{"id":18763,"date":"2026-04-04T09:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T08:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=18763"},"modified":"2026-04-01T11:57:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:57:20","slug":"property-developers-awards-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=18763","title":{"rendered":"Property Developer’s Awards – 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Property<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Property Developer’s Awards:<\/strong> On Tuesday 4th April 2017 I joined protesters on the pavement in front of the Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair where the annual Property Developers Awards were being held .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Property<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Property developers largely operate at one of the greedier ends of capitalism, many clearly putting their profits above everything else. Of course we need to build things, but we need to build the right things rather than those that maximise profits for the developers. Capitalism and the market doesn’t serve the interests of the vast majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Property
Rev Paul Nicolson of Taxpayers Against Poverty speaks<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In London we are clearly not building the right things. The desperate need is for social housing, while developers are working together with local councils to destroy this, demolishing council estates and replacing them with largely private developments with rents and prices beyond the reach of Londoners in desperate need of housing. And landlords are making obscene profits for lousy (sometimes literally) accommodation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Property
Landlord – Parasite!’ poster from Private Renters Unite – many rented properties suffer from damp and are infested by cockroaches etc<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

London councils<\/a> have huge waiting lists for social housing and an estimated 210,000 Londoners are homeless and living in temporary accommodation, including 102,000 homeless children. The situation is now even worse than in 2017 and London councils now spend around \u00a35.5 million per day on homelessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Property<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And yet there are huge developments taking place in London, but so many of these are for student housing and expensive private flats, many bought by overseas investors and remaining empty for all or most of the year. Because these are the kind of developments that make the largest profits for the property developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Property
Activists rush up with a sack of horse manure and tip it on the hotel entrance<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of course gaining planning permission for many developments require them to include social housing and ‘affordable housing’. “Affordable housing is used by governments to mean 80% of market prices – something totally unaffordable for most people – the term true Orwellian doublespeak.<\/em>” But if the developers feel they are not getting enough profit when building they can simply ask for a reduction in these and it gets granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Cockroaches crawl around a poster next to the manure<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/
which a hotel employee tries to sweep up as Ian Bone walks in front with a siren<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has funding of up to \u00a311.7 billion for a ‘London Social and Affordable Homes Programme 2026-36<\/em>‘, but it remains to be seen what this will actually deliver – other of course than profits for the developers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Jane Nicholl confronts a man going into the Property Developer’s Awards who seems amused by being accused of social cleansing<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of course both developers and councils who work with them do so in a political atmosphere which since Thatcher has made providing social housing much more difficult. But some councillors and officers have joined with developers in pursuing their personal fortunes rather than public good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
People from the Property Developer’s Awards came out to have a cigarette and watch the protest<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“The protesters, who included queer coalition the Sexual Avengers and Class War say the developers demolishing social housing and community facilities across London in a process of social cleansing aided by largely Labour councils and led by Savills who sponsor the awards and were nominated for six of them. They are demolishing council estates and replacing most of their social housing with high cost private developments, often largely sold to foreign investors and making obscene profits – and tickets for this event were \u00a3396 per seat.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Ian Bone directs some of those coming to the Property Developer’s Awards, calling them “rich scum”<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The protesters made their views very clear, calling those entering the Award beanfeast ‘scum’ and ‘parasites.’ A small group rushed up to the hotel entrance and dumped a sack of horse manure and coackroaches in front of it. A hotel employees came out with a bin and broom to try to sweep it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Police hold back a woman giving those coming to the awards the finger<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The protest continued with Class War in particular confronting the developers as they arrived and police ensuring they could walk past and enter, holding back the protesters. Some of those entering appeared to be amused by the idea they were ‘social cleansing’ and a small group came out to watch the protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Class War – Our Estates Are Not for Sale – No Developers, Estate Agents, Gentrifiers or Bent Councillors – We Know What You’re Up to – Keep Away!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More pictures at Property Developer’s Awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Flickr<\/a> – Facebook<\/a> – My London Diary<\/a> – Hull Photos<\/a> – Lea Valley<\/a> – Paris<\/a>
London’s Industrial Heritage<\/a> – London Photos<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All photographs on this page are copyright \u00a9 Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Property Developer’s Awards: On Tuesday 4th April 2017 I joined protesters on the pavement in front of the Grosvenor House Hotel in Mayfair where the annual Property Developers Awards were being held . Property developers largely operate at one of the greedier ends of capitalism, many clearly putting their profits above everything else. Of course … Continue reading Property Developer’s Awards – 2017<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[3193,1968,23,12102,5844,11524,7731,3533,1493,338,23916,230,229,4747,23915,17064,17,407,23917,2684,83,628,23914,23913,4108,16,3929,4990,23918,132,3930,22245,7497],"class_list":["post-18763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-own-work","category-political-issues","tag-3193","tag-affordable-housing","tag-aylesbury-estate","tag-aysen-dennis","tag-cockroaches","tag-greed","tag-grosvenor-house-hotel","tag-heygate","tag-homeless","tag-homelessness","tag-horse-manure","tag-ian-bone","tag-jane-nicholl","tag-labour-councils","tag-landlord-parasite","tag-landlords","tag-london","tag-mayfair","tag-orwellian-doublespeak","tag-park-lane","tag-peter-marshall","tag-police","tag-profits-not-people","tag-property-developers-awards","tag-property-developers","tag-protest","tag-rev-paul-nicolson","tag-savills","tag-sexual-avengers","tag-social-housing","tag-taxpayers-against-poverty","tag-temporary-accommodation","tag-temporary-housing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18764,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18763\/revisions\/18764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}