1.
103 Colmore Row
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103 Colmore Row formerly known as National Westminster House is a building on Colmore Row, Birmingham, England. The original building was designed by John Madin and was completed in October 1975 as offices, after National Westminster Bank vacated the building it passed through several ownerships but failed to lease its offices. In 2008 a plan by then owners British Land to demolish the tower and this plan never progressed and the building is now owned by the developer Sterling Property Ventures who successfully applied to have the building demolished and a new tower constructed in 2015. Demolition began in July 2015 and was completed in January 2017, the original building was a 23-storey structure with entrances on Colmore Row and Newhall Street. Designed by John Madin, it is of the Brutalist style, although, the pre-cast concrete panels on the exterior, which were common on commercial buildings of the time, rather than in-situ concrete do make the building differ from classic Brutalism. Designs for the building were first publicised in 1964 and it was remarked that it had drawn inspiration from the University of Pittsburgh by Louis Kahn, the designs showed a two-storey banking hall with a rectangular tower with horizontal ribbon windows. It also showed a service tower facing on to Newhall Street and this design differed significantly to the one that was approved by Birmingham City Council. The scheme also included an office block to the west of the site that was separated from it by an L-shaped courtyard. This office block was reclad and increased to eight storeys in 1996-7 so that it reads as a separate building. The entire scheme was named the Colmore Centre, the first phase of the scheme, which consisted of the construction of the banking hall, was completed in 1969. Construction of the began in 1973 and was completed three years later at a total cost of £3.5 million. The building was constructed so that it was not purely occupied by the National Westminster Bank, however, the building proved difficult to let and was never fully occupied with the only major corporation to take office space in the tower was Eversheds. The building has been vacant since 2003, the banking hall itself has a coffered ceiling of plasterboard covered in gold leaf and Travertine marble floors and skirtings. The exterior is covered in abstract plaster murals and bronze matt ceramic tiles, the lift shaft and two ventilation towers are constructed using brick. The structure was constructed of precast concrete with concrete floor slabs. There are four plant floors at the top of the tower and 100 car park spaces in a basement car park that has been left disused upon the discovery of asbestos. The office block was accessed via a stainless steel surround doorway on Newhall Street, the entrance here appears to be of a later date to the rest of the building. The office block has a core at the centre of each floor, consisting of a large service duct, lavatories, four lift shafts
2.
City of London
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The City of London is a city and county within London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, the City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. Administratively, it one of the 33 local authority districts of Greater London, however, the City of London is not a London borough. The City of London is widely referred to simply as the City and is colloquially known as the Square Mile. Both of these terms are often used as metonyms for the United Kingdoms trading and financial services industries. The name London is now used for a far wider area than just the City. London most often denotes the sprawling London metropolis, or the 32 London boroughs and this wider usage of London is documented as far back as 1888, when the County of London was created. The local authority for the City, namely the City of London Corporation, is unique in the UK and has some unusual responsibilities for a local council and it is also unusual in having responsibilities and ownerships beyond its boundaries. The Corporation is headed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, the current Lord Mayor, as of November 2016, is Andrew Parmley. The City is a business and financial centre. Throughout the 19th century, the City was the primary business centre. London came top in the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index, published in 2008, the insurance industry is focused around the eastern side of the City, around Lloyds building. A secondary financial district exists outside of the City, at Canary Wharf,2.5 miles to the east, the City has a resident population of about 7,000 but over 300,000 people commute to and work there, mainly in the financial services sector. It used to be held that Londinium was first established by merchants as a trading port on the tidal Thames in around 47 AD. However, this date is only supposition, many historians now believe London was founded some time before the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD. They base this notion on evidence provided by both archaeology and Welsh literary legend, archaeologists have claimed that as much as half of the best British Iron Age art and metalwork discovered in Britain has been found in the London area. One of the most prominent examples is the famously horned Waterloo Helmet dredged from the Thames in the early 1860s and now exhibited at the British Museum. Also, according to an ancient Welsh legend, a king named Lud son of Heli substantially enlarged and improved a pre-existing settlement at London which afterwards came to be renamed after him, the same tradition relates how this Lud son of Heli was later buried at Ludgate
3.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
4.
