Golden Oldie
Latest Article
19th April 2021
This article was originally published in November 2017.
The old paradigm of an 18 hole golf course providing sufficient content to sustain an interesting and vigorous club can now be seen as out of time, out of tune and out of favour. Life has quickened, family time is precious and parents increasingly follow the leisure interests of their children rather than their own. The only age group which does have abundant time on its hands is the retired community. Age groups from 15-50 years old aim to mix... Read More >
Recent Articles:
19th April 2021
This article was originally published in September 2020.
Commercial space enthusiasts, we have lift-off! On 10 September, NASA announced that it is soliciting proposals for private entities to collect lunar rocks and soil. Basically, NASA is Read More >
19th April 2021
This article was originally published in February 2018.
An ornate fresco that once adorned the residence of a wealthy Roman citizen was discovered by our archaeologists at 21 Lime Street, in London in 2016. They uncovered the fresco six metres Read More >
12th April 2021
This article was originally published in June 2020.
If there might be a “successor ideology” to liberalism and the main principles of the enlightenment in the offing, as the American essayist Wesley Yang forecasts, it is likely to pose a Read More >
12th April 2021
This article was originally published in December 2017.
In our first article we set down how golf courses had developed in the British Isles over the last 120 years: they originally developed in suburban locations on ideal land morphed into mini Read More >
12th April 2021
How Lipton Rogers turned around the fortunes of an abandoned stump in the City of London.
This article was originally published in October 2019.
With a net floor area of 1.4m sq. ft, when 22 Bishopsgate is completed it will be the Read More >
7th April 2021
This article was originally published in February 2018.
In this commentary I review the years since my return to the family industry (the most recent of them managing third party capital into agriculture, via Craigmore Sustainables LLP). I Read More >
6th April 2021
This article was originally published in September 2020.
What is the duration of the present moment? How is it that this present moment is replaced by ‘the next moment’? Within every organism, sentient or not, there are thousands of Read More >
6th April 2021
While his buildings were strikingly modern and fun, he was keen to connect them to their context and the past.
This article was originally published in November 2019.
One of the most colourful members of the architectural community died Read More >
29th March 2021
This article was originally published in August 2020.
There is no doubt that California is in a big fiscal hole. It relies heavily on income taxes from wealthy taxpayers making tax receipts volatile. Even before the covid crisis struck, Read More >
29th March 2021
This article was originally published in March 2018.
One of the first questions we are always asked by new bidders at an auction is, ‘will it make me money?’ Our answer? The infuriatingly mercurial, ‘perhaps.’ Choosing a classic or Read More >
29th March 2021
This article was originally published in June 2020.
Staying with family friends in Chicago back in the 70s I had an early introduction to a couple of the world’s great architects. My host was an architect and a lecturer at Northwestern Read More >
22nd March 2021
This article was originally published in February 2021.
Standing at close to £759bn, the ‘stock’ of UK state debt acquired by the Bank of England on behalf of the state is not merely a considerable number but, to many, a monetary Read More >
22nd March 2021
This article was originally published in March 2020.
This is the title of a Stereophonics song, but it also evokes yet another trend which Europe has sleepwalked into adopting from the US. Why, those subway trains covered from track to roof Read More >
22nd March 2021
So that we don’t take real estate, economics and investing too seriously and to keep our daily lives in perspective, here is our very own Property Chronicle NASA astrophysicist and his column Nothing Really Matters.
This article was Read More >
16th March 2021
This article was originally published in December 2017.
Excited to start their new jobs in real estate private equity and experience the life of glamour and money in finance, Jordan and Patrick are hit by the sobering reality that is London Read More >
16th March 2021
This article was originally published in December 2017.
We all know the first and most basic lesson of economics: incentives matter. This is surely why, as a new investigation by The Guardian has revealed, fires in the favelas of Sao Paulo are Read More >
15th March 2021
This article was originally published in March 2018.
Fall armyworm infestations in large portions of southern and sub-Saharan Africa are threatening the food supply of over 200 million people. While indigenous to North and south America, in Read More >
9th March 2021
This article was originally published in August 2017.
I have just returned from my old and dear friends’ week-long 25th wedding anniversary celebration at Wyntoon, the 60,000 acre Hearst estate located near Mt. Shasta in Northern California. Read More >
8th March 2021
This article was originally published in March 2020.
