the smells of New York’s neighbourhoods. But it got Diary thinking: since Related has teamed up with Argent for the redevelopment of Crickelwood, perhaps the first in a European series could be on the cards? Eau de Brent Cross, anyone?
Lipton’s future conditional
Interviewed on stage at a Profile Face to Face event at Hogan Lovells this month, Sir Stuart Lipton recounted a story about building himself a new house three years ago. “It took 18 months to get consent,” he says. “Not bad. When I eventually got it I had nine conditions. It took about six months to get those conditions settled. My favourite important one was stormwater runoff in my front garden. Most of this is EU legislation. It’s just bonkers.” Can you imagine being the officer dealing with Lipton? Hardly a fair fight. It’s enough to make you sympathise with planners.
Site visit glut? take a tablet
Westminster’s planning team, the busiest in the UK, is going paperless to increase efficiency and reduce waste. Having signed a deal with ICT services company Ricoh this month, the planners, who receive more than 12,000 applications a year, will embrace the digital age. In an interview earlier this year, director of planning John Walker said that all 50 planning officers will be sent on site visits with an iPad. Developers, never ones to be outdone, will travel armed too, no doubt.
The high price of promptness
Retailers have a great system of sheds for storing and delivering. But it all seems to fall apart at the last mile. Diary heard this week about one unfortunate incident in which a keen purchaser, wanting to test the power of the one-hour delivery, ordered an iPad online. It arrived on time but when the delivery man couldn’t gain entry to the house he lobbed it over the top of the gates and onto the drive, delivering it within the hour but not exactly in one piece. Then, to make matters worse, the buyer’s wife reversed over it. Something to think about before those last-minute Christmas buys.
Grinch attack in Edgbaston
And speaking of Christmas [yes, we know. It is November. Sorry], it started early in Birmingham this year with a seasonal lights switch-on last week in the well-known suburb of Edgbaston. The event centred on the impressive 180-year old St George’s Church, just a mince pie’s throw from Andreas Antona’s recently revamped, Michelin-starred, Simpsons restaurant. Local landowner Calthorpe Estates invited some VIP guests (including Edgbaston MP Gisela Stuart and Diary) for a spot of fine dining prior to the illuminations. Everything went swimmingly, including the moment at which Stuart and Calthorpe chief exec Mark Lee jointly pushed a fearsome-looking plunger. But as the lights came on, it became clear something was missing – a Christmas tree. In his haste Santa had perhaps forgotten to make the three-mile trip to Homebase in Kings Heath.
Ring tones Bringing down the House of Cards
Allied London’s Mike Ingall was forced to eat his words at the National Development Summit in Manchester last week. After delivering a stern warning to phone-hooked delegates to turn off their mobiles and stop checking e-mails ahead of his talk, the room tensed when a ringtone sounded, then erupted into laughter when Ingall himself guiltily reached into his jacket and pulled out his own phone playing the popular House of Cards ringtone made famous by Kevin Spacey’s character Frank Underwood (right).
Dollars and scents
Conducting research for Estates Gazette’s New York Investor Guide this week, Diary came across a real estate trend that definitely hasn’t arrived in London yet. Hudson Yards, the new city-sized development in eastern Manhattan being built by Related Companies, has inspired its own perfume. The scent, which shares a name with the development, from perfume maker Bond No 9, smells of wet petals of lily of the valley, sparkling freesia, pink pepper oil, peony buds, rose oil, lychee, orange flower, ibis and white ray of musk, apparently. It is, in fact, part of a series of scents celebrating the smells of New York’s neighbourhoods. But it got Diary thinking: since Related has teamed up with Argent for the redevelopment of Crickelwood, perhaps the first in a European series could be on the cards? Eau de Brent Cross, anyone?
Lipton’s future conditional
Interviewed on stage at a Profile Face to Face event at Hogan Lovells this month, Sir Stuart Lipton recounted a story about building himself a new house three years ago. “It took 18 months to get consent,” he says. “Not bad. When I eventually got it I had nine conditions. It took about six months to get those conditions settled. My favourite important one was stormwater runoff in my front garden. Most of this is EU legislation. It’s just bonkers.” Can you imagine being the officer dealing with Lipton? Hardly a fair fight. It’s enough to make you sympathise with planners.
Site visit glut? take a tablet
Westminster’s planning team, the busiest in the UK, is going paperless to increase efficiency and reduce waste. Having signed a deal with ICT services company Ricoh this month, the planners, who receive more than 12,000 applications a year, will embrace the digital age. In an interview earlier this year, director of planning John Walker said that all 50 planning officers will be sent on site visits with an iPad. Developers, never ones to be outdone, will travel armed too, no doubt.
The high price of promptness
Retailers have a great system of sheds for storing and delivering. But it all seems to fall apart at the last mile. Diary heard this week about one unfortunate incident in which a keen purchaser, wanting to test the power of the one-hour delivery, ordered an iPad online. It arrived on time but when the delivery man couldn’t gain entry to the house he lobbed it over the top of the gates and onto the drive, delivering it within the hour but not exactly in one piece. Then, to make matters worse, the buyer’s wife reversed over it. Something to think about before those last-minute Christmas buys.
Grinch attack in Edgbaston
And speaking of Christmas [yes, we know. It is November. Sorry], it started early in Birmingham this year with a seasonal lights switch-on last week in the well-known suburb of Edgbaston. The event centred on the impressive 180-year old St George’s Church, just a mince pie’s throw from Andreas Antona’s recently revamped, Michelin-starred, Simpsons restaurant. Local landowner Calthorpe Estates invited some VIP guests (including Edgbaston MP Gisela Stuart and Diary) for a spot of fine dining prior to the illuminations. Everything went swimmingly, including the moment at which Stuart and Calthorpe chief exec Mark Lee jointly pushed a fearsome-looking plunger. But as the lights came on, it became clear something was missing – a Christmas tree. In his haste Santa had perhaps forgotten to make the three-mile trip to Homebase in Kings Heath.
Ring tones Bringing down the House of Cards
Allied London’s Mike Ingall was forced to eat his words at the National Development Summit in Manchester last week. After delivering a stern warning to phone-hooked delegates to turn off their mobiles and stop checking e-mails ahead of his talk, the room tensed when a ringtone sounded, then erupted into laughter when Ingall himself guiltily reached into his jacket and pulled out his own phone playing the popular House of Cards ringtone made famous by Kevin Spacey’s character Frank Underwood (right).
Conducting research for Estates Gazette’s New York Investor Guide this week, Diary came across a real estate trend that definitely hasn’t arrived in London yet. Hudson Yards, the new city-sized development in eastern Manhattan being built by Related Companies, has inspired its own perfume. The scent, which shares a name with the development, from perfume maker Bond No 9, smells of wet petals of lily of the valley, sparkling freesia, pink pepper oil, peony buds, rose oil, lychee, orange flower, ibis and white ray of musk, apparently. It is, in fact, part of a series of scents celebrating the smells of New York’s neighbourhoods. But it got Diary thinking: since Related has teamed up with Argent for the redevelopment of Crickelwood, perhaps the first in a European series could be on the cards? Eau de Brent Cross, anyone?