BT Tower
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The BT Tower is a communications tower located in Fitzrovia, London, owned by BT Group. It has been known as the GPO Tower, the Post Office Tower. The main structure is 177 metres high, with a section of aerial rigging bringing the total height to 191 metres. It should not be confused with the BT Centre and its Post Office code was YTOW. Upon completion it overtook the Millbank Tower to become the tallest building in both London and the United Kingdom, titles it held until 1980, when it in turn was overtaken by the NatWest Tower, the tower was commissioned by the General Post Office. Its primary purpose was to support the microwave aerials then used to carry traffic from London to the rest of the country. The taller structure was required to protect the radio links line of sight against some of the buildings in London then in the planning stage. These links were routed via other GPO microwave stations at Harrow Weald, Bagshot, Kelvedon Hatch and Fairseat, the tower was designed by the architects of the Ministry of Public Building and Works, the chief architects were Eric Bedford and G. R. Yeats. Typical for its time, the building is clad in glass. The narrow cylindrical shape was chosen because of the requirements of the communications aerials, initially the first 16 floors were for technical equipment and power. Above that was a 35-metre section for the aerials, and above that were six floors of suites, kitchens, technical equipment. To prevent heat build-up the glass cladding was of a special tint, the construction cost was £2.5 million. In August 1963 there was even a question raised in parliament about the crane, Doctor Reginald Bennett MP asked the Minister of Public Building and Works how, when the crane on the top of the new Post Office tower had fulfilled its purpose, he proposed to remove it. Mr Geoffrey Rippon replied, This is a matter for the contractors, the problem does not have to be solved for about a year but there appears to be no danger of the crane having to be left in situ. The tower was topped out on 15 July 1964 and officially opened by the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson on 8 October 1965, the main contractor was Peter Lind & Co Ltd. The tower was opened to the public on 16 May 1966 by Tony Benn. It made one revolution every 22 minutes, an annual race up the stairs of the tower was established and the first race was won by UCL student Alan Green. Tony Benn also designated the tower a mascot of UCL after lobbying by students, comedian Pat Condell washed dishes in the kitchen for his first job
5.
One Canada Square
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One Canada Square, often referred to simply as Canary Wharf, is a skyscraper in Canary Wharf, London. It was the tallest building in the United Kingdom from 1990 to 2010, standing at 770 feet above ground level, in late 2010, it was surpassed by the Shard. The building is clad with stainless steel rather than natural stone. One of the predominant features of the building is the roof, which contains a flashing aircraft warning light. The distinctive pyramid pinnacle is 800 feet above sea level, One Canada Square is primarily used for offices, though there are some retail units on the lower ground floor. It is a location for offices and as of November 2015 was 100% let. The building is recognised as a London landmark, and it has gained attention through film, television. The original plans for a district on Canary Wharf came from G Ware Travelstead. He proposed three 260 m towers, Travelstead was unable to find the money for his project, so he sold the plans to Olympia & York in 1987. Olympia & York grouped all three towers into a known as Docklands Square, and the main tower was designated DS7 during planning. Docklands Square was later renamed Winston Square before finally being renamed as Canada Square, the architects chosen to design One Canada Square were Cesar Pelli & Associates, Adamson Associates, and Frederick Gibberd Coombes & Partners. They designed the tower with a shape to Three World Financial Center, New York City. The shape was also reminiscent of Big Ben. To comply with air safety regulations, the architects took five floors off the tower. The final height of 824 feet was permitted, otherwise, the developers would have had to dismantle what was necessary to fit the height restriction, the design of the tower received a fair share of criticism. According to Cesar Pelli, the most damaging criticism came from Prince Charles, other criticisms came from former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who said that the building was not quite stunning. Construction on the began in 1988. Lehrer McGovern contracted out most of the work to Balfour Beatty because the Canary Wharf Tower was a building to build
6.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
7.
