TV and radio presenter Katie Derham has been announced as the host of this year’s Property Marketing Awards.
Derham once held the mantle as Britain’s youngest newscaster when she worked at ITN, and she is now most recognisable as the face of the BBC Proms.
The award-winning journalist will join the Worshipful Company of Chartered Surveyors and Estates Gazette to celebrate the best in property marketing.
The event is being held at BAFTA on Thursday 26 June and will raise money for the Chartered Surveyors Training Trust.
With the market in an upswing, this is set to be a hallmark year for the PMAs. It has a new independent judging panel, chaired by marketing guru Kevin Duncan, and new categories.
Last year, London brand consultancy Heavenly was declared the Best of the Best and won the outstanding entrant award for 2013.
See www.propertymarketingawards.co.uk. for entry forms and information.
The deadline is 31 March.
Five-a-side football tackles plight of Ugandan orphans
Deloitte Real Estate is setting the stage for corporate teams to show off their ball skills in a five-a-side football tournament – blindfolded.
It’s the kind of event that will put those who think they are slick on the pitch right back in their box – unless the property world is harbouring some unlikely stars, that is.
And to demonstrate the dexterity required, Deloitte Real Estate has enlisted Team GB Paralympian and England’s greatest blind five-a-side football goalscorer David Clarke (pictured) to make an appearance.
The tournament will be held in Regent’s Park, NW1, on 3 April.
Confirmed teams include Grosvenor, JP Morgan, Land Securities, Network Rail, Kames Capital (Aegon UK), St James, National Grid, AXA, the GLA and Resolution.
The event is being held to support Bushfire Family UK, an AIDS orphans charity in Uganda. Deloitte has committed to expanding the venture’s vocational training centre and the project is already under way.
For more information and to make a donation, tweet @DeloitteUK_RE
Retail chiefs go to the ball
The luminaries of UK retail revelled in a carnival atmosphere at the Retail Trust’s 61st London Ball.
The likes of Topshop boss Sir Philip Green and Marks & Spencer chief executive Marc Bolland converged on Grosvenor House on Park Lane, W1, along with 1,000 industry professionals, in aid of the Retail Trust.
Rugby champion Phil Vickery was on hand too, and Strictly Come Dancing star Anton Du Beke hosted the evening.
More than £1.1m was raised in support of people in the retail trade and special thanks went to the New Look Foundation, which donated £350,000, and Green, who put £40,000 towards the Retail Trust’s efforts to help the retail industry’s disadvantaged workers.
Council leader takes a break to cycle to MIPIM
Four chaps will be waving the flag for Nottingham during Cycle To MIPIM, the property cycling event which sets off this week.
Nottingham city council leader Jon Collins, fresh from nursing a broken foot, will be joined by Nick McDonald, the council’s portfolio holder for employment and skills, Paul Southby, chairman of Invest in Nottingham, and Neil Whitney from management and construction consultancy Gleeds. It will be Collins’ third time over the start line but the first time that the rest of the group will embark on the 1,500km ride.
Collins said: “I have been unable to train. I want to try to complete as much as the ride as I can but may have to pull out of some stages.”
The cyclists will join a 90-strong peloton from City Hall to the Croisette in Cannes from 6 March in the ride, sponsored by Broadgate. They will be raising money for the charities elected by Cycle To, whose main beneficiary is Coram, which helps children and young people.
To sponsor the Nottingham contingent, click here and search their names.
JLL team readies for Pacific journey
You heard it here first: rowing is the new cycling in property. The industry’s intrepid types are now as likely to scoop up an oar as they are pedal a bicycle in an effort to raise cash for charity.
JLL trainee surveyor Emily Blagden is preparing to take on the Pacific Ocean in an all-female team of four, in June.
Her challenge comes on the back of an epic 53-day ocean journey for Edgerley Simpson Howe senior surveyor Dan Howie, who won the pairs class with his friend Will North in the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge, rowing 3,000 miles between Tenerife and Antigua (see www.estatesgazette/videos).
Emily forms part of Team Boatylicious, which is in training for a 2,400-mile adventure from California to Hawaii in a 24ft craft.
The team, which comprises Anna Hughes, Blagden, Laura Kennington and Aoife Ni Mhaoileoin, aim to finish the race under the current record of 64 days and raise £40,000 for the charities Hope and Homes for Children and the Ahoy Centre.
Fincorp lends a hand to support trust
Lending company Fincorp has rallied to raise £30,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust over the past year.
The firm, which is celebrating its 25th year in business, has collected donations, organised a host of fundraising events, contributed to the trust’s charity fundraising ball and pledged £100 for every deal completed during 2013 to raise the amount.
Matthew Anderson, a director at the bridging lender, said: “I am pleased we are able to do something quite significant to support research and help for those suffering from cystic fibrosis.
“It is a disease that affects more than 9,000 people in Britain, my son being one of them.”
Londoners take a step back in time
The public was invited to ice skate, play street games and watch live performances in scenes that harked back to 19th century London last month.
Passers-by flooded into Broadgate, EC2, to enjoy Frost Fair 200, a recreation of the historical Thames-side event last held in 1814. There was ping pong and giant chess to keep audiences entertained between acts from the Gandini jugglers and Guildhall School of Music & Drama musicians.
There were also roaming stilt walkers and snowball sprites to capture the atmosphere of the time.
Broadgate hosted the event in partnership with the City of London Corporation and the Cheapside Initiative on 3 February.
Rebecca.Kent@estatesgazette.com
