High Street recovery ‘on knife edge’; despite the increase in interest rates the latest CBI Retail Survey was positive; however the Observer reports that the British Retail Consortium (BRC) is warning this week that in spite of a small increase in high street sales in August, consumer confidence remains fragile. Worried that any retail surge might trigger another interest rate rise, the BRC is stressing that the comparison is with August 2005 when a sales slump followed the 7th July bombings. Faced with a housing market that is showing strong signs of growth once again and an economy likely to grow faster than many predicted - GDP growth is currently at 2.1 per cent- the retailers are emphasising that increased fuel costs and rents as well as an increase in the minimum wage are all adding to their costs. Further information - click here Observer 03.09.06
The US housing market is a “rapidly deflating bubble”; Nils Pratley, writing in the Guardian, says that there is an increasingly mainstream view that the US housing market is now at a critical point with both the volume and the value of housing transactions falling. Even more alarming is that the inventory of unsold homes has risen by a quarter during 2006. He says that it now appears US consumers are starting to worry with one important measure of consumer confidence, showing the lowest figure for nine months. The fact that it was concern about jobs, rather than the housing market, that was causing consumers concern is cold comfort. The housing industry has been the prime engine of growth in US employment for the past three or four years, so the two go hand-in-hand. Moreover, as Capital Economics has noted, the data from the US housing market is deteriorating at such a pace that consumer confidence may have further to fall. Further information - click here - Aug. 19, 2003 Guardian 30.08.06
BG North Sea discovery raises hopes; BG Group has unveiled its biggest gas
discovery in the North Sea for five years, raising hopes that the rate on which
the UK is growing dependent on gas imports could be slowed. Whilst industry
experts believe that it does not change the fact that the North Sea is in a
mature state it does show that there is plenty of life yet in the UK sector.
When production fell faster than expected the UK became a net importer of gas
in 2004, two years earlier than forecast. Independent 02.09.06
Stop being snobby about service industries; writing in the Estates Gazette,
John Plender looks at the news that landlords buying rental property have made
the biggest contribution to economic growth over the past 15 years and that
official figures place real estate as the fourth fastest growing industry group
after computers, other business services and banking and finance. Finance and
business services now account for 33 per cent of economic output (2004 figures)
compared to 24.3 per cent in 1992. At the same time manufacturing’s share
of the economy has fallen from 21.7 per cent in 1995 to 14.1 per cent in 2004.
He asks whether this will cause us problems in the future. A similar argument
took place in the 19th century when agriculture’s share of the economy
fell from 20 per cent in 1816 to 7 per cent in 1914. The only problem is that
some services such as hairdressing or gardening are not internationally tradable.
He says that the anti-service obsession is like a form of snobbery, regarding
music sales to the USA as somehow inferior to arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Estates
Gazette 26.08.06
UK spending more on eating out than eating in; figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that, for the first time, household spending of £87.5 bn (2004 figures) on food and drink products consumed outside the home surpassed the spending of £85.8bn on food and drink in the home. Since 1994, when ONS first started keeping these statistics, the amount spent on eating out has doubled. The figures are contained in a snapshot of the UK economy showing that the business and finance sector once more prospered at the expense of manufacturing. Banks, insurers, advertising and estate agents make up almost a third of the British economy in 2004 after their total economic output grew to £344.5bn. At the same time manufacturing’s share of the economy dropped to 14.1 per cent or £147.5bn. Further information - click here Independent 19.08.06
Survey says Europe misunderstands venture capital; policy mistakes by local and regional government are contributing to the underfunding of European start-up companies, according to research conducted by Professor Gordon Murray (pictured right) of the University of Exeter’s School of Business and Economics. Amid a widespread belief that large venture capital funds are unwilling or unable to provide seed capital, policymakers across Europe have backed small, state-sponsored technology funds to invest in Start-Ups. However, the Exeter research claims that the larger the fund the more likely it is to invest seed capital and the more capable it is of picking winners. It focuses on 2,950 venture capital firms worldwide, excluding buyout funds, and ranks them by the proportion of seed capital in their portfolios. The highest European fund at 20th was German and the highest-ranking UK fund was 59th. Further information click here Financial Times 21.08.06
Online spending surges; the latest survey of online shopping by the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) shows that internet retail sales growth is outpacing total spending in shops by 10 times, as consumers take advantage of improved online services. In a separate survey, Experian say that whereas traditionally home shopping has been associated with the lower end of the market the big spenders now are “time-poor, cash-rich” consumers, who order online or from a catalogue. The annual Experian home-shopping survey shows that Barnes in south west London is the home shopping hotspot with residents spending an average of £150 per year, per head on mail order shopping. Tesco, which already accounts for 31 per cent of all grocery supermarket shopping, has launched Tesco Direct, an Argos-style catalogue covering an extended range of non-food goods such as furniture and electrical items. Other retailers such as Argos and John Lewis have been investing in multi-channel services which link internet and telephone ordering points with catalogues and shops. IMRG say that currently e-retail accounts for 10 per cent of all retail sales but by 2010 it could account for 10 per cent of all spending if current rates were maintained. Amazon is still the most popular site, followed by Argos. Tesco is the fifth most popular site. Further information - IMRG Press releases click here - and Experian click here and Tesco information click here Financial Times 30.08.06
Sole traders push new businesses to a record high; for the eighth successive year the number of businesses in the UK has risen to a record high. There were an estimated 4.3m enterprises at the start of 2005, an increase of 59,000, or 1.4 per cent, on a year earlier. The main reason for the increase was further growth in the number of sole traders who now total 3.2m, or 72.8 per cent of the total. Only 6,000 businesses employ more than 250 workers, but they account for 41.3 per cent of private sector employment. Further information - click here Financial Times 01.09.06