EC postcode area
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The EC postcode area, also known as the London EC postal area, is a group of postcode districts in central London, England. It includes almost all of the City of London and parts of the London Boroughs of Islington, Camden, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, the area covered is of very high density development. Deliveries for the EC postcode area are made from Mount Pleasant Mail Centre, the current postcode districts are relatively recent divisions of the EC1, EC2, EC3 and EC4 districts established in 1917. Where the districts are used for other than the sorting of mail, such as use as a geographic reference and on street signs. Postcode Address File List of postcode areas in the United Kingdom London postal district Royal Mails Postcode Address File A quick introduction to Royal Mails Postcode Address File
8.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
9.
Richard Seifert
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Richard Seifert was a Swiss-British architect, best known for designing the Centrepoint tower and Tower 42, once the tallest building in the City of London. His eponymously named practice – R. Seifert was born to a Swiss family and he attended the Central Foundation Boys School and subsequently obtained a scholarship to the Bartlett School of Architecture, graduating in 1933. Seifert served in the Royal Engineers during World War II, Seifert is widely recognized for having influenced 1960s and 1970s London architecture. His practice also designed buildings and social housing developments in other major British cities – most notably Birmingham, Manchester. Seifert and his company were responsible for more London buildings than Sir Christopher Wren and designed more than 500 office blocks across the UK and Europe. Following his retirement in 1984, his son John Seifert who had worked with his father for 15 years, took over the practice, which survived in various forms until 2010. John Seifert now practices under the name Sigma Architects in the UK and Seifert Architects LLC abroad – continuing the legacy of hotel, brighton Hilton House, Manchester Media related to Richard Seifert at Wikimedia Commons
10.
Pell Frischmann
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Pell Frischmann is a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy based in London that provides structural and civil engineering, planning, design, and consulting services. Pell Frischmann employs over 1000 staff worldwide with 8 offices across the UK and international offices in India, the original company was founded by Cecil Pell in the 1920s who entered partnership with Wilem W Frischmann in the early 70s forming Pell Frischmann and Partners. In 2003 the umbrella company became Pell Frischmann Consulting Engineers, major subsidiaries of the company include Frischmann Prabhu operating in the Asia-Pacific region and Conseco operating in the Middle East. In April 2015, Pell Frischmann received The Queens Award for International Trade, the original Company was founded in 1926 by Cecil Pell who subsequently formed Pell Frischmann and Partners with Wilem Frischmann in 1972. The Group became a company in 1984. Until the late 1960s the Groups activities centred on Structural Engineering, in October 2015, it was announced that RAG-Stiftung Investment Company had bought a majority in the company. The 385 ft Centre Point tower was constructed between 1963 and 1966 and it is a 32-storey office building above Tottenham Court Road tube station with 292,563 ft² of floor space. Pell Frischmann provided structural engineering design and construction supervision services, the external columns, load-bearing facade and floors are prefabricated off-site from concrete which was highly polished to give it the appearance of marble or granite. Centre Point achieved a building time in the 1960s where a complete floor cycle was achieved in 7 days without the use of exterior scaffolding. Tower 42, London, The 52 storey tall former NatWest Tower office building has a floor area of approximately 750,000 ft². Liverpool One, Liverpool 62 Buckingham Gate, The building was designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli and it was completed in May,2013 with 256,970 ft² of office space. Pell Frischmann was shortlisted in the 2013 ACE awards Building Structures Large category for its work on the groundscraper, blavatnik School of Government, Pell Frischmann is providing civil and structural engineering services for the new build structure. The building includes a 200 person capacity lecture theatre, teaching spaces, st Cross College, extensions to workspaces and accommodation. Pell Frischmann is providing structural engineering services while Hoare Lea are providing mechanical and electrical engineering, the Point, Paddington, London Al Zeina Beach Development, Abu Dhabi, provides 1,200 beach-front apartments
11.