Many of us are guilty of equating status, success and ultimately happiness, with material possessions. Even if, like me, you make a conscious effort to avoid such associations, most of us Read More >
1st March 2021
This article was originally published in November 2020.
November 7th marked the 103rd anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, where communist revolutionaries overthrew the czarist government of Russia, eventually leading to the establishment Read More >
1st March 2021
Plus, reassessing the relationship between UK interest rates and REITs.
This article was originally published in June 2019.
The perceived wisdom has always been that reducing, and indeed low, UK interest rates are good for real estate in Read More >
1st March 2021
This article was originally published in September 2020.
Around 15 million people work in around 410 million m² of office space in Germany. Although many people used to work occasionally from home prior to 2020, the home office only became Read More >
22nd February 2021
This article was originally published here in July 2020.
One of the most marvelous books I’ve read this year is Donald Henderson’s personal story of the eradication of smallpox. The book is Smallpox: The Death of a Disease: The Inside Read More >
22nd February 2021
This article was originally published in May 2020.
An exogenous crisis hit the world, followed by a stunningly fast disruption of the global economy. Political decisions led to the closing of business, to numerous bankruptcies, to ramped-up Read More >
22nd February 2021
This article was originally published in October 2017.
In a conscious echo of Harold Macmillan who oversaw the construction of more than 300,000 mostly local authority houses in 1953, the Prime Minister recently announced that her government is Read More >
16th February 2021
This article was originally published in April 2020.
A writer introduces his three go-to reads – short stories by JD Salinger and Denis Johnson, and a volume of essays and reviews by Martin Amis
For almost every author, writing fiction Read More >
15th February 2021
This article was originally published in October 2020.
Artificial pitches help small clubs bring in revenue and foster community football. Why must they tear them up to get promoted?
After the recent National League play-offs, Harrogate Read More >
15th February 2021
This article was originally published in October 2020.
With this novel, Raymond Chandler transformed the genre from the simple whodunnit to the philosophical musings of a troubled, flawed protagonist.
Raymond Chandler’s novel The Long Read More >
9th February 2021
This article was originally published in September 2020.
This is going to be a somewhat different ramble from previously, vis-à-vis the curious concept of buying claret while it still lies in a wooden barrel. Good thing, too – much too Read More >
8th February 2021
Many consider Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate to be the greatest Russian novel of the 20th century. A searing portrait of Stalinist Russia, Life and Fate on its very first page exposes the bitter truth about authoritarianism: “Everything Read More >
8th February 2021
This article was originally published in December 2020.
The benefits from adding real estate investments to a multi-asset portfolio have been well researched. Real estate has low correlation relative to other asset classes, high Sharpe Read More >
17th December 2020
This article was originally published in October 2020.
The sector must adapt if it is to survive, but what kind of changes can we expect?
There has been much speculation that we are facing the end of the office. With remote working now the Read More >
16th December 2020
This article was originally published in October 2020.
In order to rethink our working spaces effectively, we must consider new priorities.
“The office is dead!” some headlines have proclaimed. “What’s the point of an office Read More >
1st December 2020
This article was originally published in January 2020.
It was always about the last mile, but tech is shifting the emphasis to time. So what makes an optimal last-hour location?
Earlier this year I was invited by the International Council Read More >
30th November 2020
This article was originally published in December 2019.
Institutions are increasingly pushing underperforming listed property companies to take steps to create value, Guy Barnard of Janus Henderson and Alan Carter of Stifel tell the Property Read More >
23rd November 2020
This article was originally published in October 2019.
This month, as guest at one of England’s most famous and senior golf clubs, I was reminded of the brutality of the real estate investment business. A tall, broad smiling, full haired, Read More >
16th November 2020
This article was originallly published in July 2019.
Justin Bickle, formerly a managing director in Oaktree’s European Principal Group, tells Property Chronicle how turning around English National Ballet gave him the confidence to set up Read More >
11th November 2020
This article was originally published in October 2020.
I am ashamed to admit that after ten years living in UAE, I think I care less about my home country than I did. I love so much about it; don’t get me wrong. As the place where my Read More >
10th November 2020
This article was originally published in September 2020.
The answer is clearly no. I asked the question to get your attention and, perhaps, surface prejudice. It irritates me that property management or PM comes such a distant second to Read More >
9th November 2020
This article was originally published in October 2018.
The returns on most investments are purely financial. But some investments have other rewards. Buying art, for instance, offers the chance not only to anticipate what is going to do well, Read More >
2nd November 2020
This article was originally published in autumn 2019.
