FAIR PRICE

Will Ramsay’s Affordable Art Fair is revolutionising the way we buy art. But just don’t call it an investment.

ACCORDING TO WILL RAMSAY, there are three types of people in the world. “First, there’s the one-off person, who buys but has no ambition to fill their walls. Then there’s the sort of person who keeps buying until their walls are filled. And the third type is the person who buys and just keeps on buying… but you don’t know when you start which of those three you’re going to be.”

We may not know what type of buyers we’re going to be, but as the founder of the hugely successful Affordable Art Fair, Ramsay has made a career from helping people to find out. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, London’s biannual Affordable Art Fair is going from strength to strength, with sister events running in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, Bristol and New York, and affiliate events held in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Hong Kong. This year’s spring event in London attracted 22,500 visitors and sold £5m (€6m) worth of art, testament to the simple appeal of Ramsay’s pioneering approach.

“It’s all about trying to make art more accessible and break down the fear factor,” he says, explaining that people tend to think they need lots of money and experience before they can even consider buying art. “My approach has always been the Oddbins approach, which was not to cater for people who know about art, but for those people who feel they want to know about it.”

And when it comes to making art accessible, Ramsay knows that price is key. Everything on sale at the fair costs less than £3,000 (€3,500), with prices starting from £50 (€58) and an average of around £650 (€760). All prices are clearly displayed so that buyers don’t get any nasty surprises. It’s convenient, too. With up to 120 galleries taking work to each fair it’s a brilliant opportunity for casual buyers to see a huge amount of art, which, Ramsay points out, “would otherwise take you a lot of weekends of traipsing around galleries all over the world.”

Ramsay’s first steps into the art world came when he opened his own gallery, Will’s Art Warehouse. As the name suggests, his idea even then was to break down the formal barriers that can exist in conventional art galleries, and it was a natural progression from running the gallery to organising the first of the art fairs. But it wasn’t just an understanding of his customers that led him to start the fair. Running his own gallery, he saw first hand the potential that existed for reaching a wider audience, if only gallery owners could work together to reach customers. Making it easier for people to buy art and easier for gallery owners to sell it, Ramsay created a win-win situation that has spawned its fair share of imitators, but, he says, none can be counted as rivals just yet.

“People have tried to copy the format and so far it hasn’t really come off. What often happens is that you get people trying to run art fairs who don’t have the marketing or business skills. At the other extreme there are people who are good at business but don’t understand the art world. As an art fair organiser you need to have that balance between the two.”

Listening to Ramsay enthusing about the fairs, it’s clear that while he may be a good businessman, he’s first and foremost a lover of art. He’s emphatic that people should only ever buy art because they love it, and scorns the idea of buying art as an investment. That, he says, is a nice excuse to justify spending money, but he insists that even the biggest collectors buy art because they love it and think it’s good quality, not because they think it’s going to soar in value.

That’s not to say that the Affordable Art Fair hasn’t seen its fair share of nice surprises over the years. Antony Micallef, for example, showed his work at the fair shortly after he graduated, and now his works are being snapped up by the likes of Brad Pitt and Christina Aguilera for hundreds of times what they sold for back then. It’s not surprising, though, that Ramsay the art lover advises against buying with those sorts of gains in mind.

“You might strike it lucky and discover you’ve got a gold mine sitting on your wall,” he says, “but that shouldn’t be your reason for buying it!”

The Affordable Art Fair runs from 22-25 October in Battersea Park, London www.affordableartfair.com

WORDS BY STEVEN WATSON

Two French brothers have rejuvenated their nation’s love of cooking, and now they’re exporting it overseas.

WITH ITS RICH GASTRONOMIC HERITAGE and superlative restaurant scene, France has enjoyed its status as arguably the world’s premier culinary nation. But in recent years French society has adopted a more Anglo Saxon work culture, leading many commentators to lament that the Gallic passion for food is slipping away.

“We noticed that in France, where we are supposed to have this reputation as food lovers, people aged between 25 and 40 didn’t really know anything about cooking,” says entrepreneur Nicolas Bergerault. “Their mothers started to go to work in the ‘70s, at a time when frozen foods were developed and pizza delivery started. People had become less and less interested in cooking.”

It was this realisation that planted the seed of a business idea in the minds of Nicolas and his brother François. Forty-one-year-old amateur cook Nicolas had wanted to work in the food industry since he was a teenager, and now he saw the potential for opening a cookery school in Paris with François, eight years his junior. Their aim: nothing less than to re-engage the French with their cultural heritage and love of cooking food.

“We said: ‘We need to invent a new generation cooking class’,” says François, explaining that French cookery classes tended to be expensive, formal and time-consuming affairs. “The keyword for us was accessibility. It needed to be accessible so that people didn’t feel intimidated by it.”

The brothers opened their first l’Atelier des Chefs in Paris’ bustling 8th arrondissement business district on 12 July 2004. They offered classes that, at their shortest and least expensive, saw Parisians spending just half an hour and €15 (£12.50) to cook themselves a meal in their lunch break. Two months later and their simple idea of serving up approachable cookery classes suddenly took off.

“We started getting fantastic press coverage after a three-minute reportage [news] piece on French breakfast television,” says Nicolas. “Suddenly, all these people came and said: ‘I’ve seen you on TV, I’ve read about you in the newspaper, I’ve heard about you on the radio.’ They wanted to give it a try.”

In spite of “exceptional” business in Paris, they lay low for the first year, familiarising themselves with the fledgling company. But after that they “pushed the development button”, overseeing an expansion programme that makes for dizzying reading. Within four and a half years they had opened a total of 13 units, which included a mixture of stand-alone units in properties they own, concessions in department stores and a couple of franchises, following, they say, their original business plan to the letter.

“Turnover in 2004 was, over six months, €250,000 (£212,000),” says Nicolas. “Turnover in 2008 was €7m (£5.9m). Within the first five years we wanted to have 12 to 13 units and to reach an annual turnover of €7m (£5.9m) to €8m (£6.8m), so we are more or less aligned to our initial plan.”

