Tim Burke’s Post

Latest reading: The London Society's London of the Future. In 1921 The London Society published the first edition of this collection of essays on what the future of the capital and its built environment could look like. A century later, this is a second collection of pieces by architects, engineers, historians and others. I've lived in London for almost two decades now. I love it, I love writing about it and I loved this book. It made me think of the "choose your own adventure" books I read as a kid - every essay was a possible future branching off from our present if we're brave enough to make certain decisions. From Mark Brearley's contribution, "A City of High Streets": "Our notion of what makes a good city is shifting. The last century does today feel like a distant past. At last it seems possible to say farewell to the whole bundle of twentieth-century city-shaping ideas. So long circles and segregation, garden cities, (drive-in) garden centres, (drive-to) shopping centres, town centres, leisure centres, community and neighbourhood centres. Hello high-street places, longer and deeper, use-full, linchpin of the new metropolitan spirit and an organic refreshing of the civic, a way forwards for the city of continuities and mix, an extrovert and shared city." A big thank you to Kat Hanna, who helped me get hold of a copy last year after I saw her post about writing in it.

Most weeks this is my favourite LinkedIn post to write, but to be honest yesterday I managed to write one in which I talked about Kendrick Lamar making Drake the laughing stock of hip-hop, while still technically discussing real estate. Still, second place for this one isn’t bad. Anyway, your Friday run-through of some corkers from EG this week, with our new team members stepping into the spotlight. Give it up for – 🗞Dominic Plaskota reporting from the launch of the London Property Alliance (CPA & WPA) and Arup’s new paper on London’s planning policy and economy, along with deputy mayor Howard Dawber’s speech proclaiming it time to celebrate the built environment 🗞Shifali Gorka with the scoop on Criterion Capital Limited’s move for Balanced Commercial Property Trust LTD’s St Christopher’s Place estate 🗞Akanksha Soni’s awesome roundtable, hosted with Savills, on the evolution of the UK’s BTR market and what the sector needs to help it reach its next milestones 🗞Me on British Land and AustralianSuper’s deal with King's College London London to develop a science and tech campus at Canada Water, which BL’s Emma Cariaga says will offer tenants “the perfect melting pot” 🗞Evelina Grecenko on the first tenant to sign up for space at STARS REI’s revamped 33 Kingsway office block 🗞Samantha McClary with this week’s EG Interview, a sit-down with the top team at Netherlands-based Multi Corporation to discuss the company’s return to retail in the UK 🗞Julia Cahill taking a look at the London Legacy Development Corporation's encouragement of developers driving out gender bias in their designs And that Drake story, natch. All here to read, along with a vid from the awesome Whitney O.. https://lnkd.in/efX9xvex

A reading recommendation request for my friends at the City of London Corporation or anyone else in my network: is there a must-read, definitive history of the Square Mile? I don't just mean something on London's role as a financial services centre, but something that looks at that and also the very area of the City itself, ideally including its built environment and how it's been developed. Any suggestions gratefully received!

Holiday help request. We've just booked an August break in Chicago. Any tips, recommendations on what to see and do, where to eat etc gratefully received from those in the know. And details of any great used CD stores also appreciated, but don't tell my fam...

Dave’s Hot Chicken, a US restaurant chain backed by Drake, Usher and Samuel L Jackson, is coming to the UK, with KLM Real Estate mandated to find its first London sites. Real estate agents believe that once the business opens in the capital, Kendrick Lamar will buy the chosen buildings just so he can close it down OK, I might have made the last bit up. Shifali Gorka has the rest of the story here in EG. You can read it elsewhere but, as Kendrick says, they not like us. Sorry Drake. https://lnkd.in/dkrfdZYn

I'm not sharing this story in order to discuss the growth of the UK BTR market. I'm sharing it as a super proud colleague who just witnessed Akanksha Soni absolutely smash her first roundtable. When Akanksha pitched a roundtable on operational BTR to me a month or two ago, she had never planned, organised or chaired one before. Every step of preparing for this was new. And she brought together the most awesome group of industry figures and then led an hour-long conversation that left no stone unturned in exploring just how much this market has changed. You can read her recap here in EG. Some people would turn this kind of LinkedIn post into a broader statement on pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and taking on new challenges. But, honestly, I just wanted to use it to say that Akanksha is awesome. https://lnkd.in/g7bK-48T

I met another Tim at a corporate event this week. "Hi, I'm Tim," he said as he went to shake my hand. "I'm Tim too," I replied. "Ha, well that should be easy to remember!" he said and we both laughed. What a magic moment. Two grown men having a good old chuckle over the coincidence of sharing a name. Really made me appreciate the fact that in-real-life events are back in such a big way, because you can't replicate that kind of bond and banter through a computer screen. Oh, and a big shout out to all the other Tims out there, I'm looking forward to meeting you all in due course.

Howard Dawber on the mic Dominic Plaskota on the byline References to The A-Team and Knight Rider A perfect story

Brilliant panel discussion on B Corps and ESG in real estate hosted by TFT and Coutts and chaired by EG’s Julia Cahill. Great discussion with TFT’s Mat Lown, Stanhope PLC’s Nils Rage, Grosvenor’s Eve Bellers and Hydrock’s Sadaf Askari. As Sadaf said to audience members yet to kick off their ESG strategy, “you might feel you should start your journey before it’s too late”.