Mowlem
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Mowlem was one of the largest construction and civil engineering companies in the United Kingdom. Carillion bought the firm in 2006, the firm was founded by John Mowlem in 1822, and was continued as a partnership by successive generations of the Mowlem and Burt families, including George Burt, and Sir John Mowlem Burt. The company was awarded a Royal Warrant in 1902 and went public on the London Stock Exchange in 1924, during the Second World War the company was one of the contractors engaged in building the Mulberry harbour units. Mowlem acquired SGB Group, a supplier of scaffolding, in 1986, Mowlem also bought Unit Construction in 1986, giving the firm a substantial presence in private housebuilding - within two years, sales were up to an annual rate of 1,200. The ensuing recession led to losses of over £180m between 1991 and 1993 and banking covenants came under pressure, the housing division was sold to Beazer in 1994. Mowlem was bought by Carillion in February 2006, Mowlem was also the owner and developer of London City Airport completed in 1986. Code Name Mulberry, The Planning Building and Operation of the Normandy Harbours, Mowlem 1822 -1972 - company brochure
12.
Skyscraper
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A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building having multiple floors. When the term was used in the 1880s it described a building of 10 to 20 floors. Mostly designed for office, commercial and residential uses, a skyscraper can also be called a high-rise, for buildings above a height of 300 m, the term supertall can be used, while skyscrapers reaching beyond 600 m are classified as megatall. One common feature of skyscrapers is having a steel framework that supports curtain walls and these curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are suspended from the framework above, rather than resting on load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than of those made of reinforced concrete. Modern skyscrapers walls are not load-bearing, and most skyscrapers are characterized by surface areas of windows made possible by steel frames. However, skyscrapers can have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls with a surface area of windows. Modern skyscrapers often have a structure, and are designed to act like a hollow cylinder to resist wind, seismic. To appear more slender, allow less wind exposure, and transmit more daylight to the ground, many skyscrapers have a design with setbacks, a relatively big building may be considered a skyscraper if it protrudes well above its built environment and changes the overall skyline. The maximum height of structures has progressed historically with building methods and technologies, the Burj Khalifa is currently the tallest building in the world. High-rise buildings are considered shorter than skyscrapers, the first steel-frame skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, Illinois in 1885. Even the scholars making the argument find it to be purely academic and this definition was based on the steel skeleton—as opposed to constructions of load-bearing masonry, which passed their practical limit in 1891 with Chicagos Monadnock Building. What is the characteristic of the tall office building. The force and power of altitude must be in it, the glory and it must be every inch a proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exaltation that from bottom to top it is a unit without a single dissenting line. Some structural engineers define a highrise as any vertical construction for which wind is a significant load factor than earthquake or weight. Note that this criterion fits not only high-rises but some other tall structures, the word skyscraper often carries a connotation of pride and achievement. A loose convention of some in the United States and Europe draws the limit of a skyscraper at 150 m or 490 ft. The tallest building in ancient times was the 146 m Great Pyramid of Giza in ancient Egypt and it was not surpassed in height for thousands of years, the 14th century AD Lincoln Cathedral being conjectured by many to have exceeded it
13.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
14.
Greater London
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London, or Greater London, is a region of England which forms the administrative boundaries of London. It is organised into 33 local government districts, the 32 London boroughs, the Greater London Authority, based in Southwark, is responsible for strategic local government across the region and consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The county of Greater London was created on 1 April 1965 through the London Government Act 1963, administratively, Greater London was first established as a sui generis council area under the Greater London Council between 1963 and 1986. The area was re-established as a region in 1994, and the Greater London Authority formed in 2000, the region covers 1,572 km2 and had a population of 8,174,000 at the 2011 census. In 2012, it had the highest GVA per capita in the United Kingdom at £37,232, the Greater London Built-up Area—used in some national statistics—is a measure of the continuous urban area of London, and therefore includes areas outside of the administrative region. The term Greater London has been and still is used to different areas in governance, statistics, history. In terms of ceremonial counties, London is divided into the small City of London, outside the limited boundaries of the City, a variety of arrangements has governed the wider area since 