Exporting the idea to foreign shores was also part of the plan, and their first sortie into a non-French market came with the establishment of l’Atelier des Chefs in Brussels. Chosen for its proximity to Paris – where their head office is still based – and the fact that half the population is French-speaking, Brussels was also attractive because the brothers were aware of a competitor there, suggesting the potential for business.

But London was the city that they coveted most keenly. L’Atelier des Chefs has a clientele that is typically half business-to-customer and half business-to-business, and with the UK capital’s vast business community it was “a no brainer” that they needed to set up shop there. Meanwhile, a certain celebrity chef had also opened their eyes to a new-found British enthusiasm for cooking.

“I was familiar with Jamie Oliver from Canadian television,” says Nicolas. “He is a fantastic chef, teaching real food to real people. He’s not like our high-end, three-star chefs in France, who were trying to convince people that it was easy when everyone knew that it wasn’t.”

They opened an outlet on Wigmore Street in London’s Soho last year, and despite admitting they “wished they hadn’t opened it in 2008” they plan to launch four to five more Ateliers in the city, plus another four to five outside London.

So, is this a crusade to spread the French love of food? “No, it’s a crusade to bring people back to the stove,” says François. “We have a French brand and that helps because the French are associated with food, but we are not French people who only want to preach about French food. We want our chefs to teach practical recipes drawn from world cuisine to the French, Belgian or British public.”

Unsurprisingly, their B2B clientele has suffered in most locations due to the global recession, but they claim that an increased level of B2C trade has compensated for this. “People have said: ‘I have less money to go out, and having a pizza delivered is costing me a fortune. So I want to learn how to cook great food.’”

Businesses that have over-expanded in recent years are currently facing the chop, but these young French businessmen are confident about their current position. “François and I always said that we want to ‘hurry slowly’,” says Nicolas. “We’ve always tried to find a balance between going too fast and going too slowly. We could have opened more and now be presiding over even greater profits, but we wanted to keep a proper control on the brand, the concept and the operation. We’re happy with how it has worked out.”

And their greatest triumph, they say, has been to devise “a timely solution to a non-communicated problem”. “People didn’t say: ‘We’re looking for an accessible cooking class,’” explains François. “They would say: ‘I don’t know how to cook and I don’t know where to learn.’ We came up with an answer they had not heard of.”

WORDS BY ALISTAIR DUNCAN

LIGHT TOUCH

THIS AUTUMN LONDON WILL ONCE AGAIN play host to some of the world’s finest design talent, as the seventh annual London Design Festival hits town. Galleries, shops and public spaces will be turned over to a programme of exhibitions, installations, talks and seminars across the capital.

The festival will take up residence in the V&A for the first time, with a variety of shows and activities including In Praise of Shadows, an exhibition supported by the European Commission to mark the EU directive to phase out low-efficiency light bulbs by 2012.

Visitors will be given torches and then allowed to roam through the darkened galleries, discovering light installations, such as Pieke Bergmans’ Light Blub (pictured), on display as part of a series of unique crystal lamps by the Dutch artist.

The London Design Festival runs from 19-27 September www.londondesignfestival.com

BOOKS

BESPOKE

RICHARD ANDERSON
OUT 7 OCTOBER, £14.99 (APPROX. €18)

For those of us who don’t know our vicuña from our Velcro, Richard Anderson, a head of the youngest bespoke tailoring house on Savile Row, has helpfully included a 32-page glossary at the back of his autobiography. A good thing, too, since getting a proper suit made is a complicated business. At one point Anderson takes us through the 19 key measurements that must be plugged into the ‘Thorntonian algorithm’ before the process of making a suit can even begin.

When it sticks to the mechanics of how a suit is made, this book is a very good fit indeed. Anderson evokes the strange, cigarette-scented machismo and petty rivalries of the men who live and die by the quality of their cut with wit and warmth. However, Bespoke can feel slightly unsure of whether it’s a e

Kitchen Confidential-style exposé of Savile Row, or a genteel stroll down memory lane. Anderson began as an apprentice in 1982 and it’s only natural that the recent history of the industry is entwined with his own life story, but too often it veers off into personal anecdotes that add little and could quite easily have been cut. Much more engaging are the snippets of historical background and evocations of the aristocracy behaving as badly as only they can.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that it seems to have been written partly as an appeal for individuality, but it’s difficult to get worked up about the rights of the very wealthy to spend their money on hugely expensive jackets, however rare and exquisite the tweed. Anderson does at least seem to be aware of this, though, and Bespoke will certainly make you want to have a suit made, if only to e try out all the new words you’ve learnt.  

THE AUDACITY OF HYPE

ARMANDO IANNUCCI
OUT 3 SEPTEMBER, £10.99 (APPROX. €13)

Armando Iannucci is the man behind some of Britain’s best comedy of the past 10 years. His work in television includes The Day Today, Alan Partridge and The Thick of It, he co-wrote and t directed the feature film In the Loop, and he’s a prolific writer, with a column in The Observer and a long list of articles r to his name. So this collection of rants and musings has a guaranteed audience of Iannucci fans waiting for it, and they won’t be disappointed.

Whether he’s criticising the Hutton report into the death of Dr David Kelly or compiling a list of James Bond’s likely expenses, Iannucci demonstrates his wit and intelligence, focusing his attention most often on favourite targets, such as politicians and the dumbing down of mainstream media. Much of the material in the book seems to have been written several years ago, giving the events he references the clarity that comes with time, while also casting them in the new light of his witheringly articulate criticism. Presented in small chunks that only ever run to a few pages at most, it’s ideal for dipping into and out of in quiet moments, but is so addictively funny that you won’t want to put it down.