Blair chairs social exclusion seminar; shortly after his return from holiday the Prime Minister chaired a seminar at Chequers designed to look at ways and means of helping the bottom 2 per cent in society, termed in Whitehall as “high-risk, high-harm and high-cost families”. The Prime Minister is due to make what is deemed as a big speech later this week in what is seen as shoring up his political position before what is likely to be a turbulent party conference. This will concentrate on children in care, teenage mothers and mentally ill people who receive benefit - people who have been “difficult to reach” in previous government programmes. One of the issues discussed at the seminar, which was attended by ministers involved in social exclusion issues together with leading charities such as Joseph Rowntree and Turning Point, was whether failing local authority childcare homes should be taken over by the voluntary sector. Mr Blair and his new Social Exclusion Minister, Hilary Armstrong (pictured right), have also been looking at German approaches to helping children in care, including giving them one care worker to take them through education and act as their champion. Ministers are concerned that out of 60,000 children in care at any time, less than one in 10 get five GCSEs, compared with more than half of other teenagers. Government figures show that the 5 per cent most disadvantaged are 100 times more likely to have multiple problems than the most advantaged 50 per cent, including contact disorders, police contact, cannabis use, mood disorders and alcohol abuse. Hilary Armstrong, on her appointment as social exclusion minister, pledged a new action plan to tackle ways and means of getting through to the most disadvantaged young people. Further information - click here Guardian 30.08.06
Following the publication of the latest immigration data a ferocious debate has started in the UK media about future immigration policy. Most seem to agree that the influx from Poland and the other new EU states has been a good thing both for bringing extra skills and also providing workers for difficult-to-fill jobs. However, there are concerns about the effect on the long-term unemployed in the UK, the effectiveness of UK education and training, and the tendency for the new immigrants to cluster in smaller towns. Ministers are increasingly hinting that there will be controls on workers seeking to enter the British labour market if Bulgaria and Romania join the EU in 2007.
Migration figures far higher than Home Office prediction; the latest figures for migration from the east European states that joined the EU in 2004 show that 427,000 have officially registered for work although the figure does not allow for the self-employed; Tony McNulty (pictured right), the Home Office Minister said that he thought the real figure was probably nearer 600,000. On the other hand it does not allow for those that have returned after completing a two-year contract. Over 80 per cent of the workers are aged 18-35 and single, with 62 per cent from Poland. It is estimated by the IPPR that they make a net contribution of £2.54bn each year to the economy whilst Grant Thornton estimate that immigration had added between 0.5 and 1 percentage points to growth last year. There are up to 100,000 foreign workers in the building trade (or 10 per cent of total workforce), 70,000 help with harvesting according to the NFU; 31 per cent of doctors in the NHS are foreign; 13 per cent of nurses were born abroad; 12.5 per cent of teachers are non-British and 70 per cent of London catering jobs are filled by migrant workers. Further information - click here Independent 30.08.06
Minorities making economic progress but still lag behind; second generation minorities, especially men of black Caribbean, Indian and Pakistani heritage, are succeeding in the job market in ways that their parents could only dream of. This is one of the findings of a study by Dr Yaojun Li of Birmingham University (pictured right), and Professor Anthony Heath of Oxford University presented to the annual conference of the Royal Geographic Society. They are much more likely to gain access to professional and management jobs and Indian men were just as likely as their white British counterparts to hold prestigious positions. However, black Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi men are still less likely to hold prestigious jobs, and are more likely to be unemployed or in unskilled jobs than white British men- although since the mid-1990s the differences had been significantly reduced. The fortunes of black African men were the most polarised. They were more likely to be in professional and managerial jobs than white British men but they were also more likely to be unemployed. Further information - click here Independent 31.08.06
The problem with immigration; Mary Dejevsky writes a feature in the Independent querying the arguments in favour of migrant workers. In particular she says that there could be a long-term impact on the UK economy. It is true that the new arrivals are filling a genuine labour gap, but in many cases this new source of staff is also allowing employers to keep wages down for everyone, while skimping on training and enhanced productivity. If, as is possible, many of the recent arrivals eventually decide to return home, there will be an even bigger gap in the British labour market than there is today. Worse, there will be a generation of low-skilled Britons, unprepared and ill-equipped to work. Whether they receive remedial training or benefits, they stand to become an expensive charge on the Treasury. Independent 25.08.06
Big business forms lobby group to fight restrictions; a group of major companies including Centrica, J Sainsbury, WPP and Merrill Lynch, featured on the front page of the Independent calling for an open-door for Bulgaria and Romania when they join the EU in 2007. They have joined forces under the banner of Business for a New Europe. As such they are running counter to the views put forward by the major business groups in that both the CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce have called for controls on immigrants coming from the two new accession states. Independent 30.08.06
UK migrants fuel Spanish boom; a study by Caixa Catalunya, the Spanish savings
bank, says that British migrants have played a big part in helping the Spanish
economy to flourish. The study estimates that foreigners in Spain have helped
the Spanish economy to grow at a yearly rate of 2.6 per cent and that without
them there would have been an annual decline of 0.6 per cent. In particular,
British migrants have led the way in setting up small businesses with the result
that there has been a 15 per cent rise in foreigners opening businesses compared
with a 3 per cent rise amongst Spanish firms. More than 21,000 Britons have
registered their own business followed by 13,579 Germans and 13,293 Chinese.
