As everyone is surely now aware, commercial property in the UK has been re-rated using 2015 values, with the new values set to be introduced in April 2017. Unfortunately for London this means a fairly dramatic increase in rates for businesses, especially in areas that have seen high rental growth (rents on Bond Street, W1, over the last five years have gone from an average of £950 per sq ft to the record-breaking £2,225 per sq ft at Ralph Lauren’s HQ).

The Ministry of Defence is in the process of setting up a radical new plan to sell underused, unwanted sites in order to gain capital and make investments elsewhere. The largest site currently up for sale is the RAF Fylingdales outer compound in Pickering, North Yorkshire, which is an impressive 1,139 acres in size.

Business Environment Holding, the owner of flexible workspace group BE Offices, is due to see record growth this year, with turnover expected to reach £33m. The flexible office provider has expanded with four additional central London units, equating to 106,000 sq ft of floor space, taking the total to 729,751 sq ft across 17 centres. The new centres are located in Paddington, Victoria, Euston and Canary Wharf and were acquired for £9m.

The City office market has been given a much needed boost post-Brexit, with the news that AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets, have decided to move ahead with the construction of the 1.4m sq ft tower, 22 Bishopsgate.

Nightingale House, Mayfair, has been sold to a private overseas investor through international property firm DTZ. The office building, situated on Curzon Street, is comprised of multi-let offices totalling 40,250 sq ft and has planning permission for a residential-led development to create 32 private residential apartments, parking, and retail and restaurant space.

St James’s Square has long been one of the most sought after locations in London and has achieved the highest ever rents seen for office space in the capital. In April 2015, the Helly Nahmad Gallery signed a 15-year lease to pay £185 per sq ft for the top floor of 7-8 St James’s Square, for a total space of 2,959 sq ft.

The Bribery Act 2010 was introduced in July 2011 and now means that failing to report bribery is a corporate criminal offence. A bribe is defined as the giving, receiving or promising of an advantage – which could be money or a service – in exchange for an illegal act or a breach in trust. A company must provide a framework of training and anti-bribery procedures in order to avoid repercussions from employees who have been involved in the illegal activity.

To many people, pets are their furry children, and the idea of leaving them at home all day is borderline unbearable. This means that the opportunity to bring a fuzzy loved one into the office every day can be a huge benefit for a business to offer their employees. But what are the rules with commercial properties and pets? Similar to the residential market, it all comes down to the landlord.

During the summer of 2015, planning permission was submitted for the tallest building in the City of London, designed to reach a mammoth 309.6m in height. 1 Undershaft will have 73 storeys, with a square footprint, a free viewing gallery for the public at the top and a 150m x 10m public space under the tower. The core of the tower will be to the west in a bid to improve the public experience on the ground. This will create an impressive, red cross-gartered, slender shaft.

Shoreditch is often referred to as ‘Tech City’, and has been consistently unrivalled in it is popularity as a hub for tech companies. However, recent evidence shows that Southbank has had a very large take up from tech firms – such as the huge new acquisition made by HSBC in the Blue Fin Building – and could be set to steal the title from Shoreditch before too long.