I KNOW HOW TO COOK

GINETTE MATHIOT
OUT 18 SEPTEMBER, £24.95 (APPROX. €29)

With French cooking enjoying a renaissance across Europe (see pages 40-41) it seems perfect timing for Phaidon to release the English version of the French classic Je Sais Cuisiner by Ginette Mathiot. First published in 1932, it has sold more than six million copies, and Phaidon will be hoping that the English version, the more pedestrian-sounding I Know How to Cook, can replicate k a modicum of that success.  
Packed with more than 1,400 recipes, it covers a huge range of French dishes, including croque monsieur, cassoulet and t boeuf bourguignon, and takes readers from simple snacks through to homemade haute cuisine.

Beautifully designed, with lovely colour photographs and clear recipes, it’s sure to spread the love of French food even further. The ingredients may prove tricky, though. The cassoulet recipe looks lovely, t but there aren’t many British cooks who will know what preserved goose looks like, let alone where they can lay their hands on 600g of the stuff!

MUSIC

LOVE 2

AIR
OUT 5 OCTOBER, £9.99 (APPROX. €12)

While this is Parisian duo Air’s fifth full-length album, it’s the first they have made entirely on their own, outside of external producers and mixing techniques. The result is a cleaner, clearer sound and, as always, there are intricacies to be picked apart beneath the overarching dance, lo-fiand minimal house. This time the result is less cluttered, as a more developed structure holds the whole thing together, from the suspiciously soothingLove to the more virulent Eat My Beat. The duo even take care of all vocal duties in-house, singing their own songs and in doing so showcasing an element rarely experimented with alongside the instrumentals. Their singing voices are as soft and serene as you might imagine, but with enough pulsating through the sound to satisfy. This latest release from the Frenchmen won’t awake any demons, but there’s little here to put you to sleep either.

FORGET THE NIGHT AHEAD

THE TWILIGHT SAD
OUT 5 OCTOBER, £8.99 (APPROX. €11)

Edinburgh’s The Twilight Sad have found a way to take a multitude of potentially unpalatable elements and turn them into some of the most affecting pop music written this year. For starters, vocalist James Graham is undeniably Scottish, his every yelp wrapped in a thick, Marmite-style ‘love it or hate it’ tartan brogue. And then there’s the distortion – the quintet fills its music with cloudy reverb, so much so that noise often overwhelms melody. So the odds are stacked against it, but Forget The Night Ahead turns d adversity to its advantage, overwhelming the listener with those warm, fuzzy reverberations and telling a brilliantly illuminated story hidden inside the mess. Pulsating waves of sound engulf you, evidence of a band who know melody as well as they know noise. And all the while, you’re wondering why this left field racket is so lovely. Music need not be musical all the time.

MOVIES

IS ANYBODY THERE?
OUT 14 SEPTEMBER, £17.99 (APPROX. €20)

Michael Caine plays Clarence, a retired magician consigned to an old people’s home in this quietly funny and moving film. Young actor Bill Milner was fantastic in Son of Rambow, and he reprises the role of the innocent lad who has his eyes opened to the world. But this time it’s by Clarence and his insistence on the finality of death. It’s a hard heart which remains unmoved by the actors’ excellent performances.

WAVERIDERS
OUT 7 SEPTEMBER, £15.99 (APPROX. €18)

George Freeth was the Hawaiian of Irish descent who exported surfing to California, and this documentary uses his story to build a connection between Ireland and surfing. It’s interesting, but the film’s real power comes from the modern day surfers who gather to tackle the huge waves that pound the Irish coast. The footage of their skill in the perilous water is awe-inspiring, and makes the film well worth watching.

It’s been the stuff of spy movie fantasy for decades, but now you can buy a phone that actually fits on your wrist. Take a closer look at the LG Watch Phone.

› TOUCH SCREEN
The 3.6cm screen is touch-sensitive, so it doesn’t use buttons. It’s so small that you might need to use your fingernails, but if it’s anything like LG’s mobile phone touchscreen technology, it will be ultra-responsive.

› VOICE
If you don’t fancy using the touchscreen you can also control it using your voice – just speak a contact’s name to look them up or dial their number. And text to speech reads text messages and other information out so you don’t have to squint at the screen. Just make sure the message isn’t too personal when you’re showing it off!

› WI-FI
But it’s more than just a watch that can also make calls. Thanks to 7.2Mbps HSDPA internet access, it connects to the web as fast as an iPhone, so you can have the internet on your wrist. And you can even make video calls using the built-in camera. Now that’s real Dick Tracy stuff.

› MUSIC
It can hold music, but don’t expect it to rival your iPod for storage. At the time of writing, LG wouldn’t confirm how much memory the phone has or whether it can take a memory card, but rumours suggest it’s about 70MB – enough for about 20 songs. A built-in speaker lets you share those few tunes with others, or you can listen in stereo using a pair of wireless headphones thanks to its A2DP stereo Bluetooth.

› STYLE
Despite all this technology, it won’t make you look like a tech head. The Watch Phone has a curved tempered glass face, the sort of high quality metal casing usually found in fashion timepieces, and it measures just 13.99mm thick. So while you may have more technology on your wrist than Inspector Gadget, you’ll still look like James Bond.

› AND THE REST
Other functions you’d expect to find on a high-end phone include the fact it’s Quadband, so it will work anywhere in the world. And it has a large phonebook for storing all your contacts. There’s also an organiser on board, so when you want to arrange a meeting, simply consult your wrist.

Costs £500 (approx. €590) according to contract | www.lge.com

BUSINESS PROFILE

NAME: MATTHEW GIRLING
AGE: 50
COMPANY: BONHAMS
CURRENT POSITION: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF EUROPE, UK AND THE MIDDLE EAST
BACKGROUND: MATTHEW GIRLING LEFT SCHOOL AND BEGAN WORK IN AN ANTIQUES SHOP, BECOMING A QUALIFIED GEMMOLOGIST. AFTER TAKING A DEGREE IN ENGLISH IN HIS LATE 20S HE ENTERED THE AUCTION BUSINESS, WORKING FOR CHRISTIE’S BEFORE MOVING TO BONHAMS, WHERE HE HAS BEEN FOR THE PAST 12 YEARS. ESTABLISHED IN 1793, BONHAMS IS THE OLDEST AND LARGEST BRITISH-OWNED AUCTIONEERS OF FINE ART AND ANTIQUES.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO RELAX?
  I love to play tennis. I wouldn’t say I’m fantastic at it, but I’m a member of a club and play regularly. It’s a moment of concentration away from work, just focusing on the yellow bit of fluff and whacking it as hard as you can. That, for me, is a great way to relax.

