News reached us at the weekend that British retail institution John Lewis is expanding its range of wares from haberdashery, electrical goods and Waitrose goodies to houses. Yes, you will soon be able to pick out a place to live from their stores and not just with regard to the
Victoria Square Woking Limited, a joint venture between Moyallen Group and Woking Borough Council, has announced the significant advancement of Victoria Place, the £700m regeneration scheme in Woking town centre, with a range of new milestones reached across the development. Marks and Spencer has taken access of its 50,000 sq ft
The University of Oxford has upgraded its estates management processes with a new indoor mapping system to provide more efficient methods of maintaining asset data and how it charges university departments and other tenants for the space they use. Offering easy access to property and interiors data across 300+ buildings and
The initial stage of a £19.95m project to construct a Newmains and St Brigid’s Community Hub and Family Learning Centre involving North Lanarkshire Council (NLC), BAM Construction and hub SouthWest, the public-private partnership of local authorities, and leading Tier 1 building contractors, was marked last week (Tuesday 6 July 2021)
When it comes to a startup business, there are a few things that you should and shouldn’t do. While the process is known to be incredibly complicated it isn’t impossible but there’s a lot of hard work that needs to go into it. It’s very important to be realistic about
News reached us at the weekend that British retail institution John Lewis is expanding its range of wares from haberdashery, electrical goods and Waitrose goodies to houses. Yes, you will soon be able to pick out a place to live from their stores and not just with regard to the things you put in it. This is a sensible initiative for a 157-year-old company that realises that times are changing and that department stores may not be the destination of choice for new generations any longer, given the indefatigable rise of Amazon etc. Faced with such challenges firms can either ‘do a Woolworths’ and just die in the face of adversity or they can pivot. John Lewis and their employee partners have chosen the latter with the announcement that they will be building 10,000 homes on company land over the next ten years. Interestingly, these are not planned to be built as resales. John Lewis is not looking to compete with the likes of Bovis, Persimmon nor Redrow. No, these properties are for the long haul as build-to-rent homes that will provide rental income to the company Infinitum. Additional, solid revenue that will contribute quite significantly to their P&L and will be backed by the asset value of the buildings themselves for balance sheet strength. You have to applaud the boldness of this scheme and its product market fit from existing resources yet also its pure simplicity. Which got me to thinking, what if other British based firms were to innovate in this way too? How many dwellings could be created for the country’s growing number of enthusiastic renters and how lucrative would this be for struggling firms that are perhaps now ‘land asset rich’ yet ‘bottom line poor’? Some of the UK’s biggest landowners are, unsurprisingly, housebuilders given that they jointly own or control some 700,000 potential building plots. But other super-sized players inadvertently include such examples as Tesco, who apparently own over 11,000 acres around their existing stores or assets that have been purchased with the intention of building new ones. The fag packet that I have just reached for to work out how many homes that represents shows that over 220,000 homes could be provided from Tesco’s space, based upon an average of 45 dwellings per hectare as is about the average. That’s quite some solution and brings new meaning to the strapline ‘Every Little Helps’. And it’s also quite some income at a typical monthly rent of £900+ per month – equating to perhaps £2billion a year in top-line revenue. I’ll leave you with this inexhaustive list of UK landowners with which to boggle your mind over what I suggest the future of build-to-rent could be. Note that the housebuilder I have included is one of the smallest holders of all, comparatively (Source: ABCFinance.co.uk). Isn’t it amazing how solutions are sometimes just sitting there just waiting to be implemented? Landowner Land Acreage Owned in England Ministry of Defence 397,000 United Utilities 140,100 Duke of Westminster 140,000 Duchy of Cornwall 130,600 Network Rail 100,500 Church of England 73,000 Severn Trent 51,700 Sir James Dyson 33,000 Homes England 19,300 Taylor Wimpey 14,600 Tesco 11,000 Source: ABCFinance.co.uk
Victoria Square Woking Limited, a joint venture between Moyallen Group and Woking Borough Council, has announced the significant advancement of Victoria Place, the £700m regeneration scheme in Woking town centre, with a range of new milestones reached across the development. Marks and Spencer has taken access of its 50,000 sq ft new regional flagship store. Led by contractor ISG, works are underway on the fit-out by the popular British retailer, with the store due to open on the 10th November 2021. The store will offer a comprehensive range of clothing, homewares, and gifts, alongside an 8,000 sq ft food hall stocked housing fresh produce and a café. Also progressing in its preparations to launch is Hilton Woking, with recruitment underway to fill over 160 jobs generated by the new landmark hotel at Victoria Place. The positions created span from sales and marketing roles to culinary and event specialists. Ranked the top company in the ‘super large’ category of Great Places to Work UK in April 2021, and third in the 2021 UK Best Workplaces for Women, Hilton Woking is set to drive a considerable employment boost to the town centre. In addition, Native Group is continuing to drive momentum ahead of the August 2021 launch of its new residential concept The Marches, which comprises 429 furnished rental apartments in two towers of 30 and 34 storeys. The Native team is finalising works and appointing key on-site positions to manage the contemporary living community at Victoria Place, which will also incorporate co-working spaces and residents’ lounges. Councillor Ayesha Azad, Leader of Woking Borough Council, commented: “As we move closer towards the phased completion of this transformative development, we are delighted to see the various cornerstones of Victoria Place coming to life. With Marks & Spencer, Hilton Woking, and Native Group reaching new milestones in their preparations and recruitment plans, we are beginning to see the real and positive impact of this scheme on Woking town centre.” Nicolaas Houwert, General Manager of Hilton Woking, added: “We are proud of the recognition we have received in recent months, which is testament to the focus Hilton has on creating a great place to work for all Team Members. Not only are we excited to work alongside other like-minded organisations to contribute to Woking Borough Council’s regeneration scheme, but we are also looking forward to fostering and growing a new team at Hilton Woking.” Sir Robert McAlpine is delivering the Victoria Place scheme which is anchored by 125,000 sq ft of retail space, and will also house a medical centre, two public plazas, and spacious new parking facilities for the community. Victoria Place serves a catchment of 1.1m people with an available spend of £2.6bn. 41% of Woking’s catchment are from CACI’s ‘Affluent Achievers’ Acorn profile, compared to 31% for the South East. Upon completion of the new development, Woking’s market potential will increase by 11% to £226m.
