The Guardian | OzSeeker

The £500m makeover aiming to leave central Nottingham in ruins

14th December 2021 The Guardian

The wreckage of a 1970s shopping centre will form the centrepiece of a Nottingham development that will include a park and leisure space. A striking design by Thomas Heatherwick, the creator of the 2012 Olympic cauldron, the new Routemaster bus, and the Coal Drops Yard shopping redevelopment in London’s King’s Cross, stands at the centre of a £500m scheme that will include 750 new homes and a hotel as well as shops, offices, conference facilities and leisure space. The Frame is a reimagined wreck of the former Broadmarsh shopping mall, which in artists…

Desmond’s Westferry property scheme ditched after minister rejects appeal

26th November 202124th November 2021 The Guardian

A property scheme that was approved after its developer sat next to a cabinet minister at a Conservative fundraiser has finally been ditched – two years after they discussed the project. Documents revealed that the minister for rough sleeping and housing, Eddie Hughes, had dismissed an appeal over the building of the 1,500-home Westferry Printworks scheme in east London. The Isle of Dogs development was mired in controversy after the extent of the contact between the then housing secretary Robert Jenrick and the developer and media mogul Richard Desmond was revealed, before the…

Covid pandemic fuelling growth of film and TV studios in UK

20th January 2021 The Guardian

As cinemas shut and streaming booms, real estate developers are spending millions on Hollywood-style lots The coronavirus pandemic may have shut cinemas and choked off the supply of new films and TV shows, but developers are banking on the streaming boom by pouring hundreds of millions of pounds into building Hollywood-style studios in the UK. This week, Barking and Dagenham council struck a £300m deal to build a studio in east London that is expected to welcome its first TV and film productions as soon as mid-2022. “We will become…