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No18 Signs Up To Battersea Power Station

21/8/2018

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Battersea Power Station is pleased to announce that the remaining 40,000 square feet of office space within the Power Station itself has been leased to members club, No18, which will sit next door to Apple in the iconic building, when it opens in 202
  • First venue secured by No18 in the UK
  • Members club to create bespoke workspace offering called The Engine
    Room
  • More than half of commercial space in the Power Station now taken
  • Office space now fully pre-let; retail and leisure space is now actively
    pre-letting
  • Battersea Power Station is set to become the centre of one of London’s
    most exciting tech and media districts 20 August 2018

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CGI view into The Engine Room, the No18 members club space at Battersea Power Station

​No18 is a cosmopolitan members club for businesses with beautifully designed lounges, meeting rooms and high-end workspaces tailored to support all its members’ needs. It currently has two venues in Stockholm, Sweden. Since becoming part of IWG, a global operator of leading workspace companies that has a presence in over 110 countries, No18 has also secured a presence in the US and Switzerland during a gradual global rollout. As part of its expansion plans, the company has now secured its first presence in the UK.

No18 will create a bespoke offering for the Power Station called The Engine Room. Set over two floors overlooking the light-filled southern atrium, it will look down into the two turbine halls that will house over 100 shops and restaurants for occupiers to enjoy. No18 members will also be sharing the building with Apple, the anchor office tenant, and residents living in the Power Station’s new homes.

No18 provides a home for a rewarding business lifestyle. The company’s venues are akin to a blend of workspace and residence, with common areas featuring a unique eclectic aesthetic - serving as spectacular co-working spaces and casual meeting spots - and offices featuring the best conditions for work performance and potential for individual adjustments.

Of the one million square feet of commercial space available in the Power Station building, 52% has now been let as office space, with the retail and leisure space now actively pre- letting. Battersea Power Station is working closely with a wide collection of heritage and emerging retail brands from the UK and across the globe to complement its vision for the 1930s and 1950s turbine halls and looks forward to announcing some of the brands that will also be calling the Power Station home.
Andrew Hilston, Head of Leasing at Battersea Power Station Development Company (BPSDC), said:
“On behalf of our Shareholders, we’re very excited to welcome No18 to the remaining space in the Power Station as their first UK venue and believe this bespoke concept will offer an extraordinary place to work and do business.

“With Apple’s new London campus and now No18’s innovative, design-led offering moving here, Battersea Power Station is set to become the centre of one of the London’s most exciting tech and media districts. Having these two brands signed up forms a strong base for the rest of the 750,000 sq ft office space which will be delivered in our future phases.”
Michel Gordin, CEO and Founder of No18, said:
"Battersea Power Station is a global icon. We believe it is the perfect fit for us – a place brimming with stories, where heritage meets novelty. We will be bringing The Engine Room, a concept that will complement the architecture of the Power Station building and provide a breath-taking environment – a true experience to visit – in which businesses and individuals can thrive in pursuit of the next big innovation.

“We believe this location fits our ethos to create a sanctuary where productivity, inspiration, and style converge. We are excited to be a part of it and to open our doors.”
The Engine Room will be an exciting members club and workspace, benefiting from excellent facilities such as fantastic lounge spaces with a central bar and café; a variety of co-working spaces, modern offices and meeting rooms; an events venue; and various client services.
The Grade II* listed Power Station building, designed by WilkinsonEyre, is the second phase of the Battersea Power Station regeneration project, which will create one of the most exciting
neighbourhoods in the world. It is located on the Thames riverside, minutes from Battersea Park to the west and the new US Embassy in the Nine Elms development area to the east. Battersea Power Station already has its own River Bus pier with frequent services to the West End, the City and further afield, and it will soon have its own Zone 1 Underground station. The first phase, Circus West Village, is already open with thousands of residents having moved in. The shops, bars and restaurants are open for business and there has been strong interest in the Power Station retail space.

At least another 750,000 square feet of offices will be available in future phases of the development.
The Malaysian shareholders of the Battersea Power Station project are committed to giving back to the communities in which they operate. They recognise the importance of creating shared value, and this is embedded in all their undertakings to ensure that they contribute to building a harmonious and considerate community.

Follow @BatterseaPwrStn to keep up with the latest news and events at Battersea Power Station and visit batterseapowerstation.co.uk to find out more.
Visit no18.com to find out more about the Swedish company’s unique, inspirational clubs and workspaces.

