Good morning,
A “rapid overhaul of the planning system” is needed to decarbonise the power grid, the government’s own climate adviser has said. Climate Change Committee chair Lord Deben, aka former environment secretary John Gummer, said “government is asleep at the wheel”.
Hammerson is a “better, more agile, and resilient business”, boss Rita-Rose Gagné has said, as earnings rise 60% and losses narrow to £164m.
Landsec has launched its first green bond, priced at £400m.
Meanwhile, Bellway Homes has been ordered to pay £100,000 after dumping contaminated soil onto a development site in Northumberland.
Specialist lender Century Capital has secured a £100m funding line from NatWest to finance prime residential and commercial real estate.
Gregory Property Group has bought a strategic site on Foss Islands Road in York, with plans for a student accommodation scheme.
A one-size-fits-all policy for refurbishments is not necessarily the answer, writes Candour co-founder Toby Pentecost. Not all buildings are suited to repurposing, and low-carbon new-build developments can be a better holistic solution.
This week’s EG celebrates International Women’s Day with a collection of letters to the next generation from senior female leaders in the industry. And EG’s editor has written her own. “If you’re looking to make a difference, if you’re looking to build a better place for you, your family and the future… Come join us.”
The Restaurant Group has said it will ditch about 35 uneconomic restaurants, but has resisted calls to sell its £250m pubs business.
The majority of houses are now being sold for less than the asking price, says the RICS, and estate agents are at their gloomiest in 14 years.
And finally, West Oxfordshire District Council has taken umbrage over the way a planning battle between it and Jeremy Clarkson was portrayed on the Amazon series Clarkson’s Farm. For those unfamiliar with the show, episode five of series two shows a mardy Clarkson storming out of a planning application meeting after plans for a restaurant at his Diddly Squat farm are refused. Fans of the former Top Gear presenter have said the “pen-pushers” had a vendetta. However, the council said it had made every effort to help Clarkson, but he refused to engage over his retrospective application. It added: “The planning meeting shown in Clarkson’s Farm ran for well over an hour but was covered in a matter of minutes in the show.” Sure, but the reality of the planning process isn’t good telly, is it? Let’s just watch the bit where he flounces out in a huff.
