Good morning. Here is your AM bulletin, with the latest news and views from EG, along with a few of the best bits from the morning papers.
Blackstone boss Stephen Schwarzman has voiced the sentiment of investors everywhere, calling on the prime minister to provide “consistency“. Speaking at the PM’s investment summit at Hampton Court yesterday, Schwarzman said investors “need to be able to trust what’s going to be happening”. While Rishi Sunak has hailed the summit as a triumph, announcing almost £30bn of investment into UK infrastructure and industry, the message from global investors was clear, with Lendlease chief Tony Lombardo saying more “certainty” was needed from government, while others referenced the hastily scrapped HS2 North, and the revolving door of relevant ministers. It is also somewhat telling that 35 of those leaders attending the summit also stopped in for a breakfast with Labour’s leadership.
Speaking of HS2 North, its replacement, Network North, has been dismissed as uncosted and uncertain by experts including Sir John Armitt.
The economic picture for the UK is less positive than the PM would admit, too. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said the outlook for the UK economy is the worst he has ever seen. In an interview with Newcastle’s The Chronicle, he said rates would not fall in the near future and getting inflation down to 2% would be “hard work”.
Meanwhile, Tritax Big Box has sold £327m of assets since the start of the year, with more to come.
Home REIT has taken back the leases of 38 properties from Eden Safe. The tenant had not paid any rent – worth £1.14m pa – since October 2022.
Microsoft’s former smart cities adviser, Linda Chandler, has been appointed chief digital officer for the 14-acre Olympia redevelopment in Hammersmith, W14.
A framework to help multi-let offices improve energy performance has been launched by the Better Buildings Partnership.
And Capital & Centric has submitted plans to transform the 1970s brutalist Wigan Civic Centre into the town’s “best workplace”. “The bones of Civic are beautiful, but it is long overdue a refresh.”
In other news:
Salboy revises Viadux Manchester plans
HGP funds 300 homes with Cayuga along south coast
Wetherspoon refreshes £15m proposals for Wolverhampton pub
Metro Bank in talks to sell £3bn mortgage book to Barclays
Retail sales fall for seventh consecutive month
Signa held talks with Elliott over €400m bailout
Drug boss offers Dubai island to reduce jail time
To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews
