Hot or not

Going up

Sporting life

Early next year the Olympic Park Legacy Company will unveil a shortlist of developers hoping to work on the first neighbourhood to be built on the Olympic site. A dozen have applied to build up to 800 homes at Chobham Manor, with work beginning in 2013.

Stamp down

Ireland’s finance minister Michael Noonan has cut the top rate of stamp duty from 6% to 2% on commercial property transfers in an attempt to boost construction.

Door to door

German car maker Porsche has linked up with US developer Dezer Properties to build a 57-storey tower in Florida with a robotic parking system, allowing owners to park in “sky garages” next to their apartments.

Going down

Narrow escape

Part of London’s Oxford Street was shut to traffic last weekend amid fears Christmas shoppers could be crushed. Construction work relating to the Crossrail development has resulted in narrower pavements.

Retro skyline

Engineers this week removed the last of the BT Tower’s 31 satellite dishes, which once beamed TV shows across the nation. The tower now looks as it did in the 1960s

Steely resolve

Staff at a Lincolnshire steel firm have agreed to a 50% pay cut to try and keep it in business. More than 150 staff at Caparo Merchant Bar have also agreed to take an extended holiday over Christmas.

Quoted

’Grimshaw has opened the doors to the YBAs and that has neither attracted younger visitors nor pleased the academy’s older friends’
Brian Sewell’s assessment of outgoing Royal Academy president Nick Grimshaw.

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