THING OF THE WEEK
WINNING… The Pools is back! Iconic Liverpool brand The Pools is being relaunched, with a new ID, logo, and an outdoor ad campaign across Liverpool and Manchester. Launched in 1923 in Liverpool, its HQ to this day, the influence of the Pools in shaping the city can hardly be overstated. Sir John Moores, after whom a university in the city is named, was a long-time chairman of Everton – which has a significant property story going on this year, remember – while the family also held a 51% stake in Liverpool FC for more than 50 years.
Add to that the Littlewoods part of the empire, kicked off in the 1930s, and still a big part of Liverpool’s ongoing real estate story. The Pools may never again commission a glorious Art Deco HQ, but we can all dream. Kind of the point of the Pools, really.
Neil Armstrong has been training hard for the ride. Credit: via JMW
ON YER BIKE… MIPIM is looming large on the horizon, which means it is time for the property industry’s cycling contingent to get packing. As ever, many travelling to Cannes will eschew the relative comfort of an EasyJet flight in favour of several days in the saddle. Among those mad enough to prepare for a taxing week of networking and deal-making by pedalling through the French countryside are Civic’s Stephen O’Malley, Planit’s Pete Swift, and JMW partner Neil Armstrong. I
t is Armstrong’s first time taking on the challenge and he will do so as part of the Knight Frank Club Peloton Cycle to MIPIM. He has taken to the hills of the Peak District to train up to 200km a week in preparation. “It’s going to be a real challenge, with long days – I believe my first day involves a 4.30am start and we have to cover more than 300km in what is likely to be cold, windy and wet weather,” he said. “Understandably I am looking forward to getting further south for the sunshine, warmth, and beautiful scenery.” If you see Neil or anyone clad in Lycra limping around Cannes, buy them a drink, they deserve it.
Andy Byrne was among those to spend the night under the stars. Credit: Andy Byrne
STAR GAZING… There will be some cold, sore bodies in the office this morning as property professionals from across the country head to work after sleeping outside last night. LandAid’s annual Sleep Out raised thousands of pounds for charity and saw developers, office agents, architects, and planners hunker down in cities across the UK to raise money to fight homelessness.
Anyone expecting a response from Muse today might be given short shrift as most of the team spent the night camped out at Mayfield in Manchester, while CBRE’s Andy Byrne took part in the inaugural Liverpool Sleep Out in a bid to test his willpower ahead of an ultra-marathon later in the year – you can donate to him here.
David Porter, head of the Manchester office of Sleep Out sponsor and long-time LandAid supporter Knight Frank, said: “I would like to say it’s a fun night out, but it certainly isn’t.”
Porter, a veteran of the Sleep Out, added: “While we will be sleeping out for just one night, waking up to a nice breakfast and returning to the warm showers and comforts we are used to, many do not have that luxury. The reality for those experiencing homelessness is an utterly miserable one.”
Credit: PNW
SCREEN TIME… DTZ Investors has been refused permission to up its advertising game at Manchester’s Printworks. The fund asked the city council permission to show moving images on a pair of existing screens on the outside of the complex – currently, they can only show stationary visuals – but has been knocked back. The city’s planners said moving images on the Withy Grove and Corporation Street screens would “have a detrimental impact on visual amenity”, be “highly obtrusive” and “increase the sense of visual clutter”. So that’s a no, then?
The scheme aims to provide affordable accommodation for workers. Credit: via IMEG Partnership
BISCUIT… This week, Place North West brought you news of a co-living development in the Lake District. There are not too many of them in that part of the world and what makes this one extra special is that it has been created in a former biscuit factory. As you might expect, the building’s history has been brought to bear in the scheme, with each of the rooms being named after a biscuit. We expect a huge amount of demand for the bourbon suite but less clamour for the rich tea room.
Was that the pools’ HQ, or the place where they printed the coupons? For many years it was the home of J&C Moores Ltd, the litho printers set up to exploit the spare capacity of the print machines when they weren’t churning out tens of millions of coupons.
By Saint Domingo