The University of Oxford has upgraded its estates management processes with a new indoor mapping system to provide more efficient methods of maintaining asset data and how it charges university departments and other tenants for the space they use. Offering easy access to property and interiors data across 300+ buildings and 35,000 spaces using interactive maps, the University chose GIS mapping technology from Esri UK to build the new system, which went live in May 2021. Replacing manual processes, static CAD floorplan drawings and Excel spreadsheets, the new solution combines over 2,000 floorplans into a single interactive map, enabling the university to more easily share data online with building managers and department administrators. A two-way communication tool has also been introduced, so any modifications to lecture theatres, accommodation or classrooms can be easily fed back to the estates team online, replacing a labour-intensive and paper-based annual audit and improving how the university calculates charges for tenants. Consisting of a broad portfolio, the University of Oxford’s estate includes academic buildings, laboratories, student and staff accommodation, commercial buildings for investment and leasing purposes, farms, plus space embedded in a number of hospitals around Oxford. The university charges academic departments and colleges for the space they use and also leases buildings to commercial entities. The University is the oldest in the English-speaking world and has more than 24,000 students. The new indoor mapping system was created by migrating static CAD floorplans and associated building data into the online GIS (Geographic Information System) software from Esri UK. Interactive maps now give an overview of the estate, showing buildings in context of their surroundings down to individual floors, rooms and spaces, while interactive dashboards show floorplans, usage and cost details. “The challenge was to create an indoor mapping system which would provide 24hr access to floorplan and budget information for academic departments and other tenants and keep pace with the dynamic nature of our estate, which has several thousand changes every year, from repurposing an office into a laboratory to minor modifications such as moving internal walls,” explained Lomin Saayman, Information Records Manager, University of Oxford Estates Services. “The Esri UK solution gives us a geographical visualisation of our estate and allows tenants to report any changes so our central asset record is always up-to-date. The old process of confirming what space they occupied used to take around five months and wasted time chasing data, so now the estates team is free to work on other tasks. Overall, the increased visibility and accuracy is helping improve how we inform departments what they will be charged for the year and in how we plan for the future expansion of the estate. Purchasing the software via a Chest agreement also meant it was well within our budget,” concluded Saayman. The new system is already contributing to the spatial planning of a large new laboratory facility being built, by revealing how the old 1960s building was previously used. Plans for the future include adding large or significant assets to the indoor mapping solution, such as an MRI scanner, by scanning items with a 3D scanner and making them visible on the map. “Indoor mapping has made previously difficult to share static floorplan data rapidly accessible and easy to navigate by all stakeholders,” said Rob Nichols, Sales Lead at Esri UK. “Bringing CAD data into a GIS mapping environment has given the university complete situational awareness of its whole estate, allowing it to improve operational efficiency and make accurate decisions.”