1855, culminating in the creation of the Greater London administrative area in 1965. The Greater London Arterial Road Programme was devised between 1913 and 1916, one of the larger early forms was the Greater London Planning Region, devised in 1927, which occupied 1,856 square miles and included 9 million people. The LCC pressed for an alteration in its boundaries soon after the end of the First World War, noting that within the Metropolitan, a Royal Commission on London Government was set up to consider the issue. The LCC proposed a vast new area for Greater London, with a boundary somewhere between the Metropolitan Police District and the home counties, protests were made at the possibility of including Windsor, Slough and Eton in the authority. The Commission made its report in 1923, rejecting the LCCs scheme, two minority reports favoured change beyond the amalgamation of smaller urban districts, including both smaller borough councils and a central authority for strategic functions. The London Traffic Act 1924 was a result of the Commission, Greater London originally had a two-tier system of local government, with the Greater London Council sharing power with the City of London Corporation and the 32 London Borough councils. The GLC was abolished in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its functions were devolved to the City Corporation and the London Boroughs, with some functions transferred to central government and joint boards. Greater London was used to form the London region of England in 1994, a referendum held in 1998 established a public will to recreate an upper tier of government to cover the region. The Greater London Authority, London Assembly and the directly elected Mayor of London were created in 2000 by the Greater London Authority Act 1999, in 2000, the outer boundary of the Metropolitan Police District was re-aligned to the Greater London boundary. The 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections were won by Ken Livingstone, the 2008 and 2012 elections were won by Boris Johnson. The 2016 election was won by Sadiq Khan, Greater London continues to include the most closely associated parts of the Greater London Urban Area and their historic buffers. Thus it includes, in five boroughs, significant parts of the Metropolitan Green Belt which protects designated greenfield land in a way to the citys parks
15.
NatWest
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National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a large retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank, since 2000 it has been part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Today it has more than 7.5 million personal customers and 850,000 small business accounts, in Ireland it operates through its Ulster Bank subsidiary. NatWest was named a runner-up for the Best Business Banking Provider category at the British Bank Awards 2016, the banks origins date back to 1658 with the foundation of Smiths Bank of Nottingham. Westminster Foreign Bank was restyled International Westminster Bank in 1973, duncan Stirling, outgoing chairman of Westminster Bank, became first chairman of the fifth largest bank in the world. In 1969 David Robarts, former chairman of National Provincial, assumed Stirlings position, in 1975 it was one of the first London banks to open a representative office in Scotland. It was a member of the Joint Credit Card Company which launched the Access credit card in 1972. The same banks, excluding Lloyds, were responsible for the introduction of the Switch debit card in 1988. Deregulation in the 1980s, culminating in the Big Bang in 1986, County Bank, its merchant banking subsidiary formed in 1965, acquired various stockbroking and jobbing firms to create the investment banking arm County NatWest. The Action Bank advertising campaign spearheaded a new marketing-led approach to business development, in 1982, the Frankfurt office of International Westminster Bank merged with Global Bank AG to form Deutsche Westminster Bank. In 1985, Banco NatWest España was formed and National Westminster Bank SA was incorporated in 1988, taking over the six branches in France. In 1989, International Westminster Bank was merged into National Westminster Bank by Act of Parliament, completed in 1980, the bank built the National Westminster Tower in London to serve as its international headquarters. Also worthy of note is National Westminster House in Birmingham, the building was sold to British Land in 2007, the banks expansion strategy hit trouble with the stock market crash of 1987 and involvement in the financial scandal surrounding the collapse of Blue Arrow. The Department of Trade and Industry report on the affair was critical of the management and resulted in the resignation of several members of the board. Later, the bank would divest its overseas subsidiaries, the North American operations were sold to Fleet Bank and Hong Kong Bank of Canada, and the Australian and New Zealand branches were sold to Salomon Smith Barney and the National Australia Bank. Thereafter the bank concentrated on its domestic business as the restyled NatWest Group. In 1993, the NatWest Tower was devastated by a Provisional IRA bomb, then, in 1997, NatWest Markets, the corporate and investment banking arm formed in 1992, revealed that a £50m loss had been discovered, revised to £90. 5m after further investigations. The banks move into complicated derivative products that it did not fully understand seemed to indicate poor management, by the end of 1997 parts of NatWest Markets had been sold, others becoming Greenwich NatWest in 1998
16.