For media enquiries, please contact:
Press Office, Battersea Power Station Development Company
T: +44 (0) 20 7062 1870
E: 
pressoffice@bpsdc.co.uk
IWG communications
communications@iwgplc.com


About Battersea Power Station:
  • Battersea Power Station is one of central London’s largest, most visionary and eagerly anticipated new town centres in which roughly half the development will consist of shops, restaurants and office space. In addition, there will be a six-acre public park, a town square and a new tube station (scheduled to be within Zone 1).
  •  The Battersea Power Station project covers 42 acres and includes 3.5m sq ft of mixed commercial space, together with 4,364 new homes.
  • The successful regeneration of Battersea Power Station will create 20,000 new jobs, inject £20bn into the UK economy and create a funding mechanism for the first major tube line extension since the Millennium. A new NHS medical facility is also being built.
  • The Battersea Power Station Foundation supports local charities and community projects. Over £4.5m has been awarded since it launched in 2016; the largest grant awarded was to Battersea Arts Centre for £305,000.
  • Circus West Village is the neighbourhood centre for the first part of the development. It opened to the public in Spring 2017 and since then over 700,000 people have visited to enjoy the ongoing programme of events and the new shops and restaurants.
  • Residents started to move in to Circus West early in 2017 and continue to do so. The Village Hall, a new performance space, has opened at Circus West Village and a new MBNA Thames Clippers River Bus service commenced on 1 November 2017.
  • The Battersea Academy of Skills Excellence (BASE), the development company’s bespoke jobs and training service created for those living locally, was launched in 2016. It is
focused on matching people with jobs at Battersea as well as providing training relevant to
the job pipeline at the development.
  •  Battersea Power Station is owned by a consortium of Malaysian investors comprised Sime Darby Property, S P Setia and the Employees’ Provident Fund. Management of the development is being undertaken by the British-based Battersea Power Station Development Company.

About No18:
  •  No18 provides a home for a rewarding business lifestyle. It is a cosmopolitan members club for businesses with beautifully designed lounges, meeting rooms and high-end workspaces tailored to support all our members’ needs. It’s a truly rewarding setting for both work and leisure, and a place to call home.
  •  Our venues are akin to a blend of workplace and residence, with common areas featuring a unique eclectic aesthetic - serving as spectacular co-working spaces and casual meeting spots - and offices featuring the best conditions for work performance and potential for individual adjustments.
  •  No18 was founded in 2012 in the heart of Stockholm’s fashion and finance district
  • We offer a range of options to satisfy everyone’s personal work style – including lounges,
    meeting rooms, co-working spaces and private offices that can be customised to suit
    individual tastes.
  • Our holistic philosophy focuses on work-life balance and a healthy lifestyle.
  • Our venues are destinations during the day and night, with regular events hosted at
    inhouse bars.
  • No18 is known for its expressive, eclectic aesthetic, featuring curated environments filled
    with a plethora of art and design pieces from the past and present.
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Digital Transformation Comes to Retail

23/7/2018

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Shopping could soon be boosted by new techs including AI and VR
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​Retail shopping is changing. You can’t digitise a pair of jeans or a nice cake, but the most tech-alert retailers are making the shopping experience digital, and reaching more customers or selling more to existing customers using modern technology.

Shopping and stores are traditionally a conservative business sector, which takes time to adapt. The shopping experience hasn’t really changed much in 100 years, and low margins make for cautious approaches towards innovation.

A recent study showed 82% of smart phone users consult their phones in the store while deciding what to buy. It makes sense that those shoppers can now use mobile pay—from a growing number of providers—while they’re at it.

Smart beacons alert a customer who is near to the store via bluetooth so they can be sent special offers and discount coupons. Wandsworth is already ahead of the game here, with the Chamber pioneering this a couple of years ago.

The most obvious innovation in this sector is Amazon Go – the shop where AI and cameras/ rfid tags and the like monitor shoppers, and charge you automatically when you leave for the goods you actually want. It is certainly novel, some people will abhor the lack of privacy, but others will appreciate the convenience, especially if you have stood in a queue for the checkout for a long time. Part of the intention behind this is not saving on the wages of store assistants, but Amazon’s major goal of analysing the behaviour of customers, to get more data to deep-mine and sell, so it’s not just what you buy, but what you put back on the shelf when you see the price. Do you just zip in for what you have on your list, or do you dawdle, look at lots of products, and impulse-buy?

There are a large number of tech companies experimenting in this sector. Surprisingly, this includes the creative software company Adobe, famous for Photoshop. Earlier this year it bought Magento Commerce, a digital commerce platform for £1.25 billion to bootstrap its way into the retail technology market.

Other players in this area include BigCommerce and dunnhumby. Each is trying to carve out a niche to improve customer interactivity using technology. Some are experimenting with VR, although practical use of this will be a few years in the future, when headsets become cheap enough for wide use.

The sector is likely to experience disruption in the near future, with some companies adopting new technology, and prospering and others finding it hard to compete.

http://www.retailtechnology.co.uk/news/6740/the-digital-transformation-opportunity/
*

Julian Jackson is Wandsworth Chamber’s blogger, whose interests encompass technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the environment, as well as photography and film. His portfolio is here:
https://julianj.journoportfolio.com www.brightgreenpr.co.uk www.bitcoin-consultancy.co.uk
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Technology Update: CloudSecurity

10/11/2017

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As the Government encourages businesses to migrate to the cloud here is a look at security​

​Many businesses are contemplating moving their ICT operations to cloud-based systems. However today security is a bigger issue than ever, with hackers, terrorists, and the occasional disgruntled employee a factor in any decision. Many business owners like to have their own servers, it's like having your car in the garage, you can pop out to see if it's okay...
Picture

However the reality is that costs can be reduced, efficiency increased, and environmental impact reduced, by outsourcing to a cloud service provider. Amazon Web Services grew from being a way to obtain added-value from unused portions of the Amazon server network, but has grown to be the most profitable part of the business, serving everyone from one-man shops, to Netflix. It made $861m in operating revenue last year.

