Good morning.
Two interesting stories which could have big repercussions for many in the sector:
Accountancy giant EY(£) has said it is in the “early stages”(£) of splitting its audit division from its consultancy arm. If completed, the split would create two new companies.
Meanwhile, the London Stock Exchange(£) could be simplified, scrapping the existing two-tiered structure, as it attempts to encourage more start-ups to list.
And Intermediate Capital(£) has brought forward its target for client wins after securing a record $22.5bn of new business. The fund manager said there was no let-up in appetite for alternative asset classes, including property. It now thinks it will hit its £40bn new business target a year early in 2024.
“I’d rather own Park Royal than Bond Street right now,” says LondonMetric boss, Andrew Jones(£). He is confident the UK’s booming warehouse market can withstand a pullback from Amazon, even if it is “the high priest” of the market.
Newham Council has secured approval to reinvent the 1960s James Riley Point tower as part of its £1bn housing plans.
Owners of multiple homes(£) are set to benefit from the Treasury’s package to help with the cost of living as the £400 grant is offered to houses, not households.
British digital bank Zopa will allow its staff to work for up to 120 days a year overseas(£), making it one of the UK’s most flexible employers. So far 34 of its 560 mostly London-based staff have taken up the offer.
Work has begun to transform 99,000 hectares of English countryside into ‘nature recovery’ projects(£), ranging from Midlands’ city fringes to the Somerset wetlands.
Meanwhile, the owners of the Knepp estate – Charles Burrell and the gloriously-named Isabella Tree – are returning to farming after pioneering rewilding.
And finally, let’s hope our MPs don’t plan to follow Thailand’s example when they decide on renovation plans for parliament. Currently the uproar is over whether they should leave the Commons while the work is done – at a potential cost of £4bn. But maybe we should be focusing on what facilities will be deemed appropriate once the work is completed. Thailand’s new parliament building(£), which opened last year after running £200m over-budget, is the world’s largest. But in spite of that it still doesn’t have enough office space or facilities for breastfeeding mothers. What it does have is a karaoke room, a golf range, a basketball court and a ballroom. With facilities like that, our rulers might find it hard to tell the difference between a work event and a party!