Independent 31.08.06
Half of big firms have published OFRs; almost half of large companies have now published operating and financial reviews (OFRs) in spite of the government’s last-minute decision to scrap the mandatory reporting requirement. An analysis of 23 FTSE 100 companies by Black Swan, a corporate reporting agency, found that 11 have produced OFRs that go beyond the basic reporting requirements. Experts said that the results could be read two ways. On one hand it appeared that some companies had decided to set new “best practice” standards to help investors understand their companies or on the other hand, companies that had taken the government’s U-turn as an opportunity to retrench and adopt a more defensive approach. Further information - click here Financial Times 21.08.06
Wal-Mart threatens voter revenge; faced with growing union opposition coupled with attacks by senior Democrat politicians Wal-Mart is to launch “voter education programmes” aimed at taking on its critics in the run-up to the mid-term elections in November. It had previously tried to cultivate a softer image emphasising its green credentials and extending health care insurance whilst using arms length lobby groups such as Working Families for Wal-Mart. Starting in Iowa the company is sending letters to 60,000 employees as part of a drive to mobilise its army of shoppers and employees into an electoral force. The Democrats have been attacking the company’s healthcare provisions and its low wages. Recently the city of Chicago voted to force Wal-Mart and other stores to pay increased wages in the city. Further information - click here for Wal-Mart Facts and click here Independent on Sunday 20.08.06
Supermarkets report big rise in demand for organic products; the Soil Association’s annual assessment to mark Organic fortnight shows that sales of organic products in the UK rose by 30 per cent in 2005 and now total £1.6bn annually. All the leading supermarkets have expanded their range of organic food and report a rapid growth in demand. Supermarkets account for £1.2bn of the overall total. Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose all reported growth of around 20 per cent in sales of organic produce. Asda said that it intended to double its range of organic products to 1,000 by Christmas. However, the Soil Association warned that the supermarkets growth would make it harder for the smaller suppliers as the supermarkets switch suppliers or move to own - brand. Further information - click here Guardian 02.09.06
Householders face extended charges; the Audit Commission is conducting a wide-ranging
review into whether councils should extend and raise charges for local services.
The review, which will feed into Sir Michael Lyon’s final report on local
government finance, will assess the scope for charging for discretionary services.
At the moment some local authorities impose penalties for those that fail to
recycle waste but they cannot charge for domestic rubbish. However councils
face huge financial penalties if they fail to meet EU targets to reduce landfill
waste. Audit Commission officials have been visiting finance directors to find
out which discretionary services could be charged for. These services include
pest control, removal of fly tipping, pre-application planning advice, maintaining
pensioners’ gardens, and security guards. At present councils are blocked
from making a profit on discretionary services.