Of course they’re inherently illogical, but let’s unpack what they mean in practice for the wider investment market.
How many economists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Read More >
2nd November 2020
This article was originally published in autumn 2019.
I’m sure you will know that well-known fund manager Neil Woodford has recently fallen very much out of favour with investors. Reputedly in the wake of withdrawals by some big investors Read More >
2nd November 2020
This article was originally published in autumn 2019.
Temperatures could hit 70ºC in 250m years’ time. Oh, and all the continents will be squished into one.
The world is in a state of alarm – and rightly so – at how much damage will Read More >
29th October 2020
This article was originally published in June 2019. It was the first in an ongoing series by our very own Property Chronicle NASA astrophysicist, to make sure we don’t take real estate, economics and investing too seriously and to keep Read More >
28th October 2020
This article was originally published in January 2020.
As UK agriculture faces major funding changes, one important resource should not be overlooked in developing sustainable farming systems
Those who remember farming in the decades after Read More >
26th October 2020
This article was originally published in April 2020.
Activists who condemn all livestock agriculture indiscriminately might want to consider the ecological benefits of pasture.
At Montague farm we raise organic, grass-fed, single-suckled Read More >
21st October 2020
This article was originally published in spring 2020.
For those about to emerge from university and enter the world of property, a few words of advice.
As we enter 2020, I find myself engrossed in the new Star Trek series, ‘Picard’. Read More >
20th October 2020
This article was originally published in
Housing shortages in Europe’s cities are driving a rise in tenant protections such as rent control, but that needn’t be a bad thing for investors.
Europe’s best cities are booming. With their Read More >
14th October 2020
This article was originally published in August 2019.
Challenging the opinion that only the wealthiest can buy Banksy art
Banksy’s art hit the headlines in October 2018 when a piece of artwork self-destructed in the midst of an auction. Read More >
12th October 2020
This article was originally published in April 2019.
The birthplace of the skyscraper overflows with famous buildings – but none as stunning as a lesser-known piece of architecture, Bertrand Goldberg’s brutalist ‘city within a Read More >
8th October 2020
This article was originally published in October 2019.
Saying I favour a no-deal Brexit in order to buy property cheaply after a resulting crash was wrong – and illogical.
Newsnight is a programme I have watched for years, with a great Read More >
7th October 2020
This article was originally published in November 2019.
Hermitage is the supreme expression of the Syrah grape, but little recognised – making it a bargain among the Rhônes.
There’s a regular tale of customer woe, familiar to all wine Read More >
1st October 2020
This article was first published in May 2018.
Investing is usually a matter of judgment as well as calculation. What will do well, and what will do best over the period you envisage? Investing in books -- or art of any kind -- includes this Read More >
24th September 2020
This article was originally published in August 2019.
(Oliver is joint-owner of Maidstone Utd FC, Director of Brive Rugby Club in French Top 14 and recent Board Member of The National League.)
Right now there is a heated debate on social Read More >
23rd September 2020
This article was originally published in November 2019.
Pricing vintage comics isn’t just about scarcity and quality – the characters are the key to value.
“Comic books to me are fairy tales for grown-ups.” So said renowned Read More >
22nd September 2020
This article was originally published in November 2019.
From blue-chips like Damien Hirst to rising stars like Sterling Ruby, these are the names whose values are on the rise.
The global art market reached $67.4bn in 2018 and has grown Read More >
16th September 2020
This article was originally published on 3 July 2019.
Listening to the Today programme a voice from my past comes over the airwaves. Lord, Kenneth of old, Baker was explaining how the toppling of Theresa compared to the Tory Read More >
15th September 2020
This article was originally published in July 2018.
Since the rotating of shadows around rudimentary sticks planted in the ground, man has had an affinity for plotting the course of time. Different mechanisms, from sundials to pendulums and Read More >
9th September 2020
This article was originally published on 8 August 2018.
Fitting in as a fifty-something in a country so diametrically different from one’s own is no easy thing. Apart from the obvious; you know, driving on the wrong side of the road, cars Read More >
8th September 2020
This article was originally published on 11 April 2018.
I received a text message recently from the tenant of our converted granary. It requested that I telephone her immediately, there was a problem requiring my urgent attention. On calling, Read More >
7th September 2020
This article was originally published on 30 April 2018.
