Sure, taking home gold, silver or bronze at the Commonwealth Games, or finally bringing football home by lifting the European Championships trophy, is a monumental achievement that will live long in our hearts and minds. But true immortality? That can only be bestowed by real estate. Take BTR developer Moda, which has granted to Commonwealth Games athletes from Birmingham the great honour of naming the penthouse suites of their tallest tower in the heart of the city, the Mercian, after them. The 42-storey development opened its doors just in time for the 2022 Games, and boasts 481 homes, 12 of which are penthouses. They are named for athletes such as Stacey Francis (netball gold medal winner of the 2010 Commonwealth Games), Katrina Hart (para sprinter who won gold in 100m in 2010), Lucilla Wright (field hockey player who competed in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games, winning two silvers and a bronze), Sue Reeve (long jump gold medallist in 1978), Richard Cohen (gold medal-winning fencer in 1970) and Gladys Lunn (a track and field athlete who competed in the 1934 and 1938 British Empire Games, winning two golds in javelin, among other medals) – each of which is highly deserving of the accolade. Meanwhile, with remarkable speed, the Headingley branch of Domino’s that once employed Lucy Bronze has been renamed “Lucy’s” in honour of the Euro-winner – the revamped signage particularly fitting, as the pizza chain’s iconic domino logo has long predicted the 2-1 final score. Diary hopes this is just the start, and more properties and businesses will be named after our history-making Lionesses – better yet, planners, let’s get them in street names. Bring them all on: Mead Avenue, Russo Road, Kelly Close, Stanway Way, Earps Street (let’s make that last one a no-through road).
What’s £1.7bn between friends?
Anyone who has ever picked up a comic book will know that all mild-mannered reporters are in fact superheroes, so perhaps there should be high expectations. Now, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, a reporter is someone “whose job is to discover information” and describe it. But what if the information varies from source to source? What is a superhero to do? An example: according to Gerald Eve, Q2 investment for London offices investment stood at £1.5bn. But JLL found it to be at £2.8bn, Savills calculated a figure of £2.9bn, Cushman & Wakefield and Colliers both reported £3bn of transactions, and Knight Frank saw it at £3.18bn. Any higher bids out there? Or should we just use our x-ray vision to spy the true figures for ourselves?
Seven pictures paint… seven thousand words?
For anyone out there who has been struggling to flog their house using only a well-constructed essay online, we have shock news in our inbox this week (embargoed, no less) that photographs help sell properties. Why has nobody ever told us this before? Apparently, according to “leading estate agent media provider” Giraffe360, the nation’s estate agents “could be selling themselves, and their sellers short, by under-presenting their properties when it comes to the number of images provided in their online property listings”. Hard to believe based on the galleries stuffed full of fish-eye lens camera trickery Diary has waded through every time we’ve looked at a house, but Giraffe360 says that, according to Rightmove, the “magic number” is a minimum of seven photos to showcase a property to prospective buyers – but, in 5% of cases, agents aren’t even hitting that meagre target. Another top tip we would never have thought of is “putting your best photo first in a bid to attract attention”. Genius. So, if your listing leads with a shot of your avocado bathroom suite, with precious little else, maybe have a word?
Unlucky for some?
Whether planning committees are factoring in enough of the ageing population’s needs remains a contentious debate, but at least the views of elderly Southwark residents were represented during last week’s committee meeting, when councillor Nick Johnson jumped in during the Q&A part of a reserved matters presentation on zones F and L of British Land’s £3.5bn Canada Water masterplan to ask an important question “on behalf of everybody’s gran”: “How are we securing continued bingo provision?” The answer, alas, won’t please everyone – turns out BL is not obliged to provide a bingo hall if it knocks down the existing one. And, since that was deemed acceptable at the outline stage, it wouldn’t be considered “reasonable” to revisit the issue. Still, at least there’s a bit more time for Southwark’s bingo fans to enjoy the call of the balls – the hall sits within zones D and E, which will be discussed in more detail at later stages. Maybe lucky number seven will come up then?