WHAT’S YOUR GREATEST INDULGENCE?
I’ve got two things: holidays and vintage wine. I’m in the fortunate position that I can buy the vintage wine that’s on sale at auction at Bonhams. My birth year is 1959 and it’s also one of the best vintage wine years. The most expensive wine I ever bought was a 1959 Margaux, which was ridiculously expensive – but boy was it good!

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY?
If you can count it as technology – the bicycle is my favourite. It’s the most efficient way of travelling and it’s been around for almost 200 years. I cycle, walk and use my scooter to get about London. But the bicycle has never been surpassed in terms of energy to distance covered, even by all the technology that has been brought to it.

WHERE DO YOU GO FOR INSPIRATION?
Cliff tops give me inspiration. It’s that edge of the world feeling on the headland, with the sea below. It’s really inspiring. Most recently I was in Northern Ireland for my 50th birthday celebrations, and we went to the Antrim cliffs – that’s a great spot.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
My first job was in a small antiques shop in Norwich. I left school and went to work there. One day I picked up the newspaper to look for a motorbike for sale and ended up finding a job, much to my surprise. I didn’t know anything about silver, gems or antique jewellery but I learned and managed to sell a few things.

DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST BOSS?
Absolutely – we’re still in touch now. He’s a great inspiration to me. He was one of those wonderful people who didn’t mind sharing his knowledge and loved telling me about antique jewellery and silver. He set me off on my career – had it been anyone else I might not be where I am now. He’s retired in Norfolk and is very proud of what I have achieved.

WHO DO YOU MOST ADMIRE?
Goodness. I can only think of someone from the present day, and I’d have to say Barack Obama. To have overcome the obstacles he has done, to get where he is, to be such an unbelievable orator – it’s pretty amazing. He’s younger than me and he’s the president of the United States!

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?
I’ll always remember what my father said when I announced my plans to go travelling. I’d been in the antiques business for a few years when I decided to leave. I thought he was going to be really disappointed in me, but he wasn’t. He supported my decision, encouraging me to follow my instincts and do what I wanted to do.

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB?
I have one of the best jobs in the world – my work environment is filled with the most amazing things. I leave my office and look around our galleries at the sheer variety of the things we sell. The people who work in the departments are passionate people with a huge knowledge of their subject. And I love taking auction sales. For me that’s the pinnacle of what I do – being up there with the hammer.

WHAT DO YOU FIND DIFFICULT?
I find separating the urgent from the important difficult. Within a job there’s always somebody who has a demand on your time. The crucial thing is distinguishing what is most important for the business. Basically, it’s vital for anybody in my position to focus on the important things and then delegate the urgent things to someone else if they are not as important for the business.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FINEST MOMENT?
Being the auctioneer at the sale of the Hermann jewellery collection in California. It was a long sale that took most of the day, but we made more than $6m. It was a terrific experience.

WHAT HAVEN’T YOU DONE THAT YOU’D LIKE TO DO?
Lots of things! Take three months off with a camper van in New Zealand is what I would like to do most. Or be able to complete a project, such as building a boat and putting it out on the water – now that would be great fun.

Falling rents and a glut of desirable properties are making London’s financial district more affordable for short-term residents. Is it time you made the move?

ANYONE TRAVELLING TO LONDON ON A regular basis will know that hotel accommodation in the UK capital can be expensive. According to a recent survey, average per night prices of hotel rooms are £131 (€151), and you can guarantee those won’t be the best places in town. It gets even more costly if you want to be in the heart of things – central London and its business districts are often the most expensive areas to stay in. But if you’re smart it can be easy to find cut-price accommodation, thanks to a glut of rental properties currently flooding onto the market.

This mass availability of rental property is great news for anyone who wants to find a short-term place to stay – and it’s come about because of Britain’s economic downturn. House prices have plummeted and sales are at their most sluggish for years, with popular buy-to-let locations suffering the most.

One of the most obvious victims of the downturn is Canary Wharf, which benefited greatly in the boom as banks and multinationals moved in. The area became a magnet for developers and a rash of expensive new-build apartments appeared, many of which were bought as investments.

But Docklands is now a showcase for what happens when the economy goes wrong. Large numbers of owners can’t sell their properties for a profit and are simultaneously being squeezed financially by falling salaries or job losses. As a result, local estate agents are seeing a marked increase in the number of owners desperate to rent their stylish Canary Wharf pads. The resultant glut is pushing rates down by between 10 and 30 per cent on last year and, for the first time in a decade, tenants rather than landlords are dictating the terms.

“The past year has been our best ever in terms of lettings,” says Vanessa Evett of Knight Frank’s Canary Wharf rentals office. “But a huge number of properties have come onto the market since the credit crunch started and rents have dropped by as much as 31 per cent over the past 12 months.”

Evett says many people have become what the industry refers to as ‘false landlords’. They are owners who wouldn’t normally consider renting but are doing so to cover their mortgage as they wait for the sales market to pick up. “We’ve gone from having about 140 rental properties on our books at any one time to 300,” she explains.

According to Evett, 75 per cent of Knight Frank tenants are European business people, mainly from Germany, Italy and France, with a smattering of Chinese and US clients. They tend to be young professionals in the 20 to 35-year-old demographic and many are on relocation contracts, short-term placements or internships with multinationals in Canary Wharf.

“Companies are increasingly downsizing their HR departments, so whereas corporate lets used to be big business, with companies taking control of where employees would stay, they’re now giving staff a budget and expect them to arrange their own accommodation.” This, says Evett, has made employees more focused on cost than they used to be. “People tend to stick to their budget – they don’t top it up as they may have done previously.”

