Good morning. Here is your your AM bulletin, with the latest news and views from EG and a few of the best bits from the national press.
Central London office investment has fallen by 55% over the first half of 2023, as the market struggles to pull itself from the depths of economic uncertainty. Analysts at JLL said £3.5bn of deals were struck in the first half of the year, 42% below the 10-year average.
The former finance chief of Carillion, Zafir Khan, has been banned from holding any company directorships for the next 11 years, in one of the harshest punishments ever handed down by the Insolvency Service.
Deloitte has reached a settlement with billionaire hedge fund manager Chris Rokos over claims that he was given bad advice on an investment in Tyneside’s enterprise zone 14 years ago, which resulted in a £40m tax bill.
Meanwhile, local authorities across England and Wales are worried about their bills, as the Local Government Association predicts a funding shortfall of at least £2bn next year.
And that hasn’t been helped by attempts to up the taxes on second home owners. Apparently this has completely backfired, with an increasing number declaring themselves businesses and avoiding tax altogether.
A rise in protests across England is threatening to derail warehousing development. “You’re not building it for the local population,” says SEGRO’s David Sleath. “You’re building it for the benefit of the national infrastructure.”
South East agent Stiles Harold Williams is to merge with London-based surveying practice Ashwell Rogers.
Shoe retailer Russell & Bromley is looking to expand into, ahem, well-heeled suburbs.
The FT (£) takes a look at Sir David Adjaye, the RIBA Gold Medal winning architect accused by three women of sexual misconduct.
And meets the architects trying to make Denmark carbon-neutral(£).
And finally, the founder of a vegan bakery has been accused of illegally felling at least 132 trees to make way for his Essex mansion. Sukh Chamdal said he set up Cake Box because his daughter didn’t want “dead chickens” in her birthday cake. Wonder how she feels about dead trees in her garden? Far better news from Dartmoor, where the Prince of Wales is planning to double the size of one of the UK’s last remaining rainforests. The three-hectare Wistman’s Woods was once part of a much larger forest, before most of the trees were cleared by selfish people wanting homes. But then again, that was 5,000 years ago.