A recent report claimed that 43% of companies had experienced a data breach within the past year, up 10% from the year before. Additionally, data breaches in South Korea compromised the credit card information of 40% of the population.

To directly address the cloud security issue: is the cloud less secure than having servers in the basement? It depends, but it can be more secure, simply because a large cloud organisation can have 24/7 dedicated security teams working, which most businesses simply cannot afford. Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) benefit from economies of scale. CSPs can maintain large numbers - sometimes thousands - of servers and can hire technicians who specialise in every type of cloud technology, including security. However it is necessary to ensure that at the client end of the process your own business has good security procedures and protocols or enhanced security at the cloud end will be useless. The UK government is encouraging businesses to opt for a “Cloud First” policy, and migrate their data to a reputable cloud system.

A serious risk is employees accidentally or maliciously downloading malware, and not just infecting their computer, but it spreading across an internal network and affectng every computer – this would be a serious breach. In the cloud, their firewalls and procedures would stop this happening.
The cloud doesn’t only keep users' data safe from the spread of malware, it also keeps data safe from natural and human-created disasters. When data is stored in the cloud, employees will still have access to it in the event that the local workstations or servers go down. Backups are off-site and therefore less vulnerable.

The cloud has come a long way over past few years. It’s not just the security that has been improved, customised software, platforms and numerous other services can be delivered via the cloud now.So there is a lot of validity in moving to a cloud-based ICT service platform.

https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/technology/securing-your-cloud-environment

Author: This article was written by Julian Jackson, Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce's resident blogger and copywriter - https://julianj.journoportfolio.com
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Bitcoin and the Blockchain – Why They Matter

28/7/2017

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A significant technological advance will benefit businesses in the near future

The internet is a technology that has rapidly become indispensable. It has facilitated new businesses, enabled sharing of information, streamlined all sorts of transactions and communications – if you have a relative in Australia you can see their new baby on Skype, for example, which would have been difficult to arrange in the past. Vast companies have arisen – Amazon, Google, Facebook, which were just a gleam in a few geeky students' eyes not long ago.

There is a downside to all this: trolling, cyber attacks, identity theft, and various other new crimes, but most people would agree that these amazing technologies have benefitted the majority. That's not just in the wealthy West: smartphones have enabled Africans, for example, to use bankless mobile money transactions, enabling them to transfer money and even start businesses which they couldn't have done without the internet and its web of connectivity.

The world wide web is the foundation for many technologies, for example skype, cloud computing and peer-to-peer networks.

Another really major advance is on the horizon. The blockchain.

Most of you have probably heard of the blockchain in relation to Bitcoin, which is a “cryptocurrency” - that is non-centralised money which is both an investment and a medium of transaction, but instead of being held in banks the accounting is distributed all over the internet.

It is called the blockchain, because each transaction builds on the last, in an unbreakable chain. There isn't the space to discuss this in depth here, but it is the blockchain as a concept that is important, not bitcoin, which may or may not succeed, although it does have first-mover advantage, but recently it has had scaling difficulties. By using encryption and peer-to-peer distributed “accounting”, transactions avoid banks, are low-cost, and highly-resistant to fraud.

But the blockchain can be so much more. For example, many artists, musicians, creative people struggle to make a living, because their work can be pirated and it is almost impossible to receive income from it. We can envisage, in the future, where if you wanted to reproduce a blockchain copyrighted artwork on your website, some bitcoins would automatically be deducted from your bitcoin account and sent to the artist's wallet, via programming built into the blockchain without any human intervention. Many people have suggested micropayments like this, but the centralised banking structures are too high cost to make deducting say, 5p from your bank account feasible, but it is with a blockchain-based system. Those 5ps would add up. It would be the same for any digitally-enabled business.

Potentially myriads of different usages can be encrypted into the blockchain. Another new cryptocurrency, Etherium, envisages itself as a medium for this, rather than strictly as a currency.

With Wandsworth being one of the major London hubs for new businesses, many of which are highly digital and networked, there is a need to raise the awareness of how altcoins (as the various cryptocurrencies are called) could be a beneficial method of building up a business, raising funding, or expanding the reach of products and services via the network.

As famed science fiction writer William Gibson said, “The future is already here – it's just not evenly distributed.” The Economist, 2003.

Author: This article was written by Julian Jackson, Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce's resident blogger and copywriter - https://julianj.journoportfolio.com

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