September 2009 Archives

Typical! Office launches are a bit like buses these days: you wait for ages, then two come along at once. This Friday Calthorpe Estates will be wooing agents and prospective tenants with its 106,000 sq ft Calthorpe House in Edgbaston with guest speaker GP, writer and comedian Dr Phil Hammond.

Yesterday Trigram Properties, Folkes Holdings and Corum Property Investments thought that best way to turn heads for the launch of their 44,350 sq ft Langley Point on Bath Row would be to invite Stuart Ladds. Who he? You know, Stuart Ladds, head of relocation & regional strategy, Government Estates Transformation, Office of Government Commerce (trips off the tongue, doesn't it?).

Come on tell us how you're feeling. There's just three days left for you to take part in Estates Gazette's West Midlands Sentiment Survey for Q3 2009 - click here to take part.

We'd like as many of you as possible to fill in this completely anonymous survey by Thursday 24th September, the results of which will be published as part of the West Midlands Focus on 17th October. The survey is tracking sentiment about the property market and wider economy among the West Midlands property fraternity thoughout the course of the year.

Have you seen any of those much heralded green shoots? Have we reached the bottom of the market yet? Will we see a double-dip? Please share your views with us via the survey and if you'd like an attributable quote, just contact Stacey Meadwell on 0207 911 1819 or email: stacey.meadwell@rbi.co.uk and tell her your thoughts.

With everyone searching for the answers to survive the recession and beyond research launch events are more popular than ever. Another impressive amount of guests turned out for the latest - BNP Paribas Real Estate's Economic Forecast Seminar held in Birmingham yesterday.

BNPRE's jovial head of UK research Keith Steventon enthralled the 120-strong gathering with statistics to support his in-depth look at the UK property market between 2009 and 2014 (see EGi news story here).

Little did I know when travelling to Birmingham yesterday morning, that the day would turn into a major drama involving seven fire crews, two incedent response units, paramerdics and the police!

Birmingham property professionals will be among the first in the country to meet EG's new editor Damian Wild together with myself, EG's publisher Geoff Hadwick and other key members of the EG team at the Estates Gazette Birmingham Focus Reception.

Yes, our brand new grande fromage is heading to the Midlands to find out more about our lovely region and meet up with over 100 of the area's key movers and shakers at the Metro Bar & Grill from 5.30pm onwards tonight.

The editorial team will be probing guests for the latest news (and gossip!) ahead of the West Midlands Focus which will hit your desks with a satisfying thud on 17th October.

We'll also be launching the West Midlands Synopsis at the event which will be available online from Friday.

I look forward to seeing you there!