Most tenants are looking for two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments and can now expect to pay from £50 (€60) to £100 (€120) less per week than a year or two ago. Apartments near central Canary Wharf that would have rented in 2008 for £300-£350 (€350-€405) per week, for example, will now tend to go for £250-£300 (€290-€350), while properties that cost £500 (€580) per week have come down to about £400 (€460).

Everything is negotiable at the moment, according to Angus Edy of local lettings agency Movello. “At the end of a tenancy period rents used to go up by about five to seven per cent. Now tenants are able to negotiate rents down,” he says, “and there’s a bigger turnover of tenants than in previous years too. Landlords may not want to negotiate but they’re having to.”

Edy says the lower prices mean people are also now considering areas that they may not have been able to afford previously. “People are tending to move into central Canary Wharf and it’s now the outlying locations that are suffering.”

He believes companies looking to save money could quite easily capitalise on short-term rental opportunities. “It definitely could be cost effective to rent and we have seen a dramatic increase in companies looking at short-term lets as a way of saving on hotel bills.”

One of Edy’s clients regularly brings staff to the UK from India in order to train them and is currently renting apartments to reduce its costs. “Apartments aren’t just cost-effective at the moment,” he adds, “they are more flexible and spacious than hotel rooms too.”

Many of Canary Wharf’s most sought-after addresses include iconic buildings, such as the Pan Peninsula and the soon-to-be-completed Landmark Tower, which may have been out of reach to many prospective tenants a few years ago. Agents are also reporting increased enquiries about properties in Millennium Harbour, Canary Riverside and West India Quay.

High-end developments are proving more attractive to overseas renters because they not only offer easy access to Canary Wharf’s business district, as well as central London, but also provide a range of hotel-style facilities. These can include room service and a concierge, bars, gyms and, in the case of Pan Peninsula, even a private cinema and business centre.

However, Vanessa Evett says many short-term rental properties don’t supply televisions or stereos, and won’t necessarily have phone or internet connections in place. So you need to check that an apartment offers the right set up for your needs before you sign a contract.

Evett is always surprised how few business people request properties with managed services, such as linen changing and cleaning. She says these contracts are invaluable if you’re only flying into the city a couple of days a week. “Having a management agreement also means you won’t need to deal with the landlord to get anything fixed or changed,” she explains.

For anyone wanting to engage a property as a short-term let, the main barrier is generally the traditional 12-month lease, which usually has a contractual break at six months for a tenant to give notice. However, even these rules are changing as tenants take the upper hand.

“There has been so much new build in Canary Wharf that the market has become saturated with choice,” says Dawn Sandoval of Alan Selby & Partners, “so there has been a significant drop in rents. We have tenants who want to renegotiate contracts every six months, if not earlier, instead of waiting for the 12-month leases to end, as they used to. Some are even moving every six months to get a better place at a lower price.”

Sandoval has many landlords whom she claims are “desperate”, and prepared to drop rents by as much as £75 (€85) per week to get tenants. “Though some rents in popular buildings were possibly too high to start with,” she adds.

Her company still has some business from corporate lets, but she admits that there is less than during the boom. “So anyone looking for a short-term let could well get a good deal now,” she says. Sandoval also has corporate clients who are buying several flats at knock down prices in order to use them for staff residences, therefore cutting out hotels altogether.

However, Sandoval advises anyone thinking of renting to keep an eye on the market. “When the situation stabilises and sales pick up you will see a rise in rents. So if you’re considering renting and you think you might need the property for a long period you might be better off signing a 12-month contract. You lose flexibility but you’ll get lower rates for that year, whatever happens with the economy.”

WAPPING

This riverside enclave is popular because of its convenient location, which offers easy access to both central and southeast London. Local attractions include St Katherine’s Dock, with its swanky marina, and historic Tower Bridge and its nearby bars and restaurants. Wapping has a tube station and Tower Hill and Limehouse DLR stations are also just a short walk away.

Agents report that Wapping has one of the longest tenancy periods in London, due to the area’s popularity, which means there’s often a shortage of accommodation. Luckily there are plenty of glamorous waterfront developments vying for renters’ attention, including warehouse conversions and stylish new builds.

Average rents on a one-bedroom flat range from £300 (€350) to £500 (€590) per week, depending on proximity to the river. One of the most popular places to live right now is New Crane Wharf, a character conversion project offering spacious and high-spec interiors. Rents start from £300 (€350) per week.

ROYAL DOCKS

Not only is Royal Docks on City Airport’s doorstep, DLR connections will get you to Canary Wharf in 10 minutes and into central London in about 20. Once a run-down wharf, the Royal Docks has undergone complete renovation and boasts the Excel exhibition and conference centre plus a wide range of accommodation suitable for short-term renting.

Properties don’t tend to be as glamorous as the high-rise towers of Canary Wharf but many still have good facilities and services, and are often cheaper to rent. Towards Barrier Park it’s possible to find two-bedroom properties at under £250 (€295) per week, rising to £500 (€590) per week nearer to the Excel Centre, depending on the property and length of rental period.

One of the best addresses here is the Capital East development, right next door to Excel. Apartments offer amazing views over the docks and Canary Wharf and there’s a concierge service and gym. Short-term lets start at £400 (€470) per week for a one-bedroom property.

WORDS BY LAURA LATHAM

ANTWERP

DIAMONDS TO SHINE AGAIN

THE RECESSION HAS HIT THE DIAMOND trade hard, but an innovative scheme from Antwerp is being tipped to boost liquidity in the industry, as Philip Claes of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) explains.

“The only guarantee a diamond dealer can offer are his receivables – what other clients owe him,” he says. “But at the moment there are questions about those receivables, so banks have been reluctant to lend. We’ve been working with the banks in Antwerp to solve this problem, and we saw that a diamond dealer has other guarantees to offer, namely his stocks.”

Under the new plans, dealers would be able to have their stock independently valued by the AWDC and could use it as security for borrowing. The Belgian banks are on board and have promised to make €1bn (£850m) of financing available on two conditions. First, the Belgian Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission must give its blessing to the new arrangement. And second, the Flemish government must give a guarantee of €200m (£170m) to the banks to cover them against a further collapse of the market.

