Good morning,
Valuers’ instructions could be terminated after five years (or eight, at a pinch), under plans for mandatory valuer rotation that RICS wants to add to the Red Book. A public consultation on the plans starts today.
Meanwhile, the government’s new economic council has said the Bank of England would be right to raise interest rates by 75bps. Anything less than a hike to 3% could spark more panic in the markets, it warned.
And emergency plans for rolling electricity blackouts this winter have been “war gamed” by the government as supply fears grow. Official documents warn of a “reasonable worst-case scenario” which would “severely disrupt” all sectors for up to a week.
In other news, Impact Healthcare has secured a £25m extension to its revolving credit facility with HSBC, taking the total to £75m.
Peabody has received planning permission for the first phase of its Dagenham Green scheme. The first 935 homes of the 3,500-home scheme will also provide 440,000 sq ft of public realm and a couple of football pitches’ worth of “play space” on the site of the former Ford factory.
Castleforge’s plans to revamp 1 Golden Lane, EC1, have been narrowly approved by the City Corporation.
And Sciontec’s first new-build development, Hemisphere, has been awarded planning in Liverpool. The 172,000 sq ft office development will sit in the Knowledge Quarter’s Paddington Village.
European logistics warehouse specialist Delin Property has appointed Round Hill’s Raffi Killian as head of investments as it beefs up its real estate fund management capability.
Morrisons will close 132 loss-making McColl convenience stores, around a tenth of the 1,164 stores it bought earlier this year.
While Ocado’s share price has jumped by 40% on the news that it will develop six robot warehouses in South Korea.
A new report warns that promises by countries, including the UK, to plant trees to combat climate change would require an area larger than the USA.
Berlin’s famous Checkpoint Charlie will be redeveloped as a museum and park amid concerns that the former Cold War frontier has become a “tacky tourist trap”.
And Unilever is to extend its four-day working week trial to Australia, after a successful 18-month pilot in New Zealand.
And finally, Ofcom has announced a change that will change the workplace – nay, the world – forever. The telecoms regulator has said it agrees with government plans to end support for that mainstay of the 90s office, the fax machine(£). Keen fans of the pre-digital era dinosaur will be given a month to make their case, before the nation’s faxes are unplugged. However, it seems unlikely Ofcom will change its mind. The last time it asked for supporters of the once mighty fax to come forward, it received just 13 replies. Of course, the others might have fallen off the tray into the bin…
………. m e s s a g e e n d s ……….
