Good morning. Here is your AM bulletin, with the latest news and views from EG, as well as a few of the best bits from the morning papers.
The government will water down its net zero commitments, including ditching tougher energy efficiency rules for landlords. The prime minister has said he wants to hit net zero targets, but “in a better, more proportionate way”.
UBS has cancelled a deal to sublet almost 105,000 sq ft of its space at 5 Broadgate, EC2 to Grant Thornton.
Cardiff City Council has appointed Knight Frank and CBRE to find a development partner to deliver its 800,000 sq ft Atlantic Wharf regeneration scheme.
A quartet of leading retail agents, including the co-founders of niche occupational retail agency Robinson Webster, have joined forces to launch a practice called Forge.
And Sciontec has reworked plans for its Hemisphere development in Paddington Village, Liverpool.
Cain has just completed a £500m PBSA forward-funding deal, which will deliver nearly 2,400 beds across five schemes – including the tallest building in Leeds.
But investment in the UK’s purpose-built student accommodation sector will fall to £2.5bn in 2023, a 30% decrease on the record-breaking 2022.
And the UK will be the second worst performing economy in the G20 next year, according to the OECD’s latest forecast. At least we’ll do better than Argentina, eh?
Financial control over Birmingham has been handed to government-appointed commissioners after the city council effectively declared itself bankrupt.
Meanwhile, inflation will cause the £70bn price tag for HS2 to be revised upwards to more than £90bn.
As a damning report on Edinburgh’s tram line says its true cost has soared to well over £1bn, because of a “litany of avoidable failures”.
The cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels has risen to £8m a day.
But hotels in Westminster could be hit by an “overnight levy”, as the council attempts to tackle the surge in Airbnbs.
And finally, Unesco has warned the government that its plans for a tunnel near Stonehenge could lead to the 5,000-year-old monument losing its world heritage site status.