Further information - click
here Times
01.09.06
Tent City shames Paris into helping the homeless; a campaign run by Médicins du Monde in which 300 homeless people were given tents to sleep on the streets of Paris has resulted in a £4.7m government package for emergency housing. The campaign created such outrage and sympathy that, unusually for August Catherine Vaudrin, the Junior Minister for Employment and Social Cohesion, announced the scheme aimed at producing 1,270 hostel beds. Much of the accommodation would be in the form of bedsits where homeless people could settle. It is estimated that between 2,000 and 5,000 people sleep rough on the streets of Paris every night. Independent 11.08.06
Put the supercasino in Blackpool; writing in the Independent, Dominic Lawson looks at the bid to secure the supercasino for the Greenwich Dome. He looks at the confusion about Anschutz Entertainment Group’s consultations with local residents including the faith groups but comes to the conclusion that none of it really matters. He says, “It is just an example of the modern method of consultation, in which the maximum of paperwork is generated to the minimum of purpose”. He says that it is a mystery why it should be thought obvious to place such a wealth-creating machine in London when London is already set to receive £2.5bn of capital expenditure from the 2012 Olympics and an Oxford Economic Forecasting report for the City of London says, “We expect London to enjoy the fastest growth of employment in all UK regions…London remains a magnet for inward investment to the UK, attracting 37 per cent of all inward investment projects in 2004/05, compared to only 5 per cent in the mid 1990s”. He goes on to argue that although Londoners pay more than twice the tax revenues of Scottish residents the capital has been lavishly treated by Labour. He says the country that Philip Anschutz belongs to is more puritan than our own and sites its gambling centres in places like Las Vegas and Reno- moral as well as actual deserts, far from big cities. Our country is too small to adopt such a policy but if we must have such a place, it really should be Blackpool. Independent 01.09.06
‘Communities in revolt against elected mayors’; the government is said to be having a fierce internal debate about the scope for creating city regions and elected mayors along the lines of Ken Livingstone in London. However, the Times claims there is a growing revolt amongst communities across Britain against the new generation of elected mayors, whose high salaries and “dictatorial” powers have triggered attempts to oust them from office. Campaigns have started in four of the eleven towns with elected mayors; namely Stoke-on-Trent, Doncaster, Lewisham and Hartlepool. The aim is to call a referendum that would abolish the office and instead create a leader and cabinet system of local government. Times 04.09.06
Employers urge controls on new EU states; some of the UK’s leading employers organisations have proposed access to the UK jobs market should be restricted for migrant workers from Bulgaria and Romania if the two countries join the EU next year. Business leaders have previously been one of the chief proponents of overcoming labour shortages and stemming wage inflation by hiring thousands of east European workers from countries that joined the EU in 2004. But now some are concerned about the potential impact on over-stretched public services and communities if the Government continues its “open door” policy. Susan Anderson of the CBI said, “there is a strong argument to pause for a period before opening up to workers from further new member states, while we learn the lessons from experience to date. Workers from accession countries such as Poland and Lithuania, have been welcomed by UK businesses, which have benefited from their hard work and much-needed skills. But present systems for monitoring and controlling migration need to be improved”. Even the catering and hospitality industries called for a pause although they did call for skilled workers such as chefs to be allowed in. The only dissenting voice were organisations representing agriculture and food processing, which employ big numbers of migrant workers, although since then a group of major employers have come out in favour of no restrictions. Financial Times 18.08.06
Low skills blight some Asian communities; Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities in Britain suffer from high unemployment in part because of poor English, lack of education and low skills with little relevance to modern jobs, according to a report from the Institute for Employment Studies at Sussex University. The report, which was commissioned by the Department of Work and Pensions, says that the two groups have the highest unemployment of any ethnic group. Some 27 per cent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi households have no one in work, compared to 15.5 per cent of all households. The report says that part of the problem is that only a small proportion of working-age Pakistanis and Bangladeshis have been born in Britain and the majority come from a rural background. Many adults still do not speak fluent English and the two groups have the lowest levels of language skills and education of any migrant groups. However, a study of Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities in Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Glasgow and Tower Hamlets found that very few job seekers had experienced “direct discrimination from employers”, although a majority believed that employers would discriminate against them “because of their ethnicity, and increasingly because of their religion”. Government programmes to get people back into work had achieved little success and there was agreement that welfare-to-work programmes may not be working as effectively as they do for the white population. The report recommends that the government should set job targets for Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, in particular for women. There should be incentives to encourage employer-led training and greater use made of community and voluntary organisations to boost language skills. Further information click here Financial Times 05.09.06
The workers who represent Britain; the Work Foundation has produced a report on the workers who most embody the spirit of modern Britain. Paradigm Trades: The Iconic Jobs of the Early 21st Century nominates hairdressers, management consultants, celebrities and managers as the workers who “more than any other” offer us spokespeople for what is going on in the workplace and within our culture as a whole”. Resisting the conventional thinking that might have identified call centre workers or the “knowledge economy” the report says that the number of hairdressers and other ‘body improvers’ (fitness trainers, beauticians etc) grew by 302 per cent between 1992 and 1999. Management consultants make the list because at 15 per cent of the total workforce they are the biggest group in the workforce and are expected to carry on growing. Further information - click here Guardian 30.08.06
New fathers do not want shorter hours; research undertaken by the University of Bristol calls into question the idea that modern fathers want to work fewer hours so they can spend more caring and sharing time with their children. The study, The Effects of Fatherhood on Men’s Patterns of Employment, which was sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council, says that although fathers may take time off immediately after the birth, they soon settle back into their old routines and remain at work as long as childless male colleagues. A survey showed that a quarter of all men want to work shorter hours, less than 1 per cent want to work longer hours, and the remainder want no change. These preferences do not change when they become fathers. Esther Dermott, the lead investigator for the study, said it shows that what most professional men value most about their jobs is their ability to control their working hours so that they can leave early to go to school functions or parents’ meetings. Further information - click here Guardian 24.08.06
Workers in favour of extended hours; more than half of people in Britain believe that governments should not restrict the number of hours they can work, according to a European poll. The results of the poll, which was commissioned by the Financial Times/Harris and interviewed 10,000 people in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, show that the majority of voters would have supported the government’s defence of Britain’s opt-out position which allows employees to choose to work longer than the EU limit of an average working week of 48 hours. The campaign to end the opt-out, which was lost when talks collapsed at the beginning of June, was led by France and Spain. However the poll shows that there is substantial support for greater freedom to work longer in France (52 per cent) and Germany (65 per cent). Only Spain was out of step with 72 per cent of the population supporting curbs. Financial Times 21.08.06
Sharp increase in working students; according to a joint report by the Trades Union Congress and the National Union of Students the number of students taking part time jobs has risen to 630,000- a rise of 54 per cent since 1996. They attribute the increase to the need to fund their way through college and to avoid building up big debts. They are working an average 14 hours a week and the jobs are concentrated in low-pay sectors such as hospitality and retail. Further information - click here Financial Times 01.09.06
Select Committee to investigate employment strategies; the House of Commons Select Committee for Work and Pensions is to examine the effectiveness of the Government’s employment strategy. It will also look at what actions are needed to achieve the aim of 80 per cent employment. Further information - click here 01.09.06
Asda to embrace new age law; Asda, the UK arm of Wal-Mart, is to stop asking job applicants to give their date of birth on their application forms.
