'Consolidated PR', Brent Cross's new PR outfit, says: "We deliver exceptional results" (Er, have you started yet, then?)

Link to Consolidated PR web site

"We Love Shopping at Brent Cross"

"We work with Brent Cross to remind shoppers in North London of what they love about the pioneering shopping mall.

"Situated in one of the world’s most heavily-contested retail catchment areas in the country, Brent Cross is faced with fiercely ambitious competitors, who can outspend them in every area."

"Situated in one of the world’s most heavily-contested retail catchment areas in the country, ..."

Please be kind enough to re-read that. We are right, aren't we? That is gibberish, isn't it? Still, perhaps they haven't started yet. Early draft, and all that business. The jury is out. Will be okay in the end. Let's have another meeting: Shall we take out "world" or "country"? What sounds best?

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Link to previous exciting appointment last July.

Sunday Telegraph: "Lloyd's of London chairman John Nelson finds his early days have been far from a natural disaster" (although he's still chairman of Hammerson, so don't be too certain)

Link to Sunday Telegraph

"Mr Nelson is optimistic about the future of the City regulator, which he says has been presented with a great opportunity to 'do exactly what it says on the tin'. ... However, he is less optimistic about 'Solvency II', the new capital rules set to govern the European insurance industry.

"... In the meantime, Nelson says he will continue engrossing himself in the market, which remains the only one of its kind in the world. Market insiders say he has certainly made a promising start: 'I think the chairman's chauffeur is the only unhappy person at the moment,' one joked.

[We say: No, we're unhappy as well.]

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Link to "Maybe He'll Jack It In at Hammerson" (we paraphrase)

or link to HOME (see all posts).

The Sun: "M&S to cut 300 jobs on night shifts"

Link to the Soaraway Current Bun

"MARKS & SPENCER is axing the night shift at 15 of its biggest stores — to save more than £1.3million.

"Stores involved include Brent Cross, Milton Keynes, and Aberdeen."

Public Transport, Hammerson! - Evening Standard: "Open market and 2,450 homes in Battersea boom"

Link to Evening Standard

"Plans for a huge regeneration of Battersea centred on a rebuilt New Covent Garden Market have been unveiled.

"The proposals would create 2,450 homes, almost 700 more than first proposed, on a 57-acre site between Vauxhall station and Battersea power station, and would sit alongside the new high-security US embassy.

"The scheme would tie in with Boris Johnson's plans to open a privately-funded branch of the Northern line from Kennington, with new stations at Nine Elms and Battersea."

Evening Standard: "Boris backs Crystal clear vision of architecture"

Link to Evening Standard

"An exciting new building called the Crystal has been backed by the Mayor, as a blueprint for the future of London's architecture.

"Built by Siemens, the £30 million project will open next summer in Royal Victoria Docks."

Thursday 27 October: "Keep London Moving" (not something Hammerson has ever tried to do)

Hammerson's July 'London Group Update' video - no mention of Brent Cross!

"We must stay nimble."

"We are passionate about delivering the best in class."

[Although in the case of Brent Cross, we are keeping our heads down.

We sometimes ask ourselves why we are in the mess we are in, at Brent Cross. 

Was it 'London Communications'?

Was it our local, contracted-out management?

Was it Mike Freer and his Barnet Council?

Was it merely our own incompetence?] 

No really, it is.

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Link to HOME (see all posts).

Newcastle Chronicle: "Hammerson planning to revamp Newcastle’s Monument Mall"

Link to Newcastle Chronicle

"World-renowned developers Hammerson are planning a facelift for Monument Mall, in the heart of Newcastle.

"Sean Bullick, chief executive of city centre development company NE1 Ltd, said: 'I have been meeting with the portfolio director of the developers. ...

Hammerson is an international force.'

"A spokesman for Hammerson said:

'We are active asset managers'."

[Not at Brent Cross, they aren't]

The Guardian: "Financial sector needs to re-establish trust, says Lord Mayor of London" (And we know about Sir Michael Bear of Finchley, already, don't we?)

Link to The Guardian

"Michael Bear, the 683rd Lord Mayor of the City of London, is beating the drum for finance during tumultuous times. Anti-capitalist campaigners from the Occupy movement are camped out at St Paul's in the heart of Bear's parish – copying similar demonstrations in New York, Melbourne and Hong Kong.

"Given the state of the economy and ongoing euro crisis, haven't the protestors got a point?

"Before he became Lord Mayor, nearly a year ago, he was Regeneration Director at Hammerson, the property company."

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Link to "Michael Bear, Regeneration Director at Hammerson (and new Lord Mayor of London) shuns Brent Cross's temporary 'rapid transit bus' for the Lord Mayor's Show 2010" (and more links there).

Fundweb: "Prime retail sites are key, say property managers"

Link to Fundweb

"... Over at Premier, Alex Ross (right) concurs that retail can be an attractive sector for property investors, ... [and is] seeing companies increasingly move towards the prime end of the market.

"Ross highlights south-east shopping centres such as Westfield and Bluewater, along with Meadowhall in Sheffield and The Bullring [sic] in Birmingham, as benefiting from this trend. He says:

"If you’re not at the top end, you’re dead.  At least one-third of UK retail property is obsolete in its current form."

"A vigil to mark the passing of Barnet planning services in the public interest" (only in Hammerson's interest in the future?)

"BARNET Council planning staff held a candlelight vigil outside Hendon Town Hall last night, as part of the day’s industrial action against the council’s service outsourcing plans.