“It’s bad now, but we hope that by the end of 2010 we’ll be back at the same level we had at the end of 2008,” says Claes. “The future will tell if we’re right or wrong.”

FACELIFT

IN MAY 2009 VLM AIRLINES ANNOUNCED THAT IT WAS PLANNING A PROCESS OF RE-BRANDING TO INTRODUCE the CityJet identity across the entire network. That process is now well under way, and one of the clearest changes took place at the end of August, when the first of our Fokker 50 aircraft received a facelift to incorporate the CityJet colours and logo. In the course of the coming months the rest of the fleet will also receive the new CityJet livery, so watch out for our new-look aircraft as you’re on your travels.

NEW GENERAL MANAGERS TAKE THE CITYJET REINS

VINCENT COSTE HAS BEEN APPOINTED GENERAL Manager Air France KLM in Belgium and Luxembourg. Coste joined Air France in 1992 and after several management positions he moved to Milan in 2006 to become Director of Sales Air France KLM Italy.

While there he managed a team of 80 in a joint Air France KLM organisation, and set up the joint venture with Delta Air Lines.

He has a master’s degree from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Bordeaux and an MBA from the world-renowned Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) in Fontainebleau. Meanwhile, Henri Hourcade has been appointed Air France KLM General Manager UK and Ireland, taking over the position from Christine Ourmières, who is now to become Air France KLM General Manager in the USA, based in New York. Henri Hourcade joins Air France KLM UK and Ireland from Air France’s head office in Paris, where he held the position of Vice President Corporate and Distribution for the Air France KLM Group since July 2008. Henri began his career at Air France in 1988 as Deputy Manager for the Martinique, Southern Caribbean region and has held several other roles, including IT and Training Logistic Manager, Commercial Director for Scandinavia and Finland and Manager of Revenue Management Pricing for Europe and France. Henri holds a Masters from French business school, Essec.

92.5% PUNCTUALITY FIGURES

July 2009 was another great month for on-time performance, with 92.5% of all flights arriving on time when departing from London City to all destinations on our network.

LONDON IRISH LOOKING GOOD FOR NEW SEASON

LONDON IRISH, THE CITYJET-SPONSORED RUGBY team that reached the final of last season’s Guinness Premiership, are in good shape as they aim to build on that success in the 2009/10 season starting in September.

The Exiles, who play at the spectacular Madejski Stadium in Reading, the largest club venue in the Guinness Premiership, were also boosted in the off-season with the announcement that CityJet was renewing its sponsorship for another year. Having returned from a training camp in Northern Italy, the squad is now preparing for a bumper season that will see the club return to Heineken Cup action after a year’s absence.

And they couldn’t have asked for a better draw in Europe’s premier club rugby tournament. London Irish will line up against the current champions Leinster, first in Dublin in October and then in the return leg in Reading in February, which is expected to pull a capacity crowd. Also in the pool are Welsh giants the Scarlets and French outfit Brive, who signed several England internationals over the summer.

Irish also made some significant signings in the off-season, with seven senior players joining the club. Three of them are fly halves, including the exciting 23-year-old Ryan Lamb, who arrives after making a promising start to his career at Gloucester. Four other players have also made the step up from the Academy.

As Head Coach Toby Booth points out: “Recruitment is the most important element in maintaining success. We have continued to adopt a quality rather than a quantity approach as well as developing and rewarding our home-grown talent.”

The players moving up to the senior squad are prop Alex Corbisiero, who has recently been called up to the England Saxons squad, and Adam Thompstone, Jonathon Fisher and Charlie Gower.

After a gruelling pre-season schedule, which included matches against Munster in Cork and Leinster in Dublin, London Irish begin their Guinness Premiership campaign at the London double header at Twickenham on 5 September against Saracens, followed by a home match against Gloucester on 13 September.

LONDON IS OUR LOUNGE

AIR TRAVEL TO AND FROM LONDON HAS, FOR A LONG TIME, BEEN DEFINED and dominated by what’s familiar. BAA’s airports, the national carriers, and the low cost carriers have shaped our assumption of what air travel is. The journeys and experiences of both the airlines and the airports have become default behaviour, rather than an active choice. However, travel from London City Airport is London’s best kept secret. At CityJet we want to jolt London’s consumers out of this entrenched travel behaviour and open their eyes to another way, which meets all their needs.

So how to disrupt the conventional wisdom? We need to be visible, confident and relevant, which is why we developed a creative strategy around what we know is the key driver of most travellers’ choice – the proximity of London City Airport.

Because CityJet fly from the only airport that’s actually in London, it’s as if the whole of London is one big departure lounge. It’s not about just flying from London; it really is as if you were already at the airport. Just imagine – Oxford Street is your duty free. There are thousands of restaurants and cafes to choose from. You can even catch a movie from departures. London is our departure lounge.

Confident and full of attitude, this idea invites you to experience the benefit of flying with CityJet from London City Airport. It immediately identifies CityJet as flying from somewhere closer than you think:

If you’re eating in Hoxton, you’re closer than you think – only 38 minutes away from your gate.

If you’re walking back from a meeting through Regent’s Park, you’re closer than you think – only 48 minutes from departure.

Overall, the idea allows us to own London as only CityJet really can, and gives massive standout in an overcrowded marketplace, while maintaining a classy, confident exterior pose.

Finally, the idea can also be tailored to more time-based, site-specific messaging. For example, at Oxford Circus, servicing the media, retail and banking community, we can challenge people’s default assumptions by making an explicit comparison between total time to take off at Heathrow versus London City Airport.

The campaign will be seen across London and uses a mixture of large format poster sites focusing on the main arterial routes in and out of London (car and train). We’ll have a heavy presence on the underground, including an installation at Bank, and in the press. We’ll even have the first ever live departures board at Canary Wharf!

