Recruitment entrepreneur James Reed is calling on business leaders to give generously to the Grenfell Tower appeal after donating £100,000 out of his own pocket. A Big Give fundraising page has been launched after a fire ravaged an apartment block in North Kensington on Wednesday morning. So far almost a quarter of a million pounds has been donated on the page, with all donations matched by The Big Give. He is now appealing to other business leaders across the capital to offer what they can,...

Council penny pinching and accepting the lowest bid was to blame for a huge blaze in a tower block which killed at least 12 people, a former worker claimed. The woman, who worked as a property manager for Conservative controlled Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council for 20 years said the deadly blaze could have been prevented if the council had spend money upgrading it. But Grenfell Tower, run by Tenant Management Organisation for the Royal Borough of Kensington...

Power price recovery boosts John Laing Environmental NAV - John Laing Environmental says its NAV at 31 March 2017 was 100.1p, up from 96.7p at 31 March 2016. They say that the increase in NAV per share was due primarily to the increase in both short-term electricity prices and forecasts for longer-term prices during the year and at the year end, leading to an improvement in the portfolio valuation of the renewable energy assets. This was offset to an extent by...

UK Commercial buys Sheffield office from Ediston - UK Commercial Property Trust has acquired a single let, Grade A office building in Sheffield, from Ediston Property Investment Company for GBP20,165,000, reflecting a net initial yield of 5%. The asset is let to Capita Business Services Limited, which is part of Capita plc, on a lease with annual indexed linked rent increases and 22 years to expiry. Delivering a current rent of GBP1,076,715 per annum, the transaction further increases UK Commercial Property's...

Custodian REIT buys Next distribution unit - the company has acquired a 69,922 sq ft distribution unit on Eurocentral, Scotland's leading mixed-use business park on the M8 arterial route between Glasgow and Edinburgh.  Nearby occupiers include DHL, Warburtons, Argos, Wincanton, Norbert Dentressangle and Morrisons. The unit is let to Next plc on a lease expiring on 6 March 2019.  Current passing rent is GBP349,850 per annum reflecting a net initial yield of 6.91%, with an expected reversionary yield of circa...

The outgoing Conservative MP for Peterborough launched a tirade at a constituent after losing his seat to a Labour candidate for the first time in 12 years. Businessman Christian Stanley who has lived in Peterborough for the past decade had criticised his MP Stewart Jackson in conversations with other constituents on Facebook but was shocked to get a barrage of abusive messages from the former MP for Peterborough late on Monday night, calling him a “pillock” and a “thick chav”. “I've never met...

Wyndham Hacket Pain @WyndhamHP John Berger, the author of many a book I have picked up in a bookshop only to put down again, has always looked like an intriguing and interesting figure, if albeit from afar. The highly regarded author, critic, and artist – who died earlier this year – has always seemed like a charismatic and thoughtful character more than worthy of an affectionate documentary like the one that has been produced. Consisting of four short films about...

By Hubert O'Hearn and Bianca Da Silva This Belfast Book Festival has proven so far to be an absolute joy, with the only debate being what has been the most thought-provoking: Is it the discussions and readings in the various workshops, or the spontaneous chats in the Crescent Arts Centre happening over coffee? Writers in their unique and splendid way are rather like zoo animals that one hears of escaping from captivity, gamboling through cities with literal unbounded glee. Release...

The world's longest aircraft, dubbed the "flying bum", took the skies yesterday for a surprise test flight. Hundreds of people gathered to watch the 20-tonne Airlander 10 perform aerial manoeuvres in a four-hour flight. The 92m-long part-airship part-aeroplane was badly damaged when it nosedived during a test flight on 24 August last year. Following extensive repairs, it reached the highest altitude so far in its fourth test flight after taking off from hangars in Cardington, Bedfordshire, at 6.05pm on Tuesday....