 

"The group distributed and read from a booklet entitled 'A vigil to mark the passing of planning services in the public interest'. The booklet included information from blogger Barnet Eye."

(Click on images to link to the Barnet Times.) 

Old Oak Common: 'Our circles are bigger than your circles, Hammerson'

Click either image for an Old Oak Common promotion (PDF file) by the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, from 2009.

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Link to (wait for it...):

"Terry Farrell's Old Oak Common video (why is Hammerson and 'London Communications' too incompetent or ashamed to make a Brent Cross one?)".

Manchester tram scheme gets EU loan (Get your begging bowl out, Hammerson)

Link to web site

"Manchester's Metrolink expansion scheme is to receive £500 million in long-term low-rate loans from the European Investment Bank.

"The EIB, the EU's long-term lending arm, offers finance for major projects seen as promoting EU economic polices. In the last five years, it has provided more than £17 billion for UK projects.

"The money for Manchester was described by the EIB today as part of the bank's pledge to support:

"sustainable public transport in leading European cities, and to reduce reliance on private car use."

"The Network, our kid:"

"Sound mate, sound."

Video: Envac system at Wembley (with another architects' fly-through)

This system is already in use. 

(Some of the buildings are already built, some are being built, and some do not yet have planning permission.)

TheBusinessDesk: Hammerson's 'DELIGHT-o-METER' overloads yet AGAIN!

Link to TheBusinessDesk web site

"THE Eastgate Quarters shopping development in Leeds has moved a step closer after developer Hammerson secured planning permission to move a church.

"Joe Swindells, Hammerson's development manager, said:

“We are delighted..."

London Cycling Campaign's street design (Don't worry Brian, It's not in Barnet)

Link to web site

"What's good about our design? 

• RISK-FREE TURNS: Right-turning cyclists have their own traffic lights for extra safety 
• SAFE BIKE LANES: Bicycles separated from motorists with wide, kerbed lanes 
• FASTER ON FOOT: Wide and direct pedestrian paths 
• PEOPLE SPACE: Opportunities for cool café culture? 
• BUS LANES: Priority retained for high-volume public transport."

How 'Transport for London' want to do it... 

Cable Car from Brent Cross to Finchley Central (well, actually North Greenwich to Victoria Dock)

But link to 'London Reconnections' web site
for an analysis of the cost!

Daily Telegraph: "We need to safeguard London's playing fields or suffer the consequences"

Link to Daily Telegraph

"Those of us concerned about how the National Planning Policy Framework (which is out for consultation until October 17) will impact upon green open spaces of the National Planning Policy Framework have good reason to be thankful for The Telegraph’s Hands Off Our Land Campaign. The document’s presumption in favour of 'sustainable development' and ensuring there is 'enough land for growth' will set alarm bells ringing for supporters of community sports.

"London is already at a disadvantage, with 16 per cent of the country’s population being served by only 8 per cent of its playing fields, and the Government’s target of delivering two million new homes by 2016 will inevitably put enormous pressure on existing open space.

"The London Playing Fields Foundation, one of the country’s oldest sporting charities, has spent the over 120 years actively fighting the cause for playing fields. Those whose lives have been enriched by sport would recognise the importance of having accessible, affordable and attractive facilities, and the contribution they make in tackling two of the biggest threats to London life, namely poor public health and disorder on the streets."

London Playing Fields Foundation
73 Collier Street, London, London N1 9BE  Tel. 0845 026 2292

Evening Standard: "Fun after the Games: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park"

Link to Evening Standard
(there are two other images there as well)

"The Olympic Park Legacy Company submits its planning application today for the 20-year transformation of the Olympic site in Stratford into five new neighbourhoods around the edges of what, from 2013, will be known as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

"The Mayor has billed it 'the most important regeneration project that the city has seen in 25 years', it compares in size to the biggest regeneration projects in London in recent years (Brent Cross/Cricklewood, for instance), and the eyes of London are on it. We have been told by politicians of all persuasions that this Olympics should be judged by what it leaves behind, and this is the plan that sets out what that legacy will be."

Wednesday 5 to Sunday 30 October: Stephen Walter, 'The Island: London Series' at Fenton House

Link to web site

Stephen Walter’s drawings are a tangle of signs, words and images, that draw the viewer into the artist’s intricate worlds. Inspired by the continually unfolding drama of his home city, his iconic map of London and collection of meticulously-detailed London Boroughs celebrate ‘a city’s ability to constantly reinvent itself, building on top of what was before, continually shifting its cultural identity.'

"In each print he combines history, trivia, personal experience, local knowledge and imaginative additions, to creatively explore the area in all its contradictory complexity."

Sky News: "Economy And Europe 'Cast Shadow' At Conference"

Link to Sky News

"Where's your growth plan?" I shouted at the Prime Minister outside the Midland Hotel in Manchester, in that annoying way that we political correspondents do. 

"He ignored me, naturally, and hurried inside, grasping the hand of his wife Samantha. But his answer to those Tory MPs like Andrew Tyrie who claim he lacks a 'coherent and credible' growth plan is a two-point housing initiative. 

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"PM Vows To 'Fire Up Economy' Amid Protests" 

Link to second Sky News report

"David Cameron has arrived at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, as he promises to 'fire up' the engines of the economy. One scheme the Conservatives hope will kick-start the economy, and in particular the housing market, is a 'build now, pay later' plan for homebuilders. 

The Tories will also propose to build a new council house for every one sold to a tenant. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles told Sky News:

"It would be 'one for one' in the local authority, with no averaging out. Of course, we've also just announced another scheme, which is 'build now, pay later'."