Latest news with #JohnGrant
Arabian Business
27-05-2025
- Business
- Arabian Business
Middle East office fit-out costs rise as competition for labour intensifies: Report
Office fit-out costs in the Middle East remain below those of European capitals despite rising prices driven by competition for labour and materials, according to Turner & Townsend's Global Occupier Fit-Out Report 2025. The research analysed fit-out costs across 50 locations worldwide and found that high-specification office fit-outs in Riyadh cost $3,864 per square metre, compared to $3,499 per square metre in Dubai and Abu Dhabi – a difference of more than $350 per square metre. 'We're seeing a shift in the Middle East. Talent, across all levels, continues to relocate to KSA and the knock-on-effect is that the UAE is now feeling the pinch. This, mirrored by labour shortages, is pushing up wages and preliminary costs for skilled fit-out contractors. In Dubai, the supply of commercial office space is tight. Clients are finding it tough to meet 'return to office' demands and are choosing to refurbish their existing spaces, instead of relocating, to create room for growth. Conversely in KSA, there's ample office stock, which has become a magnet for new occupiers including legal and technology companies,' John Grant, Director, Occupier Lead, Middle East, at Turner & Townsend said. Middle East fit-out costs rise Giga programmes across the Middle East are driving up competition and costs, with cities like Riyadh benefiting from an influx of talent relocating to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Middle East fit-out market is experiencing demand, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Cities including Riyadh, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi are seeing investment in commercial office space with emphasis on technology integration and sustainability-led fit-outs. Competition for talent to execute programmes and projects is pushing up labour costs, particularly in construction and technology sectors. There is demand for project management, engineering, and IT/AV integration skills. The shift towards hybrid working, office space flexibility, and portfolio consolidation is reshaping fit-out decisions and real estate strategy.
Daily Record
16-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Ayrshire sports team making history by representing Scotland on the world stage
Ayrshire FootGolf Club are the current national champions - and are set to take on the best in the world this weekend An Ayrshire sports team will make history this weekend by becoming the first to represent Scotland on the world stage. Scottish Champions Ayrshire FootGolf Club are competing in the World Club Trophy in France, where they will face off against the French and Swiss champions. The side, who play their home games at Kilmarnock's Caprington Community Golf Club, will also play against a Hungarian side featuring the men's World Champion in the group stage. The event takes place at Golf Club Domaine de Champlong, around 250 miles south of Paris, on Saturday and Sunday. Their first match is against Servette, the champions of Switzerland, then they will play Hungarian side Kastélydombi - featuring 2023 Men's World Champion Bacskai Bence. The last match is against French side Gessien, and should Ayrshire get through the group stage, they will play a play-off match against either Slovakian champions Nitra, French side Macon, Turkish team Ankara, or Hungarian champions Forest Hills. Games are over 18 holes and are a mixture of singles and pairs matchplays, meaning the player who completes a hole in the least number of shots wins that hole and gains a point. Should they triumph in the play-off, they will book their place in the finals of the competition, which take place in Devon, England, in August, and will feature teams from other continents across the globe. A squad of seven from the 35-strong team was picked to make the journey to the town of Roanne, near Lyon, for the competition. The team is made of up of captain John Grant and vice-captain Daniel Mains, Michael Kelly and serial Scotland internationalists Michael Eardley, Gavin Craig, David Quigley and Rory Cassidy, who all represented Scotland at the 2023 FootGolf World Cup in Orlando, Florida, with Gavin, Michael and Rory also playing for Scotland at FootGolf European Championships in Turkey last year.
Otago Daily Times
25-04-2025
- Otago Daily Times
DIY course a world-beater
When Queenstown Golf Club president John Grant's wife June teed off to officially open the Kelvin Heights course 50 years ago this month, it marked the completion of arguably the resort's biggest DIY project. Their son Bill, the club's longest-serving member, joining in 1958, says his dad and fellow Skyline director Hylton Hensman had been at a board meeting at Skyline's Bob's Peak gondola complex. "Hylton was looking out the window and he said to dad, 'that [peninsula] would be a great place to put a golf course, wouldn't it?' "And that's how it all started." In 1968, visiting English course designer Commander John Harris examined four sites for an 18-holer — the club already had a nine-holer in Frankton — and concluded Kelvin Peninsula, "from as thorough an inspection as the jungle permitted ... if it is possible to use this area for golf, I can say that it will become one of the most scenic golf courses in the world". Bill says Harris "wanted, like, $10,000 to design the course, and they couldn't afford it". Instead, Hensman designed the course using a contour map. Building the course, Bill notes, was "a huge mission because of the terrain we were working with". "The bracken and scrub was cleared and rocks were removed and dumped in the deep gullies before they were levelled and grassed," George Singleton's history of the peninsula states. Some 50 to 60 truckloads of soil, for example, were dumped on top of beach gravel on the fifth fairway. John Grant and Hensman did a lot of the work themselves, providing their own machinery, and Bill helped, between farming duties, for the princely sum of $1 an hour initially. In one weekend, trucks from all over town carted gravel for the base of all the greens. Many locals also cleared stones from fairways as construction neared completion. According to a budget in 1969, the course build was estimated to cost $102,500, but by 1975 Mountain Scene reported it had cost about $300,000. Club members raised about $50,000 in debentures, council gave $10,000 over five years and neighbour Frank Mee gifted a section which sold for $10,000. To put it in perspective, club GM Andrew Bell says that $102,500 is $1.6million today, "which is one fairway at [Queenstown's] Jack's Point". Bill: "One of the pubs wanted to give us $10,000 and take out naming rights but they said 'no'." Bell says once the course opened the committee each month had a lucky draw to see whose debenture got paid — "John Grant got drawn out and he said, 'pay someone else"'. The club leases the course off council which was vested the land by the Crown in 1929. "The club, as custodians, has turned it into probably one of the best parks in New Zealand. "We are actually the biggest park in Queenstown, and as Queenstown gets bigger and we want green space, this is one of the few protected green space areas." And, just as the founders foresaw, it's become comfortably one of the resort's leading visitor attractions. "Unlike an Auckland course that might be doing 70,000 rounds because they've got warm weather all year, we're sort of 30,000 to 35,000 rounds — 50/50 split between visitors and members."