We are also launching the brand new cityjet.com at the same time, to deliver a richer overall brand experience through applications (journey planners, mobile check-in) and an online departure lounge for those passengers who want more.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOPS 90%

THE RESULTS OF OUR FLY TO DELIGHT SURVEY 2009 CLEARLY INDICATE THAT BOTH CITYJET AND VLM Airlines remain very popular for business travellers. More than 1,800 customers took part in the two-month Fly to Delight survey, and whilst over 65% of passengers told us they were satisfied with the service we provide, more than 25% said they are delighted, leading to overall satisfaction ratings that exceed an incredible 90%. A delight level above 25% for both CityJet and VLM Airlines is a remarkable achievement – within other large companies, the score lies between 10% and 15%.

But we’re not resting on our laurels – the survey also gives us detailed information on the sort of improvements we can still make to our service and product offerings to make sure that in the future even more passengers are delighted. We take all the feedback we receive very seriously, and commit ourselves to taking the necessary action to enhance areas that require improvement.

Around 72% of passengers responding to the survey said they travel for business, while leisure travellers account for approximately a quarter of journeys. The main reason that passengers choose CityJet are the convenience of its London City hub, the location of its other route airports, and its time-saving benefits such as short check-in times, alongside fast boarding and disembarkation.

Other findings from the survey show that over 30% of passengers make travel arrangements within seven days of the date of departure, and over 55% of trips are for two nights or less.

CityJet passengers also express a clear preference for German cars, with over 40% driving Mercedes Benz, BMWs, Audis or VWs. More than 65% work in middle management or higher.

Looking at the delight levels more specifically, our customers have expressed the most delight about the cabin crew – yet more praise for that element of our service. As well as CityJet winning the ERA Silver Airline of the Year award 2008/09, VLM Airlines won the Skytrax Award for ‘Best Cabin Staff Western Europe’ last year, providing further proof that our cabin crew are doing an excellent job in offering customers an impeccable onboard service.

BUSINESS CALENDAR

10-15 SEPTEMBER
IBC 2009 RAI, AMSTERDAM
www.IBC.ORG
“The leading international forum for the electronic media industry, attracting more than 1,000 exhibitors from more than 130 countries. It combines a highly respected and peer reviewed conference, an exhibition that demonstrates state of the art media technology and unrivalled networking opportunities.”

3 OCTOBER
IX EXPO 09 EXCEL CENTRE, LONDON
www.THEINFORMATIONEXCHANGE.COM/IXEXPO
“A one-day conference and exhibition specifically designed to help private investors profit from the stock market. Don’t miss your opportunity to learn how to trade the markets and discover what the future holds for investors – this entertaining conference showcases leading speakers and instructors, and also includes an exhibition of service provider companies and investment opportunities.”

22-24 OCTOBER

THE PROPERTY INVESTOR SHOW AND OPP LIVE EXCEL CENTRE, LONDON
www.PROPERTYINVESTOR.CO.UK/LONDON
“The major new property event of 2009, which will see Europe’s two premier property expos come together to create ‘the complete property experience’. Featuring 200 exhibitors and over 100 seminars, debates and workshops, it’s the ‘must attend’ event for property professionals and investors serious about making money from property investment.”  

28-29 OCTOBER
BUSINESS NORTH WEST EXHIBITION 2009 MANCHESTER CENTRAL, MANCHESTER
www.BUSINESSNORTHWEST.CO.UK
“Now in its fourth successful year, Business North West is designed for owners, directors and entrepreneurs running small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). A central point for gaining advice, information and inspiration.”

BRAIN POWER

ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART GRADUATE MIN-KYU Choi has rethought the humble plug, creating an elegant design that could make life easier for anyone whose work takes them on the road. Just 10mm wide when folded, the plug’s live pins swivel through 90° and the plastic sides fold out to create a standard plug face. The London-based South Korean is currently working on the testing necessary to take his design into production, but warns that the finished article won’t be ready for at least a year. Inspired by the ultra-thin MacBook Air, the plug’s Mac-friendly aesthetics will surely guarantee sales when it does hit the shelves. www.minkyu.co.uk

DIGITAL PUBLISHING

CLICK TO FLICK

Extend your marketing reach, learn more about your customers and make the most of your printed material.

DIGITAL PUBLISHING IS GROWING FAST, AS BUSINESSES COME TO SEE THE BENEFITS OF publishing their brochures, catalogues, magazines and other printed material online as well as in the real world (see Velocity’s own emag at www.ink-live.com). With new technologies, such as e-readers and touchscreen tablets evolving all the time, the market looks set to become even larger. But where is it heading? We spoke to Astrid Sandoval, vice president sales and business development for digital publisher Issuu, and asked what’s so special about digital publishing?

“Unlike the PDFs of the past, today’s digital publications are beautiful interactive documents that capture the essence of print in a whole new format. Issuu is proud to have been the first to introduce flip-technology to the masses in 2007, allowing readers to flick through pages in one seamless action without having to download a file or install any software. Today, the digital edition has become a staple for any content creating company, which is pretty much every company that creates marketing material.

“These digital publications have the power not only to track readers but also to monitor their behaviour. Advanced statistics, such as knowing who is reading a document and how deep they are doing so, can help publishers improve their content, optimise their search presence, and target their marketing campaigns. For the first time, publishers have a direct link to their readers – a digital handshake.

“This is revolutionary for many reasons, which I’ll highlight with an example. The Bantam Dell division of Random House, the world’s largest English-language general trade book publisher, chose to publish three advance excerpts of its new book Faefever as an Issuu digital publication. The novel, written by New York Times bestseller Karen Marie Moning, was released digitally one chapter at a time each week. Chapter one alone generated over 100,000 views, including many reader comments. This simple promotion provided the publisher with a whole new set of reader statistics and data that could then be used to make more precise decisions on print runs, distribution channels, and pricing. Not to mention that the readers were thrilled.

“But digital publications aren’t just transforming publishing. Würth UK, the world’s number one supplier to the automotive trade, uses Issuu digital editions for its brochures, creating more than 150,000 views in just a couple of months of posting. Customers can share and embed the brochures on their own websites, extending Würth’s presence among its strongest and most loyal client base. And since links inside the brochures are live, customers are directed back to purchase every step of the way. With today’s marketing budgets drying up and everyone’s focus on ROI, digital publications are a simple and inexpensive solution to reach new customers and reduce the cost of acquisition.