Builders spend least on training; a survey of 600 human resource managers by City & Guilds shows that construction and leisure industries spend the least on training. Two thirds of the mostly small and medium sized enterprises surveyed spent less than £10,000 a year on training and 8 per cent of the construction industry respondents did not spend any money on training. In comparison 32 per cent of respondents in the public sector spent over £100,000 a year. Further information- click here Financial Times 30.08.06
GCSE results could bring more city academies; despite repeated criticisms of the city academy programme, the flagship of the government’s education programme, Lord Adonis, the Minister for Schools (pictured right), has said that the numbers could be incr5eased following the latest GCSE results. At present the target is 200 academies by 2010. Lord Adonis said that the exam results showed that the initiative was working with the seventeen of the 21 academies posting improvements in the number of pupils gaining five or more GCSEs with grade A*-C. The average rise was 6.3 per cent, about four times the national average. Despite attacks on the flagship policy Lord Adonis pointed to a 16 per cent increase in GCSE results in less than three years and demand from pupils. The three new academies attracted 3,501 applications for 551 places while the 21 that replaced ailing schools attracted 9,417 for 3,900 places. Financial Times 26.08.06
Half of independent schools shunning GCSEs; the Headteacher of St Paul’s Boy School, which has achieved the best GCSE results in the country, says that the exam was “in crisis”. Martin Stephen was speaking, as it emerged that 250 of the best-known independent schools have ditched the exam in favour of the international baccalaureate because they felt that the GCSE does not stretch pupils. St Paul’s achieved an average point score of 600.3, the equivalent of 10 A* grades per pupil. Last year 15 schools switched. Independent 02.09.06
Low-skilled youngsters; the Economist examines the CBI’s claims about the poor skills of school leavers. Employers had instanced the fact that many youngsters were unable to do the simplest mental arithmetic or to write English without spelling mistakes and grammatical blunders. One in three employers said that standards were so low that they had to provide remedial training in English and maths. The Economist says that there is a depressing familiarity about such complaints. The economy has long been held back by having too many low-skilled workers. International comparisons suggest that this is still a big problem amongst young adults. An OECD survey showed that in low skills amongst young people aged 25-34 only Italy surpassed the UK. Now employers appear to be seeing little improvement amongst school-leavers. The latest statistics for the past academic year show that only 44 per cent of 16-year-olds got five decent GCSE grades including English and maths. This led Richard Lambert, the Director-General of the CBI to comment: “We must not lose sight of the severe problems that exist- around half of this year’s GCSE students have fallen short of learning the basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills needed in the modern world, despite 11 years of education”. The government is trying to do something by making GCSE English and maths tougher by bringing in a “functional” element into the exams. In 2008 it will also introduce new, specialised diplomas to replace the current tangle of vocational qualifications. The Economist says that although these reforms may help, companies report other skills that are in short supply. Further information - CBI Press Release and Dfes News Centre Economist 26.08.06, Independent 25.08.06
Catastrophic decline in GCSEs in languages; the latest set of GCSE results show that there has been a “catastrophic” decline in the number of students taking French and German. There was a 13.2 per cent drop in candidates sitting French (236,189) and a14.2 per cent decline in those taking German (90,311- the first time it has fallen below 100,000). Headteachers and teachers were adamant that the government was responsible for the decline- which follows three years of declining numbers- because of its decision to make the subjects voluntary for 14-to-16-year-old pupils. John Dunford, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (pictured right), said that the subject was now in “freefall”- as many schools had now axed their language department and could no longer supply the subject, as they did not have the teachers or staff to deliver it. He said that it was putting youngsters at a disadvantage in the jobs market and the figures appeared to confirm that some schools were opting for exams that were considered easier so as to boost their rankings in the exam league tables. The subjects showing the biggest increases were statistics-up 32.9 per cent to 68,331 and media, film and TV studies- up 25.9 per cent to 57,521. Independent 25.08.06
Cut science degree costs to tackle skills crisis; the IT services group Logica has warned that Britain needs to produce more numerate graduates if the technology firm and other large companies are to keep their headquarters in the UK. It urged government to create more incentives to become science teachers and to consider cutting the cost of a science degree. Guardian 31.08.06
Work-related courses get lukewarm results; a
flagship scheme to allow pupils aged 14-16 to spend time undertaking work-related
courses has produced disappointing results according to an evaluation study
by the National Foundation for Education Research. Pupils who had been through
the course achieved worse results in English and maths than other pupils on
the traditional school timetable. Further information - click
