News

Figures released by the Campaign to End Child Poverty yesterday paint a bleak picture, particularly for London's children. Our capital, home to some of the most expensive real estate in the world, officially contains the highest child poverty rates in the UK. Ten London constituencies hold this unfortunate accolade. Bethnal Green and Bow, which has 49% children in poverty, is the highest in the country. The leafy environs of well-heeled Wimbledon, Twickenham and Richmond Park each have 15%. That's one child in seven.

Last Thursday, Russell Brand brought the public's attention to the Focus E15 occupation in Newham. A group of women and their babies were living illegally in flats earmarked for demolition after spending cuts meant their hostel was forced to close leaving the women to be rehoused outside of London, away from families and friends.

Things are warming up nicely for LandAid Day 2014, with some great fundraising ideas hitting our inboxes over the past week or so.

On Monday 22 September, officially the last day of summer, I accompanied LandAid chairman Robin Broadhurst on a visit to an unusually sunny North East, to see first-hand the positive changes that LandAid funding has brought to two Newcastle projects. First on the day's agenda was a trip to the YMCA in Walker, where Robin had been invited to officially open a refurbished premises on Welbeck Road.

Here at LandAid Towers we're gearing up for the next big event in the property industry calendar: Construction Rocks. Neatly sandwiched between the London TowerAthlon and LandAid Day, the construction industry's Monsters of Rock will return to Waterloo Vaults on the evening of 9 October.

A massive thank you to each and every one of the 200 property professionals who came, saw and conquered the Broadgate Tower on Friday. The full list of results are now on our special event report, along with all the pictures, videos and tweets - there was some fantastic activity throughout the day on Broadgate plaza. You can also see a video of Rupert Parker hitting his winning distance of 10.3km in the cycle challenge, and daredevil Sam McClary of Estates Gazette completing her abseil.

Are you a UK charity providing support to young people under 25 years old looking to improve your premises within the next 3 years? LandAid's open application round autumn 2014 is now live on our website.

I was delighted to visit Stepney Bank Stables and to join in with the celebrations at the grand opening of the new Learning Centre, a LandAid-funded refurbishment.

I arrived at Newcastle YMCA after an invigorating cycle from Newcastle's Central Station - east along the Tyne and then uphill through Byker to Walker - to find a site in the final stages of construction.