Chevron (insignia)
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A chevron is an inverted V-shaped pattern. The chevron occurs in early art including designs on pottery and rock carvings, examples can be found approximately 1800 BC in archaeological recovery of pottery designs from the palace of Knossos on Crete in the modern day country of Greece. Sparta used a capital lambda on their shields, a chevron is one of the ordinaries in heraldry, one of the simple geometrical figures which are the chief images in many coat of arms. It can be subject to a number of modifications, when the ends are cut off in a way that looks like the splintered ends of a broken piece of wood, with an irregular zig-zag pattern, it is called éclaté. When shown as a smaller size than standard, it is a called a chevronel. Chevrons appeared early in the history of heraldry, especially in Normandy, in Scandinavia the chevron is known as sparre, an early example appears in the arms of Armand desmondly. In areas observing Commonwealth of Nations or United States doctrine, chevrons are used as an insignia of enlisted or NCO rank by military forces, one chevron usually designates a lance corporal, two a corporal, and three a sergeant. One to four rockers may also be incorporated to indicate various grades of sergeant, in American usage, chevrons typically point towards the neck, in Commonwealth usage they usually point away from the neck. In the Commonwealth, the terminology for rank chevrons includes the number of stripes, called bars, therefore. Canadian and Australian Forces often refer to chevrons as hooks, in the Dutch armed forces they are nicknamed bananas. In some armies, small chevrons are worn on the left sleeve to indicate length of service. The Israel Defense Forces use chevrons in various orientations as organizational designators on their vehicles, specifically which company within a battalion they belong to
17.
Elizabeth II
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Elizabeth II has been Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand since 6 February 1952. Elizabeth was born in London as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth and her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake duties during the Second World War. Elizabeths many historic visits and meetings include a visit to the Republic of Ireland. She has seen major changes, such as devolution in the United Kingdom, Canadian patriation. She has reigned through various wars and conflicts involving many of her realms and she is the worlds oldest reigning monarch as well as Britains longest-lived. In October 2016, she became the longest currently reigning monarch, in 2017 she became the first British monarch to commemorate a Sapphire Jubilee. Elizabeth has occasionally faced republican sentiments and press criticism of the family, however, support for the monarchy remains high. Elizabeth was born at 02,40 on 21 April 1926, during the reign of her paternal grandfather and her father, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of the King. Her mother, Elizabeth, Duchess of York, was the youngest daughter of Scottish aristocrat Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and she was delivered by Caesarean section at her maternal grandfathers London house,17 Bruton Street, Mayfair. Elizabeths only sibling, Princess Margaret, was born in 1930, the two princesses were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Marion Crawford, who was casually known as Crawfie. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature and music, Crawford published a biography of Elizabeth and Margarets childhood years entitled The Little Princesses in 1950, much to the dismay of the royal family. The book describes Elizabeths love of horses and dogs, her orderliness, others echoed such observations, Winston Churchill described Elizabeth when she was two as a character. She has an air of authority and reflectiveness astonishing in an infant and her cousin Margaret Rhodes described her as a jolly little girl, but fundamentally sensible and well-behaved. During her grandfathers reign, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the throne, behind her uncle Edward, Prince of Wales, and her father, the Duke of York. Although her birth generated public interest, she was not expected to become queen, many people believed that he would marry and have children of his own. When her grandfather died in 1936 and her uncle succeeded as Edward VIII, she became second-in-line to the throne, later that year, Edward abdicated, after his proposed marriage to divorced socialite Wallis Simpson provoked a constitutional crisis. Consequently, Elizabeths father became king, and she became heir presumptive, if her parents had had a later son, she would have lost her position as first-in-line, as her brother would have been heir apparent and above her in the line of succession
18.