here Evening
Standard 23.08.06
Government draws up plans for next stage of CO² rules; the Department for Environment, Rural Affairs and Agriculture (Defra) has published its proposals for the next phase of the European emissions trading scheme to run from 2008 to 2012. Under the proposals small companies, universities and hospitals will no longer have to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. There is an eight-week consultation period that finishes on October 16th. Further information - Defra, UK - consultations - Consultation on the installation level lists for Phase II of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme Financial Times 22.08.06
California introduces toughest emission controls; Arnold Schwarzenegger (pictured right), the Governor of California, has introduced new laws bringing in America’s toughest controls on greenhouse gas emissions. The Global Warming Solutions Act will force the state’s leading industries, such as utility plants, oil and gas refineries, to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020- a reduction of about 25 per cent. It also formalises mechanisms for carbon trading. The California Chamber of Commerce said that the law would place Californian businesses at a competitive disadvantage and that they could leave California taking their jobs and their greenhouse gas emissions with them. There would be little impact on global climate change but a severe negative impact on California’s economy. However, the Natural Resources defence Council predicted that other states would follow California’s lead. Further information - click here Times 01.09.06
Power station could be run on palm oil; RWE npower are considering converting
an oil-fired power station to run on palm oil. If agreed, it would be the first
conversion in the UK and would represent a massive expansion in the use of
biofuels, derived from plant or animal products. Palm oil has become more economic
as crude oil prices have surged and RWE would also be able to use government
incentives to use biofuels. They are also regarded as less damaging to the
climate because they are carbon-neutral as the plants from which they are derived
take up carbon dioxide as they grow. However, the move could push up the price
of foods and other products, such as cosmetics, which use palm oil as a key
ingredient. There is also concern amongst environmental groups that a big expansion
in the use of palm oil could damage the rainforests in South East Asia. The
Littlebrook power station in Kent, could consume up to 1m tonnes of palm oil
a year if converted to run solely on biofuel and at full power. Financial Times
23.08.06
BP promotes carbon offset for motorists; BP has launched a scheme where motorists can offset their annual carbon emissions as they fill up on petrol. Drivers will register with a non-profit making website set up by BP and then pay for offsets such as paying towards the cost of solar energy or wind farms. Offsetting has become a popular method for large companies and has been championed by firms such as BSkyB as well as carmakers such as Honda and Land Rover. Further information - click here Financial Times 23.08.06
Threat from terrorism ranks well below that of global warming; Joan Smith writes a feature in the Independent examining how we should regard the terrorist threat. She does not downplay the danger of attacks as she has found herself close to attacks in Istanbul in 1994 and the nail-bomber attack in Soho in 1999. Joan also has friends who still find it hard to use the underground. She also praises the police for their intelligence work in foiling bomb plots. However, she does compare last year’s statistics for terrorist attacks, when 56 people (and four bombers) died with road casualties, which in 2003 totalled 3,201 on British roads. A further 28,954 were seriously injured making the car journey to work far more dangerous than using the Piccadilly Line. In fact, between 1951 and 2003 a staggering 299,601 people died in road traffic accidents and another 16 million were injured. These are mind-boggling figures, but because we don’t wake up each morning to a detailed news report from the scene of each accident we manage to put the risk out of our minds. She concludes that logically the threat from terrorism ranks somewhere below that from cars and lorries and well below the effects of global warming. Independent 11.08.06
BA urges end to monopoly control of London airports; British Airways have called for a break-up of BAA’s monopoly of London’s airports and, in particular, that Heathrow and Stansted, both identified for expansion, should not be owned by the same company. The BA call, which was made by Willie Walsh, their relatively new Chief Executive (pictured right), comes only two weeks after operations at Heathrow, BA’s global hub, were thrown into turmoil by BAA’s inability to respond to government demands for tighter security. However, Mr Walsh said that the call for a break-up of the BAA monopoly was in “no way influenced” by recent security events but was a strategic response to the study launched by the Office of Fair Trading into the UK airports market in June. He said that there was evidence of poor performance “well before August 10th. BAA cannot use the sudden change [in security procedures] as the reason for its performance”. He urges the OFT to make a reference to the Competition Commission for a full investigation of the UK airports market- a call that has been echoed by others in the airline industry including Ryanair and Easyjet although the Transport and General Workers Union came out in support of the status quo. Financial Times 25.08.06