The recent completion of the hugely expensive new US Embassy in London and the continued controversy around the US decision to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem brings back memories of our Read More >
3rd September 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED APRIL 2018
Dawn no more than a sliver of grey light on the distant horizon. Darkness not going down without a fight. Shadows flickering hither and thither across the stable yard. Feeding done. Water buckets to fill. Read More >
2nd September 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED APRIL 2018
John Shotto Douglas, the ninth Marquess of Queensberry, has two major claims to fame. First he was the nemesis of gay author Oscar Wilde who sued him for libel after he had publicly objected to the liaison Read More >
1st September 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2018
Pierre Chareau is not a name that springs to mind when contemplating the great architects or designers from a previous era. Whilst Chareau is best remembered for his furniture designs, this singular Read More >
25th August 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 23RD FEBRUARY 2018
I have, for the last 18 years, had the pleasure of running First Property Group plc, a small listed property company with a market value of £52 million, which I founded and which invests in the Read More >
24th August 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 9TH APRIL 2018
Welcome to my sport column – An occasional look at various commercial sides of the sports industry which ultimately deliver the live events we enjoy.
The Premier League is the single most valuable Read More >
12th August 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 23RD OCTOBER 2017
As a shepherd, it is important for me to know the value of a sheep. This is tested when attending a sheep auction, when I will need to be decisive and disciplined in sticking to an assessment. The Read More >
11th August 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 11TH NOVEMBER 2017
Dear Editor,
We have entered the season of early, dark nights. Some enjoy closing the curtains, lighting the fires and settling in for the evening: some pine for the longer days and more time Read More >
6th August 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 12TH FEBRUARY 2018
My visit to Yale was not to study a post graduate degree but happily for me to look at the extraordinary range of Modernist Architecture over the length and breadth of their campus.
I was aware Read More >
5th August 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 9th MAY 2018
Introduction – the danger of being a farmer at MBA school (or at a dinner party)
MBA schools characterise farming as a commodity industry, subject to negative weather events and low returns. Farmers are Read More >
4th August 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 17TH SEPTEMBER 2018
The online retail business is 11% of the total world wide retail sales and 16% of the UK’s. In both cases it seems to be growing at about 1% per annum but with signs of a slowdown in the more Read More >
28th July 2020
Above: The opening of the account roll of University College, Oxford, for 1383-4
© The Master and Fellows of University College, Oxford
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 21ST NOVEMBER 2017
Few organisations, apart from cathedrals, can rival Read More >
20th July 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 2018
In my last article I set out my company’s broad approach to investing in commercial property and in Poland in particular. I thought it might be interesting for anyone considering investing in Poland Read More >
15th July 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JANUARY 15TH 2018
I spent Christmas in Northern California this year and met up with friends whilst in San Francisco. Given that I was in the world’s tech hub, it didn’t take long for the conversation to turn to Read More >
14th July 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 27TH OCTOBER 2017
Given time, most industries develop a jargon which allows participants to exude a professional glow and some degree of intellectual superiority when addressing outsiders (especially when poised to Read More >
9th July 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 2017
This is the last in a series of four articles on the history of British racecourses and their struggle for economic prosperity. It focuses on Towcester - an independent, and a prime example of the Read More >
Architecture without architects On Scandinavian design influences and how our surroundings affect us
8th July 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 2017.
This title has been borrowed from Bernard Rudofsky, a Moravian-born American writer, architect, and social historian who published an influential book of the same name in 1964. It has the subtitle 'A Read More >
6th July 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 14th DECEMBER 2017
At this time of year, we are inundated with nostalgic images of a Victorian Christmas set in a Dickensian London where the real horrors and poverty of that age are banished from the chocolate box Read More >
1st July 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 5TH DECEMBER 2017
Over many years of working on numerous projects, I have always drawn inspiration from the work of some of the great architects from the past (borrowing from the past to enhance the future). Probably Read More >
30th June 2020
INTERVIEW ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 2ND 2017
Veritable housing soothsayer Tony Pidgley turned 70 in August, and in September, Berkeley was re-admitted to the FTSE 100 for the second time - its share price hitting a new all-time high. Mr Read More >
29th June 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 17TH NOVEMBER 2017
Richard Thaler was awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in October 2017 for his work in behavioural economics. His citation refers to his contribution to building a bridge between economic and Read More >
25th June 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 21ST AUGUST 2017
As I touched upon in my last article, long term out-performance is the principal aim for a residential investor in our era of lower returns.