“So, where are we headed? We’re seeing an array of cool new possibilities, such as rich-media documents with video, sound, and user-generated content. Customization features are allowing companies to further brand their manuals, brochures, and reports on the web and across mobile networks. And with improved search capabilities, these documents are available immediately. At Issuu we believe digital publications can improve online reader experience and lead to greater social interaction among published content. And best of all, you don’t have to be tech savvy to use them.” www.issuu.com

FINANCE

THE ECONOMY OF EMOTIONS

Investments should be made for clear, rational reasons, but even professional investors can end up allowing their emotions to take over.

IN THEORY, INVESTORS HAVE AN EASY JOB. MAKING MONEY IS SIMPLE IF YOU STICK TO THE OLDEST and most valuable trick in the book: make sure you always buy low and sell high. For centuries, bankers and investors have been trying to do exactly that, consulting economists, equity analysts and financial experts in an attempt to track down that elusive profit.

But unfortunately even the best advice can lead investors astray. There’s always an unforeseen event waiting to throw a spanner in the works, as seen with the short squeeze last year that sent shares in Volkswagen rocketing to stratospheric levels. Hedge fund managers who thought it appropriate to short shares of the German car manufacturer at €200 (£170) saw their reputation seriously damaged, as they were forced to cover their shorts with a share price rocketing towards €1,000 (£850).

Financial markets tend to swing continuously between greed and fear as most investors are captured by their contradictory wishes to book the highest possible returns without actually running the risk of losing money. That’s why we witness the euphoria of economic bubbles, followed by periods of doom and gloom in which share prices go lower each day, despite being undervalued, simply because there seem to be 10 sellers for every brave investor who wants to buy.

No wonder, then, that over the past couple of decades the fields of behavioural economics and behavioural finance have emerged, driven by the desire to understand how our emotions influence our behaviour as investors and consumers. At the simplest level, these studies attempt to understand why people continue to buy things when they are far too expensive, and why they refuse to buy when markets are – at least from a rational perspective – amazingly cheap. Through experiments and observations over several years, behavioural finance and economics has explained what most people have known for a long time – we simply don’t always make decisions on a rational basis.

So it follows that a successful investor not only needs to do his homework by collecting and analysing as much information as possible, he also needs to make an accurate prediction of people’s behaviour, whether it is investors’ sentiment or consumers’ confidence. He would ideally combine his understanding of the economy and financial markets with the knowledge and experience of a good psychologist, but since such combinations are extremely rare, I expect most investors will continue, every so often, to be caught out by the financial markets.

SOCIAL NETWORKING

JOIN THE HUB

THEY HAVE MILLIONS OF USERS AND A HUGE media profile, but precious few social networks have figured out how to convert those assets into cold, hard cash. It’s a problem that has caused many to pour scorn on the rapid rise of these 21st century upstarts, but one company thinks it has found a way to make the network pay.

Hub Culture has been around since 2002, beginning as a site that helped people to arrange events and morphing over the years into what we’d recognise today as a social network. It still places a strong emphasis on arranging real world events, and it’s that bridging of the online and the real that allows Hub Culture to make money.

“We’re the first network to move from the online world into the physical,” says founder and creative director Stan Stalnaker, referring to his network’s ‘pavilions’. These are club spaces that have appeared in cities all over the world, normally to coincide with a major event, such as the Cannes Film Festival. Users pay £29 (€33) per month for access to all the pavilions, and to the social network built around them. The first permanent pavilion opened recently off London’s Carnaby Street and more permanent locations are planned. But the physical locations are only part of the story.

Once inside the network, users can set up groups to organise events, collaborate on projects and otherwise work together. They can buy and sell products and services using the network’s own ‘ven’ currency (100 ven is currently £6 or €7) or they can ask other users for help, advice and recommendations on practically any subject.

It’s a network, a marketplace and a physical meeting place, and it’s all funded by the members, with no reliance on the notoriously fickle world of advertising. Hub Culture currently has 20,000 members worldwide, but with more joining every day, watch out for this innovative social network hitting the real world near you soon. www.hubculture.com

Jo Carris is energy and waste manager for The Olympic Delivery Authority, and is tasked with ensuring that London’s Games are the greenest yet.

HOW WILL THE OLYMPIC PARK BE GREEN?
We’ve got a target for 90 per cent recovery and recycling of our construction waste, which is huge. Industry normally recycles between 50 and 80 per cent of waste, but we’ve got an effective strategy here. All our contractors separate their waste at source, so they’ve got bins for metal, plastic, wood and concrete. Then it’s taken to an on-site waste consolidation centre, compacted down and sent away by barge to be recycled.

We’ve also got a target to reduce our carbon emissions from the built environment by 50 per cent against a 2006 baseline. We’re doing that by constructing energy-efficient buildings, and we’ve got a unique combined heat and power system that supplies energy efficiently. We’ve also got a biomass boiler, and a large-scale wind turbine, which is our big renewable energy beacon.

IS THE TURBINE SYMBOLIC OR WILL IT REALLY GENERATE ENERGY FOR THE GAMES?
It’s a two-megawatt wind turbine, which you would normally find in a rural environment. It’s a massive structure – the blades are 40m long. We feel it represents what we’re trying to do here – pushing sustainability and innovation in the built environment.

But two megawatts is also significant. We’ve got a renewable energy target of 20 per cent renewable energy on the park, and the turbine is able to provide a large proportion of that – about 12 per cent of our total renewable energy target.

WHAT’S THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING SUSTAINABILITY AT THE GAMES?
The recession is one to be aware of because traditionally, if there are cost pressures on a project, the sustainability elements can often be the first thing that will be cut.

But we’ve got good systems and processes in place to make sure that our projects are delivering on their targets. We track and rate them every month, and so far we’re on course.