Axios
04-04-2025
- Business
- Axios
Canadians' demand for U.S., Florida travel is cratering
Canadians' desire to visit the U.S. is absolutely tanking, new data suggests. Why it matters: President Trump's tariffs and insistence that Canada should become the 51st American state is fueling a remarkable rally-round-the-flag effect. Canadian patriotism is skyrocketing alongside disdain for all things American throughout the Great White North. It especially matters in tourism-dependent Florida, which is among the top U.S. destinations for Canadian travelers. The big picture: Advance bookings for Canada-U.S. flights in April-September are down over 70% compared to this time last year, per aviation data firm OAG. "This sharp drop suggests that travelers are holding off on making reservations, likely due to ongoing uncertainty surrounding the broader trade dispute," writes OAG chief analyst John Grant. Airlines are also reducing transborder capacity — a strong signal that they, too, are seeing (or at least predicting) less demand. Threat level: Just a 10% drop in Canadian travel could lead to $2.1 billion in lost spending and 14,000 jobs cut, per the U.S. Travel Association. Zoom in: Carriers with flights between Tampa International Airport and Canadian cities cut seat capacity by 12% this month from what officials projected in January, the Tampa Bay Times reported this week. Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International had even bigger reductions, per the Times. What they're saying:"Americans might not realize the depth and intensity of the anger up here," said Toronto resident Larry Milson, one of many Canadians who wrote to Times columnist Graham Brink back in February. "I love Dunedin, but I'm not going there this year and maybe never again." The intrigue: Canadians were a target market for Visit St. Pete-Clearwater 's seasonal tourism campaign as the agency sought to attract visitors after hurricanes Helene and Milton. Revenue from Pinellas County's tax on hotel rooms and short-term rentals was the highest it's ever been for December and January when compared to the same months in previous years, spokesperson Jason Latimer told Axios. Yes, but: Collection data isn't yet available for February and March, so the full picture of whether U.S.-Canada relations are impacting local tourism revenue remains to be seen. By the numbers: Canadians make up about 3% of Pinellas' visitors each year, Latimer said.
Axios
31-03-2025
- Business
- Axios
Canadians' demand for U.S. travel is cratering
Canadians' desire to visit the U.S. is absolutely tanking, new data suggests. Why it matters: President Trump's tariffs and insistence that Canada should become the 51st American state is fueling a remarkable rally-round-the-flag effect. Canadian patriotism is skyrocketing alongside disdain for all things American throughout the Great White North. Driving the news: Advance bookings for Canada-U.S. flights in April-September are down over 70% compared to this time last year, per aviation data firm OAG. "This sharp drop suggests that travelers are holding off on making reservations, likely due to ongoing uncertainty surrounding the broader trade dispute," writes OAG chief analyst John Grant. Airlines are also reducing transborder capacity — a strong signal that they, too, are seeing (or at least predicting) less demand. Yes, but: At least one airline is calling OAG's data into question. The numbers are "not reflective of Air Canada's booking patterns, nor the state of the market, based on all information sources available to us," an Air Canada spokesperson told travel news site The Points Guy (TPG). Yet the spokesperson confirmed there's been a "softening" in demand, and the airline has trimmed capacity accordingly. Threat level: A mere 10% drop in Canadian visitors could cost U.S. businesses as much as $2.1 billion in revenue, TPG notes. The big picture: Airline stocks are suffering mightily amid economic uncertainty and the prospect of continued trade wars. Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines are all down around 30-40% so far this year. Several major airlines, including Delta and American, previously warned of soft first quarters amid weakening consumer demand.