The initial stage of a £19.95m project to construct a Newmains and St Brigid’s Community Hub and Family Learning Centre involving North Lanarkshire Council (NLC), BAM Construction and hub SouthWest, the public-private partnership of local authorities, and leading Tier 1 building contractors, was marked last week (Tuesday 6 July 2021) with a formal sod-cutting ceremony. The project, the first of three North Lanarkshire Council initiatives with a cumulative value of £60m, will create a comfortable and stimulating school environment, purpose built for a shared campus serving both denominational and non-denominational primary, and early years education. It is designed to be conducive to learning for 484 pupils, 88 three-to five-year-olds and 15 two-year-olds. Councillor Frank McNally, Convener of Education & Families, said: “This exciting new project will soon be a brand-new home for Newmains and St Brigid’s Primary schools and also the Newmains Family Learning Centre. “Our focus on health and wellbeing and the outdoor facilities will provide enhanced leisure and recreational facilities for all members of the community to enjoy. Children and young people, staff, parents and the local community have all played a considerable role in developing the design for the new community hub, which takes into account both the requirements of the local community and the natural heritage and architecture of the area. “It’s a shining example of our drive to make North Lanarkshire the place to Live, Learn, Work, Invest and Visit providing children and residents with the benefits of first-class learning environments which will meet the needs of the community for generations to come.” Michael Ross, project director with hub South West, said: “Good design during the procurement and construction process reflects the high value North Lanarkshire Council places on learning, communities and the environment, as well as representing a sound investment in the future. “hub South West has worked closely with the council over the years to develop the robust processes which have permitted the commencement of this and other exciting educational initiatives. “We also welcome this, our first contractual relationship with BAM Construction since it joined our supply chain last year and note with pleasure our shared commitment both to this project and our long-term relationship with North Lanarkshire Council. “Our model of development and delivery prioritises People, Place and Planet and is aimed at creating well-designed places that instil a sense of pride in the community, tackle energy poverty and drive sustainability”. Jim Ward, Regional Director of BAM Ltd added: “We are delighted following the 18-month pre-construction period to be commencing construction works on Newmains and St Brigid’s Community Hub. We have been so impressed with the commitment from the design team, hub South West and in particular North Lanarkshire Councils’ drive to make this project happen. “We are totally committed to delivering a quality facility along with delivering meaningful social value to the local community and leaving a lasting legacy that the community will be proud of while inspiring the next generation of young learners.”
When it comes to a startup business, there are a few things that you should and shouldn’t do. While the process is known to be incredibly complicated it isn’t impossible but there’s a lot of hard work that needs to go into it. It’s very important to be realistic about your goals while acknowledging the fact that the possibility of failure is a real thing. Much like the best online Canadian casinos, you’ll find that going all-in with the expectation of winning isn’t the best approach. However, taking a calculated approach and planning the way that cash is spent is a better option. Establishing a private business shouldn’t be a gamble and this is where you’ll find that taking risks when it’s necessary will have a varying win rate. Some of the best online casinos had also begun as small startups and this is where we’ve linked up with Kevin Cochran (view profile), someone that has plenty of experience with startups and he has provided us with some of the best tips for establishing an effective startup: The Statistics According to the statistics published in 2014 62% of startups make it to their fourth year of operations with 56% making it another year. Furthermore, 30% of startups manage to break even, whereas another 30% will lose money. Ultimately, 40% of startups survive and manage to make a profit and this is a frightening statistic; however, it’s important to pay attention to what was done right along with when it was done. Tip 1 – Be Flexible The first thing that should be done is to leave all expectations at the door. Having fixed ideas can prove to be dangerous and it will waste a lot of time. This is because you’ll end up playing a game of catch-up, which will cost you money. The same approach can be taken when using https://www.casinocanada.com/, as you can’t expect how much money you will walk away with as this will leave you bitterly disappointed. Tip 2 – Establish Meaningful Relationships with Customers Regardless of the industry that you intend on operating within, you’ll need to have a good relationship with your clients. The reason is simple: the closer you are to your client, the more motivation you’ll have to provide them with a superior product or service. The relationship you establish with a customer will also determine your attitude towards the trials and tribulations that you experience within your startup. Tip 3 – Understand Your Business Model Once you’ve established meaningful relationships and develop empathy for the clients that you have it would be best to focus on the bigger picture. Understanding how your company generates profit is an important part of the process. This is similar to what you’ll find with casino slots, as many of them have incorporated special features that will entice players to keep going. This is where it will also be important to focus on what your website offers when it comes to information and how it performs. Tip 4 – Align Your Values to the Mission of the Company The mission and values will usually be found on a company website and you must believe in the values of your brand. If your values can be seen in the operation of your company, then you’re on the right track. It’s also important to hire people that share similar or the same values as this means that they’re a perfect fit for your organization. Tip 5 – Identify Your Priorities It’s important to have a clear understanding of where your priorities lie as this could determine your rate of success. By putting important projects first and also understanding what makes this project the most important one, you’ll find that work will be done much quicker. This is also paired with good communication skills that will provide your company with a more efficient workforce which will pay off in the long run. Tip 6 – Focus on the Present Adopting an optimistic attitude is important; however, it’s important to remain realistic about the present. While it can be enticing to accept large projects, it’s also important to pay careful attention to the capabilities of your team or yourself if you’re working alone. Tip 7 – Location You won’t open a car dealership amongst farms or a winter clothing store in a region that’s known for its sunny weather. Hence location is one of the most important factors to take into account. This goes with knowing your target market, which is arguably one of the most important factors to take into account. Embracing the Challenge There’s no doubt that starting a business is a challenge, but it can be done if you put your mind to it and take all factors into account. Achieving success isn’t something that will be handed to you on a silver platter and you will need to work incredibly hard for it and hope that luck is on your side.
