Dan Hajjar
Managing principal, HOK London Studio
I’m grateful for how the pandemic afforded me more time with my family, particularly my children. This helped give me a revitalised perspective on how important investing in the next generation is for the future of our society and economy. Not only do I want to continue investing in my family, but also the young architects who are the future of our profession. We need to ‘mind the gap’ in terms of the lack of hands-on workplace opportunities that many have not benefitted from due to the pandemic and find a way to make this available no matter the cost.
As part of Property Week’s annual preview feature we asked some of the industry’s leading lights to list their personal and/or professional resolutions for the new year. This is what they said…
âSignificant applicationâ matters for whole West End
24 December, 2020 â By Tom Foot
James Raynor, left, and Robert Rigby. Photo: Grosvenor Group
REMAINS from a Tyburn River prehistoric settlement could be unearthed when an entire block in Mayfair is bulldozed, archaeologists predict.
Planning chiefs on Tuesday night approved GrosÂvenor Propertiesâ appÂlication to demolish a large triangle site in Mayfair spanning Davies Mews, South Molton Lane and Brook Street, sparing the façades.
It will be replaced by a nine-storey block of offices, restaurants, 33 flats, 22 private and 11 âaffordableâ and a hotel.
The scheme has won broad support from Mayfair neighbourhood groups but there were objections from Victorian Society, the Georgian Group and Historic England.
By Susan Freeman2020-12-17T00:00:00+00:00
My recording studio locked down in March, so the Propertyshe podcast series continued digitally.
My aim is to capture the thoughts and aspirations of key influencers. Each guest has been an inspiration. Below are some of the highlights.
Pre-lockdown, I interviewed Dror Poleg, whose award winning book Rethinking Real Estate pinpointed key trends. Talking about a ‘tectonic shift’ he said: “Almost anything that is happening in retail I think will also happen in offices and residential.” Poleg has been in much demand to read the runes as the pandemic accelerated those changes.
Talking retail, Appear Here founder Ross Bailey told me: “People forget sometimes just how bad a lot of retail is; a lot of it is just boring.” The retail theme continued with Ellandi’s Mark Robinson, chairman of the High Streets Task Force. The self-styled ‘retail apocalypse denier’ summed up the difficulty of retail investment: “If fundamentally
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Date: 27 May 2021