Topping out
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In building construction, topping out is a builders rite traditionally held when the last beam is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlayed into an event for public relations purposes. Long an important component of timber frame building, it migrated initially to England and Northern Europe, a tree or leafy branch is placed on the topmost wood or iron beam, often with flags and streamers tied to it. A toast is usually drunk and sometimes workers are treated to a meal, in masonry construction the rite celebrates the bedding of the last block or brick. In some cases a topping out event is held at an intermediate point, in New Zealand, completion of the roof to a water-proof state is celebrated through a roof shout, where workers are treated to cake and beer. The tradition of pannenbier is popular in the Netherlands and Flanders and it stays in place until the buildings owner provides free beer to the workers, after which it is lowered. It is considered if it remains flown for more than a few days. The topping out traditions of the high-steel ironworkers, Topping Off. at the Wayback Machine. Http, //www. stp. uh. edu/vol68/160/news/news4. html Tree symbolizes campus growth, The Daily Cougar, Volume 68, Issue 160, Monday,28 July 2003, Topping Off at the Wayback Machine. National Review, December 23,2003 Richtfest. info A German language site about the topping out ceremonies, Topping out Roberts Pavilion Topping out the new athletic building at Claremont McKenna College
19.
Heron Tower
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The Heron Tower is a commercial skyscraper in London. The Heron Tower is located on Bishopsgate and is bordered by Camomile Street, Outwich Street, construction of the building started in 2007 and was completed in 2011. The tower initially struggled to attract tenants in the depths of the Great Recession, but is now fully let. Designed by architects Kohn Pedersen Fox, the height of the Heron Tower was planned to be only 183 m, identical to that of Tower 42 and it attracted some controversy when first announced due to its proximity to St Pauls Cathedral when viewed from Waterloo Bridge. English Heritage was notably vocal in expressing concerns, a public inquiry was subsequently held, the outcome of which was decided by deputy prime minister John Prescott, who ruled in the developers favour. The tower was given approval for construction in July 2002. Three years later, the project had yet to begin construction, in September 2005 the Heron Property Corporation submitted a planning application to increase the height of its approved building. Herons revised plans now proposed a 202-metre tall tower topped by a 28-metre mast, although the design was largely identical to the previous scheme, the towers crown and southern façades were refined. In January 2006, the project was approved by the City of London Corporation. In February 2013 it was revealed in The Times that backers of the Heron Tower included Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd, the Heron Tower was designed to feature a concierge-style entrance and reception area, incorporating a 70,000 litre aquarium containing around 1,200 fish. A bar-restaurant called The Drift occupies part of the ground and first floors, there is a restaurant and sky bar leased to Sushi Samba and Duck & Waffle, both open to the public, on floors 38–40. Situated 175 metres above the City and accessed by lifts from a dedicated entrance on Bishopsgate. The building uses photovoltaic cells to generate energy, allowing it to achieve a BREEAM rating of excellent in January 2010. In March 2007, it was confirmed that Heron had signed a deal with the State General Reserve Fund of Oman to provide the equity for the development. Following the appointment of Skanska, the firm that erected the gherkin-shaped 30 St Mary Axe building, as main contractor, full construction began in April 2008, with foundation piles and steel rebar cages being installed, while the first tower crane was erected in June. In August a second crane was erected, followed by a third. In early October, the first steel beams appeared on site, in November, steelwork temporarily finished, and concrete was poured for the base slabs. Steelwork recommenced on 19 January 2009, the speed of construction then increased, with floors being constructed in sets of two, with each set taking a planned fortnight to construct
20.
