In the news

Will be interesting / depressing to read the full report when published.

https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/strategies-reduce-waiting-times-elective-care

A lot of the wasteful lifestyle of the rich would become available to more people

When you put it like that, they definitely won’t fund it…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox

Potentially some "good news" for once? I know we don't like that here.

Canary Wharf Group has submitted plans for a vast “vertical” life sciences campus, as the owners of the east London district look to break their reliance on financial services as demand for office space falls. The new 823,000 sq ft, 23-storey tower block would be among the largest laboratories in Europe and would cost £500mn to develop.

https://www.ft.com/content/0c9dd8d0-6e4e-4411-8095-0dfa8b9dbce4

That is all very well, but is there a surplus of skilled people to staff it?

I have been trying to recruit engineers and technicians for months and there just aren't enough to go around. I imagine it is the same for lab staff.

Everyone left or been kicked out of the UK, to put it mildly.

It’s the latest thing.

Here in Cambridge, where the life science comes from and the beagles live in fear, they’re trying to turn shops in retail streets into labs:

https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/amp/fitzroy-street-shop-site-could-become-city-s-first-urban-lab-9284999/

And even whole retail parks:

https://ukpropertyforums.com/the-beehive-centre-could-be-replaced-with-science-or-tech-site/

As retail, particularly chain shops started to struggle, I dreamed this would mean rents would fall and independent businesses would start to be able to afford to exist in the city centre, sadly I forgot about capitalism. Lab rents are 3-4 times higher than retail and office round here, so if you can get a few labs and a few more storeys in then it’s a no-brainer to kick Halfords and Pets4U out.

Pharma and biotech and all the stuff around it has grown massively in the last decade and is predicted to continue to do so and it’s posh work so immigration is OK.

Ironic

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-63954859

sadly I forgot about capitalism. Lab rents are 3-4 times higher than retail and office round here, so if you can get a few labs and a few more storeys in then it’s a no-brainer to kick Halfords and Pets4U out

Hate to stick my head above the parapet in support for capitalism but this is what productivity gains look like, no?

It is not a natural law that people born in the UK are unable to get the right credentials to do these jobs... if you take Keir at face value he has a plan for this.

Potentially some "good news" for once? I know we don't like that here.

Was having this chat with a VC a few months ago. At times of low office demand and recession, high net worth landlords tend to open up their properties at much reduced rates or even free just to keep their portfolio ticking over. In the past, its the arts that tend to benefit most from this (studio and gallery space etc) but maybe R&D will do too this time round.

But what if I don’t have COVID and instead need windscreen wipers?

Obviously no one cares about Halfords really, and in big places like London it’s no great shakes when small retail and hospitality units are lost, but little old Cambridge is becoming [even more] devoid of culture because of the expense of property making it impossible for fun people to make small businesses work here. Not important to the wealthy introvert nerds but sad if you want to chat with other humans away from your house. I should probably just move.

A bit of Mick Lynch action

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63955617

Go to Starbucks?

little old Cambridge is becoming [even more] devoid of culture because of the expense of property making it impossible for fun people to make small businesses work here

I lived there 2010-13 and it was a sea of chain shops even then. I think that for a lot of shops the rates bill is a bigger problem than rents.

Having said that it does annoy me when decent business are turfed out by higher rent demands and then the premises stand empty for a long time. Crown Passage around the corner from my office is a good example of this - both Fuzzy's Grub and Tony's dry cleaners disappeared but there aren't new tenants.

In theory business rates are broadly half of rents and there are discounts for independent businesses too, compared to residential council tax they’re madness of course.

broadly half

When I got stuck managing a portfolio of this stuff at my old job we were giving away units at zero rent (or turnover basis) to get out of the rates liability. Less prime areas than Cambridge though.

American candy stores, perchance?

I think those guys just pretend to be out or declare bankruptcy when Westminster council sends them the bill… we would actually pay it!

Science labs and innovation centres....

This is what will grow the economy, not hand shaking on pre-existing trade deals or making new trade deals that undermine home grown produce, goods and services.

There may be a benefit to landlords, but the smart money is on investing in homegrown science and tech innovation economic growth for medium to long term.

R&D and innovation is quite often hit hard during recessions though.

And we’re out of the key programs that share research and funding across scientists and academics, out of key programs like EURATOM, and telling academics and scientists that they can come here to do research but their families can fuck off.

Oh, and running foreign students through the hostile environment for good measure.

Usually when recession hits the U.K. a significant amount of British scientists accept financially rewarding job offers in the USA and we experience a brain drain.
In the 80s we lost loads of decent physicists working on nuclear fusion, probably guys who taught the team that are running the Lawrence Livermore fusion reactor in California.

In the 80s we lost loads of decent physicists working on nuclear fusion, probably guys who taught the team that are running the Lawrence Livermore fusion reactor in California.

Yeah about that

Ok so it’s another “hey we got more out than we put in” stories like came out of JET sporadically? With a veiled militarised subtext.