Mayor raises questions about City Airport; responding to a masterplan for the 120-acre London City Airport site in the Royal Docks, the Mayor has said that Crossrail “could prompt reconsideration of the future of London City Airport”. Dermot Desmond, the current owner of the airport, has put it up for sale on the basis of increasing its passenger base from the current 2m to 8m by 2030. So far over 100 parties have registered interest and the price is expected to be around £500m. However, if the Mayor’s suggestion that Crossrail would make the site attractive for housing were to go through the value would shoot up. However, the City of London would strongly oppose closure although Estates Gazette quotes one source close to the Mayor as saying that “Ken has made it very clear in private conversation that he doesn’t feel that the airport will be here in 10 years’ time. He thinks it’s outlived its usefulness”. In a subsequent edition of Estates Gazette the Mmayor emphasises that he has no power over any change of use of London City Airport, as this is a matter for the Department of Transport, who would probably deal with the issue in the forthcoming air transport white paper. Estates Gazette 19.08.06, 02.09.06
Barnsbury has been super-gentrified; in a paper to the Royal Geographical Society conference Loretta Lees, of King’s College London, said that Barnsbury in Islington has become Britain’s first area of super-gentrification. This involves throwing money at already up-market properties so that starting in the mid-1990s they used cash or short-term mortgages to pay an average of £700,000 for a terraced house or villa- more than £200,000 more than for comparable properties less than a mile away- and then spent up to £500,000 on improvements. Unlike the idle rich the super-gentrifiers have a very strong work ethic but they are not particularly interested in the history or being part of the community. Unlike the earlier gentrifiers who had a set of social values about urban living and mixing with other classes the super-gentrifiers universally send their children to private schools. They have incomes of at least £150,000 a year and they work very long hours. According to Dr Lees, “That’s part of the reason why they’ve moved to Barnsbury- it’s close to the City and has the type of housing they want”. The only other area in the world where super-gentrification has been identified is Brooklyn Heights in New York. Further information - click here Times 01.09.06
Heathrow threats will hit London property; writing in the Estates Gazette, Michael Brett says that unlike the 1990s when the land values in the UK held up under the IRA threat the terrorist threat today is rather different. Globalisation coupled with the communications revolution has allowed companies a wide choice of location as long as communication between centres is cheap and easy. In terms of voice and data communication we already have this but communication in the form of goods and people is a different matter. Things will settle down a bit but as long as the terrorist threat remains air travel will be a more time-absorbing, more inconvenient and considerably more unpleasant experience than in the recent past. This is bound to influence companies’ decisions on where they site their offices and their manufacturing operations. They will not be deterred from setting up in London by the terrorist threat but they might by the hassle of getting through Heathrow. Estates Gazette 19.08.06
Foreign buyers dominate London property market; research by Knight Frank shows that during the past year just over half the homes sold in London for more than £2n were bought by foreign nationals. This suggests that London is now the most cosmopolitan property market in the world as the equivalent figures for New York are 34 per cent, Paris 27 per cent, Hong Kong 13 per cent and Sydney 9 per cent. The figures also help to explain why London house prices have soared in the past year while the rest of the UK market has stagnated- although Knight Frank do forecast that London prices may be cooling off. Prices in Kensington and Chelsea rose by more than 20 per cent. The main buyers are from the Middle East or Russia and some property firms such as Strutt & Parker have taken on Russian-speaking staff. Further information -click here Financial Times 26.08.06
London law firm first to reach £1bn; the annual survey of major law firms conducted by Legal Business shows that the top 100 firms billed a record £10.8bn in legal fees this year. The average profit per partner was £537,322. The year also saw the arrival of the world’s first £1 billion law firm - Clifford Chance, which billed £1.030bn in legal fees in 2006. The so-called ‘magic circle’ of five major firms - Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Linklaters, Slaughter & May and Allen & Overy- continue to dominate the market accounting for 38 per cent of all the fees spent on legal services among the top 100 firms. However, the biggest rise in profits came from Lovells. Further information - Legal Business - Home Times 25.08.06
Gordon Ramsey could ‘suffocate’ London eating scene; the latest issue of Hardens London Restaurant Guide places five of Gordon Ramsey’s restaurants in its top ten eating places. The guide says, “In some cases the placing reflects the intrinsic merits of the restaurants, but in others it is just a function of the Ramsey PR machine to generate footfall. It is no criticism of Gordon, or his vaulting international ambitions, to say that for one man, or brand, to achieve such dominance over London’s top-end restaurant scene risks becoming stifling”. The original Gordon Ramsey restaurant in Chelsea is named as top with the runner up as Chez Bruce in Wandsworth and Le Gavroche in Mayfair, third. Chez Bruce heads the list of readers favourite restaurants followed by the Ivy, J Sheekey, the Wolseley and Le Caprice. The most disappointing is named as the Oxo Tower. Ramsey also tops the list of leading chefs, followed by Bruce Poole of Chez Bruce and then an outside in the shape of Morgan Meunier of Morgan M in Islington. Further information - click here Evening Standard 29.08.06
