Space to create
WeWork’s message is all about collaboration, and one way in which it does this is by commissioning local artists to produce murals for its offices. The latest opening, in Seoul, South Korea, is no exception. Diary has yet to see the Korean artwork (inset) up close, but had the chance to examine another fine piece of office art a bit closer to home – at WeWork’s Shoreditch offices at 41 Corsham Street, N1. The artworks are pretty “out there” and are obviously encouraging some pretty far-out ideas. Asked where WeWork should head next, one staffer suggested that setting up a network on the moon would be “very cool”. Now that’s taking blue-sky thinking to another level…
The art of redevelopment
An interesting insight from Liggy Bass, a senior project manager on the Royal Academy of Arts redevelopment project. As well as the construction of a new entrance, the project entails the connecting of its Burlington House and Burlington Gardens sites in Mayfair, W1, with a public walkway. In a brief chat with Diary as she came off stage at the annual summer drinks event for the ULI Young Leaders last week, Bass described the challenges of undertaking the redevelopment while the venue remains open to the public and, with the summer exhibition in full swing, at one of its busiest times of year. “There’s Monet, and then there’s carnage,” she remarked.
Pikachu to the rescue
On to Pokémon Go. BNP Paribas Real Estate director James Max thinks the mobile phone craze could actually increase retail real estate values by increasing footfall. He said: “If you increase footfall, you increase rents. And as rents rise, so do capital values. Far from causing the death of the high street, digital technology, this time in the unlikely shapes of Pikachus and Jigglypuffs, could help return them to health.” It’s certainly an interesting theory, but there are probably an awful lot of Pikachus to be caught before it can be proven right.
Saw point
Ouch. Diary was stunned to learn that one Scottish agent was unable to make a meeting after having a run-in with a chainsaw. It turns out that weekend gardening sessions can be fraught with peril when they include a spot of tree surgery. Our thoughts go out to him and his injured hand.
Lovesick in Lisbon
Portugal is heartbroken, and the UK is to blame. It’s already a month on from the Brexit break-up but our longest-standing allies are still feeling the pain – as Diary found out first-hand last week on a trip to Lisbon. “Why? That’s what we want to know,” said one bewildered agent. “What did we do wrong?” wailed another. “We thought you wanted to be together. It was such a shock. We are still in shock. We were in a relationship and you said ‘it’s all over’. But we…well, we are still in love.” We’re sorry. It’s not you, it’s us…
Press for success
Still in Portugal – whoever said print is dead clearly hasn’t been to Lisbon. The city’s local start-up hub, LX Factory, is anchored not by a co-working space or coffee shop, but a bookshop voted one of the most beautiful in the world. A cavernous former printing press shed – with printer still in situ – stacked with 135,000 books; Livaria Ler Devagar brings occupiers, visitors and investors flocking to what is fast becoming one of the city’s coolest districts. Proof, says the scheme’s developer, that shiny new buildings and digital tenants are not the only way to the tech set’s heart.
