Good morning.
Spring is truly here, and with it the sense of change.
Knight Frank’s senior partner and group chairman Alistair Elliott will retire on 1 April next year. He will hand over the reins to head of London offices and global head of occupier services William Beardmore-Gray, who will join the executive board later this month.
Derwent London has promoted Philippa Davies to be its new head of leasing.
Ballymore has hired Pat Dalton as group finance director, following the departure of David Pearson after nearly 10 years.
And Canary Wharf has hired Jane Hollinshead as managing director of people, culture and customer service.
Meanwhile, M&G chair Mike Evans(£) has stepped down permanently due to ill health. And it appears chief exec James Foley(£) didn’t just get a bigger salary and bonus despite the main property fund being gated. He also got £250,000 for his car and chauffeur.
Capital & Regional was the highest real estate riser on the FTSE yesterday as non-essential retail landlords looked forward to the Great Reopening, and domestic stocks bounced back to pre-pandemic levels(£).
But it is a trip to the pub that most Brits consider an “overwhelming priority”(£) once restrictions are lifted.
As staff continue to return to the offices of JP Morgan(£) and Goldman Sachs(£)…
… Grant Thornton has said that most of its staff want to stay away from the office after the pandemic.
Shoppers(£) may need vaccine certificates(£) under plans being peddled by the PM.
And Peacocks(£) will close more than 200 stores after being bought by Philip Day’s right-hand man Steve Simpson. Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has called for an inquiry into the sale.
The government has launched its call for evidence on commercial rents, which will help determine next steps after the moratorium on lease evictions ends.
Watkin Jones has bought a former HMRC office next to Swansea train station for a £35m student accommodation scheme.
The Times (£) looks at the “opaque” practices surrounding the sale of France’s prized vineyards.
And The FT (£) cautions against using monetary policy to make housing more affordable.
The government has put plans for a new terminal at Leeds Bradford airport(£) on hold amid widespread criticism.
Nearly 90% of the world’s billionaires(£) are richer than they were before the pandemic according to Forbes’ list. But not Donald J Trump. He’s down 300 places.
An American investor has bought Britain’s oldest hotel(£) on a whim. Wait, no, they are called Whim. And based in the revoltingly named Dripping Springs, Texas.
And finally, in the continuing coverage of ‘Planning Applications of the Rich & Famous’, we read that Beetlejuice and Batman director Tim Burton(£) (a Big Fish in the film world) wants to take his Scissorhands to some protected trees in his Wonderland garden. The Dumbo director presumably feels the (Ed) Wood is casting Dark Shadows. (Enough now.)