The first major contract goes to CLM; CLM, a consortium comprising CH2M Hill, Laing O’Rourke and Mace has won the £100m contract to act as “delivery partner” for the games. The job entails handling the construction programme for the venues, managing the supply chain and keeping a lid on costs. It won the contract after its bid was judged better than the tender from Bechtel, a big US engineering construction and project management company. Bectel had been considered the favourite. Further information - London 2012 Financial Times 31.08.06
Hotel development is booming; the combination of a revival in the travel market (prior to the latest airport security problems) and the winning bid for the 2012 Olympics has created a hotel building boom in London. According to Visit London, the capital is seeing a similar level of hotel development as that seen in the boom years of the late 1990s. Visit London’s Hotel Development Monitor reports that some 20,000 new bedrooms will be added by 2012, lifting the stock to 120,000 by the time the Olympics begin. Many of the projected hotel developments are conversions of former office blocks whilst riverside developments are also proving a boom area. One of the new hotels to open is the Hoxton Hotel in Great Eastern Street (pictured right) which will be a new concept put together by one of the founders of the Prêt a Manger chain. Further information - click here Times 26.08.06
Hackney wins £4m investment; a deal to provide up to £4m investment in Hackney after the completion of the 2012 Games has been agreed by the London Borough of Hackney and the London Development Agency. The borough will have improved sports facilities on Hackney Marshes before 2012 and new green space within the Olympic Park. An LDA spokesman said that it was a goodwill gesture as Hackney will be the only borough that will lose green areas and community space during the Olympics. Further information - click here Regeneration 18.08.06
Quintain looks for alternative to Wembley casino; following the London Borough of Brent’s decision to drop its support for a supercasino at Wembley Quintain have started to look at alternative plans for its 6m sq ft regeneration scheme for the former Palace of Industry site. The new plans will include up to 2.2m sq ft of shops, housing, leisure, commercial and civic elements. The borough’s decision had been expected since control switched to the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in the May elections. Estates Gazette 26.08.06
Hackney chooses Berkeley Homes; Berkeley Homes (south east London) have been selected by the London Borough of Hackney to redevelop four sites on the Woodberry Down estate. As part of a wider regeneration scheme Berkeley will build 1,000 homes for sale and 400 for rent. Regeneration 18.08.06
Local businesses offered first refusal at the Elephant; a deal between the London Borough of Southwark and developers Oakmayne Properties will see businesses in the Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre offered first refusal on new discounted space in the new mixed-sue scheme being built at the Elephant. There are 15 retail units in the Oakmayne development and five of these will be offered with stepped rents to local firms. Further information - click here Regeneration 01.09.06
Coin Street plans a lido; with outdoor lidos very much back in fashion the
Times Architecture Notebook heralds the proposal for a new lido as part of
a new development proposed by Coin Street Builders for a site behind the National
Theatre. They say that the overall design for the scheme by Lifschutz, Davidson
and Sandilands is a “masterpiece” and that the 47-storey tower
will rival Renzo Piano’s “Shard” at London Bridge as the
most interesting high rise building in London. The overall scheme includes
355 flats for sale, a new headquarters for the Ballet Rambert as well as an
indoor sports and leisure centre. The site is currently an empty car park to
the south of the National Theatre. The proposal was submitted to the London
Borough of Lambeth last year and awaits planning permission. Further information –
click
here Times
28.08.06
Southwark gives go-ahead for Canada Water; the London Borough of Southwark has given planning consent to British Land and Canada Quays for the first phase of the £1.5bn regeneration scheme at Canada Water, SE16. The scheme covers more than 100,000 sq ft of shops and cafes, 100,000 sq ft of offices and 2,800 homes on the 40-acre site. Estates Gazette 26.08.06
Redevelopment proposal for Camden Market; Stanley Sidings have submitted an application to redevelop part of Camden Stable Market into a 107,000 sq ft mixed-use scheme. It would involve a series of interconnecting buildings- shops and restaurants on the ground floors, studios and exhibition space above as the backdrop to a public plaza facing the listed Victorian Horse Hospital. Estates Gazette 26.08.06
Former sorting office to become design and arts centre; the Italian developer
Fabbriche Ceramiche has won permission from Westminster Council to turn a former
Royal Mail sorting office in Howick Place, behind the Army and Navy stores,
into a four-storey creative design and arts centre. The scheme comprises a
64,000 sq ft arts centre together with 34,000 sq ft of offices, 5,000 sq ft
of shops and nine flats. Estates Gazette 26.08.06
grapevine is produced twice monthly (except in August and December when there
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Next issue on September 28th, 2006
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