Residential investment is a completely different mindset Read More >
24th June 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 25TH SEPTEMBER 2017
Shipping carries over 90% of world trade. Until anti-gravity transport is invented nothing will replace it. This island race has salt water and shipping in our veins and history. As befits our Read More >
23rd June 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 22ND SEPTEMBER 2017
I started my real estate career in the early 1980s, so over 30 years ago! I have been involved in many areas of UK real estate during that period, both cosseted in booms and fighting for survival Read More >
18th June 2020
INTERVIEW ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AUGUST 2ND 2017
Thanks to a successful 40 year career as a property developer and investor, David Lewis has created significant assets, but is better known today for his extraordinary art collection than for his Read More >
9th June 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED JULY 5TH 2017
In 2008, financial institutions across the globe were engulfed by waves emanating from an over-extended US property sector. The problems surfaced in the ‘shadow’ banking sector, where much of the Read More >
6th June 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 19TH MAY 2017
In 1982, my uncle’s family was thrilled by some good news. The head of the family, my uncle Xiang, had been allocated a new apartment unit by his employer, which was the largest state-owned company in Read More >
4th June 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED SPRING 2019
Collectors may be driven by obsession – but are toys also a viable investment asset?
There is a big difference between an investor and a collector. The former gives up capital today in the Read More >
3rd June 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED SPRING 2019
The English mania for seaside holidays predated the railways – but the arrival of the steam train supercharged it
Seaside resorts and inland watering places have a long history in England. “One Read More >
2nd June 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED SPRING 2019
I am going to have to repair the farm drive
In the depth of winter we begin to organise summer farm maintenance. This year we plan repairs to the farm drive.
We have a treelined avenue that Read More >
28th May 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED SPRING 2019
The subsidies disappeared all at once – but farming on the bottom of the world is more profitable than ever
The prospect of Britain’s departure from the Europe an Union is creating demand for Read More >
27th May 2020
ARTICLE ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED SPRING 2019
Slammed as a device of weak-wristed cads, a new ball managed to take over the entire sport within a few years
Sports change – rules are modified, equipment is improved, and skills are Read More >
21st May 2020
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 13th MAY 2019
Established talent is being hoovered up – where are all the start-ups vying for their place?
Small real estate investment managers are becoming a critically endangered species across Europe as Read More >
21st May 2020
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 10th MAY 2019
European commercial property has changed a lot in the last 30 years, and this building had a front-row seat for it all
A recent ride up in the lift of Cœur Défense in Paris shouldn’t have been Read More >
14th May 2020
(Article originally published Summer 2018)
Why agility is key for investors in dealing with new uncertainties
Seattle is the only market I’ve ever seen advance from secondary to primary market status. There are a few other secondary Read More >
6th May 2020
Originally published February 2018.
The UAE's appetite for attracting the great and the good (and sometimes the bad and the ugly) remains impressive. This week, Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, hosted the first Milken Read More >
29th April 2020
Robert Parker. For years, the wine trade was in thrall to this most influential of wine journalists. If you were a ‘vigneron’, his score out of 100 could make or break your bottle; similarly, if you were a merchant, those same points might be Read More >
28th April 2020
Derwent London, the company I have worked for over the last 34 years, have built a variety of office buildings over that period. So, on this occasion, I’ve decided to choose one of them and add it to my list of favourite buildings.
I Read More >
5th April 2020
I am a LinkedIn new boy or, in the jargon, a late adopter. I didn’t join until last year, and now I realise that its main use is to approach total strangers with whom you might do business. What it is not is an interesting platform for Read More >
6th January 2020
EPRA’s new best practice recommendations for NAV calculations, which kick in this January, introduce three discrete NAV measures to replace the old ones. Are you ready?
It is well known that the UK listed sector (in aggregate) currently Read More >
16th August 2018
This article was originally published in August 2018.
Our archaeologists excavated Ten Trinity Square beside the Tower of London, as part of the development of a luxury hotel and residential development by Reignwood Group. Occupied since the Read More >
1st August 2018
(Article originally published Summer 2018)
Part one: What do recent rises in interest rates mean for property prices?
US 10-year Treasury Bill rates have been at an all-time low, having fallen below 2% for the first time in 2017.
UK Read More >
Featuring
Face to Face
In-depth interviews with leading figures in the real estate/investment world.
Read more >
