The Anonymous Widower

Crown Estate To Spend £1.5bn On New Laboratories

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article  on The Times.

These three paragraphs introduce the Crown Estate’s plan.

The Crown Estate is to spend £1.5 billion over the next decade building more laboratories nationwide and will start by redeveloping the old Debenhams store in Oxford city centre.

The King’s property company, which looks after the royal family’s £16 billion historic land portfolio, will invest £125 million to buy the former department store and will turn it into laboratory space.

The building has been empty for omore than three years, having closed down in early 2021 after Debenhams collapsed during the pandemic. The Crown has bought a long leasehold of the store from DTZ Investors, the freeholder, which is keeping the street-level retail units. Subject to planning, construction is expected to start at the site next year, with the labs expected to be fully operational in 2027 or 2028.

This looks very much like a smaller version of British Land’s plan for the Euston Tower, which I wrote about in British Land Unveils Plans To Transform London’s Euston Tower Into A Life Sciences And Innovation Hub.

These are my thoughts.

Helping Start-Ups

I have been involved with perhaps half a dozen start-up ventures. Two were very successful and the others generally scraped along or just failed.

One common theme, was the lack of small convenient premises, where perhaps up to a dozen people could work.

• I don’t know Oxford well, but I would assume that the Debenhams site, is good for public transport and cycle parking.
• I also hope there’s a good real ale pub nearby, for some productive group thinking!

If this venture from Crown Estate helps start-ups to get over the first difficult hurdle, then it will be a development to be welcomed.

Location, Location, Location

It has been said, that the three most important things in property development are location, location and location.

This 3D Google Map shows the approximate location of the Debenhams building.

Note.

1. The red arrow indicates a pub called the Wig and Pen , which is on the opposite side of George Street to the Debenhams building.
2. The railway with its excellent connections runs North-South down the Western edge of the map.
3. I estimate that walking distance to the station is about 500-600 metres.

I shall be going to Oxford in the next couple of days to take some pictures of the building and the walk.

We Can’t Have Too Many Laboratories

The British and the sort of people we attract to these isles seem to be born innovators and inventors.

My father’s male line is Jewish and my paternal great-great-great-grandfather had to leave his home city of Königsberg in East Prussia for the sole reasons he was eighteen, male and Jewish. As both Königsberg and London, were on the trading routes of the Hanseatic League, he probably just got on a ship. As he was a trained tailor, he set up in business in Bexley.

My mother’s male line is Huguenot and somewhere in the past, one of her ancestors left France for England. My grandfather was an engraver, which is a common Huguenot craft. Intriguingly, my mother had very French brown eyes.

Why did my ancestors come here?

It was probably a choice between escape to the UK or die!

This Wikipedia entry, which us entitled  History of the Jews in Königsberg, gives a lot of detail.

Note.

1. My ancestor left Königsberg around 1800.
2. He probably brought my coeliac disease with him.
3. In 1942, many of the Jews remaining in Königsberg were sent to the Nazi concentration camps.
4. About 2,000 Jews remain in Königsberg, which is now Kaliningrad in Russia.

I am an atheist, but some years ago, I did a computing job for a devout Orthodox Jewish oncologist and he felt my personal philosophy was very much similar to his.

This Wikipedia entry, which is entitled  Huguenots, gives a brief history of the Huguenots.

Whatever you’re attitude to immigration, you can’t deny these facts.

• Immigration increases the population.
• As the population increases, we’re going to need more innovation to maintain a good standard of living.
• Just as we need more places to house immigrants, we also need more places, where they can work.
• Immigration brings in those with all types of morals, sexualities and intelligences.
• Like the Jews and Huguenots of over two centuries ago, some emigrants will dream of using their skills and intelligence to start a successful business.
• It is likely, that some immigrants, who came here to study, might also want to stay on and seek employment here, using the skills they’ve learned and acquired. Some may even start successful businesses.

I also wonder, if immigration is difficult, does this mean, that the intelligent and resourceful are likely to be successful migrants. I heard this theory from a Chinese lady, who started her immigration to the UK, by swimming from mainland China to Hong Kong.

I feel, that unless we are prepared to ban immigration completely, not allow students to come here and study and be prepared to accept our current standard of living for the future, then we will need more laboratories and suitable places for entrepreneurs to start new businesses.

Conclusion

The Crown Estate appears to be getting more entrepreneurial.

In UK Unveils GBP 50 Million Fund To Boost Offshore Wind Supply Chain, I describe how they6 are using funds to accelerate the building of wind farms in theCetic Sea.

Has the King changed the boss or the rules?

Or have they employed a world-class mathematical modeller?

It is my experience, that modelling financial systems, can bring surprising results.

May 25, 2024 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, World | British Land, China, Crown Estate, Debenhams, Euston Tower, Hong Kong, Huguenot, Innovation, Judaism, Königsberg, King Charles III, Mathematical Modelling, Oxford, Oxford Station, Property Development, Religion