National Provincial Bank
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Considered one of the Big Five, it expanded during the 19th and 20th centuries and took over a number of smaller banking companies. It was based on Bishopsgate, at the junction with Threadneedle Street. The National Provincial Bank played a role in the development of commercial banking. Prior to the Act of 1826, English banks were permitted to have no more than six partners – hence the expression “private banks”, the only banks allowed to be joint stock were the Bank of England and the Scottish banks. The leading campaigner for change was Thomas Joplin a Newcastle timber merchant “with local experience of banking disasters”, the Act of 1826 permitted the establishment of joint stock banks but note issue was only allowed outside a radius of 65 miles of London. The 1826 Act was followed by the creation of new joint stock banks. What differentiated National Provincial was that it was established as a provincial bank, moreover, it was specifically structured to be a branch banking enterprise prepared to concentrate on a large number of smaller accounts rather than a small number of large accounts. Joplin left the management of the Irish Bank in 1828, financial support from his cousin George Angas was promised in 1829 and a company was formed in 1830. The first meeting resolved to establish a “system of banking …under the review of a board in London applied to the direction of country banking”. There were numerous delays but the National Provincial Bank of England was eventually launched in 1833, for more than thirty years the Bank operated as a country bank, with its headquarters in London, but not transacting banking business in the capital. Considerable dissension soon arose relating to the structure of the system and Joplin. The model for the system had been the Scottish one. Sources vary as to the number of acquisitions, their trading name. However, although they may have been strategic in their own locality and it was not until 1866 that the Bank opened for banking business in London by which time it had a nationwide network of 122 branches. The Bank ceased its provincial note issue and was appointed to the London Clearing House, by 1886 the National Provincial Bank had 165 branches and its network was second only to the London and County Bank. The bishops gate device was part of a representation of the banks address at 15 Bishopsgate in the City of London. It is surmounted by two squirrels supporting an urn, this alludes to The Flower Pot Inn which originally stood on the site of the entrance to the city office, in 1918 the National Provincial acquired the Union of London and Smith’s Bank, itself the product of recent amalgamations. The enlarged bank was renamed the National Provincial and Union Bank of England, although it refused to open branches in the provinces, it did develop an extensive overseas business
21.
John Gibson (architect)
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For others with the same name, see John Gibson John Gibson was an English architect born at Castle Bromwich, Warwickshire. Gibson was an assistant to Sir Charles Barry and assisted him in the drawings of the Houses of Parliament, Gibson was a prominent bank architect at a time when joint-stock banking was an innovation. His 1849 National Bank of Scotland branch in Glasgow led to perhaps his best-known work and it was listed Grade I in 1950 and now known as Gibson Hall. The church is a prominent landmark in the lower Vale of Clwyd and is visible for many miles and it lies just off the A55 trunk road. In 1890 Gibson was awarded the Royal Gold Medal for services to architecture, Gibson died of pneumonia on 23 December 1892, at his residence,13 Great Queen Street, Westminster, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery on 28 December
22.
Westminster Bank, London
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Westminster Bank is a Grade I listed building in the City of London. The building is now known as Gibson Hall, after the name of its designer, built in 1865, was commissioned as a new head office for the directors of the National Provincial Bank of England in Bishopsgate. Gibson Halls exterior elevation features curved panels picturing the crafts and industries that the bank supplied its financial services to, the Building was listed as a Grade I building in 1950. Since its name was changed to Gibson Hall in 1990s, the hall has been operating solely as an events hosting venue available for hire to the public
23.
Bank junction
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It is named for the nearby Bank of England. Across Threadneedle Street and nestled in the gap between Cornhill is the centre the Royal Exchange, founded in 1565 by Thomas Gresham. Outside the main entrance to the Royal Exchange is a statue of the Duke of Wellington overlooking Bank junction. Also in front of the Royal Exchange is the London Troops War Memorial, commemorating those Londoners who served and died in World War I, to the south of the junction is Mansion House. This has been the residence of the Lord Mayor of London since its completion in 1752. Bank junction is the location of one of Londons busiest Underground stations, built in 1900, the interchange station is served by the Central, Northern and Waterloo & City lines, as well as the Docklands Light Railway. The station is connected with Monument, a served by the Circle. The closest mainline railway stations are Cannon Street, Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street
24.
Cantilever
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A cantilever is a rigid structural element, such as a beam or a plate, anchored at only one end to a support from which it is protruding. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs, when subjected to a structural load, the cantilever carries the load to the support where it is forced against by a moment and shear stress. Cantilevers are widely found in construction, notably in cantilever bridges and balconies, in cantilever bridges the cantilevers are usually built as pairs, with each cantilever used to support one end of a central section. The Forth Bridge in Scotland is an example of a truss bridge. A cantilever in a timber framed building is called a jetty or forebay. In the southern United States a historic barn type is the barn of log construction. Temporary cantilevers are used in construction. The partially constructed structure creates a cantilever, but the structure does not act as a cantilever. This is very helpful when temporary supports, or falsework, cannot be used to support the structure while it is being built. So some truss arch bridges are built each side as cantilevers until the spans reach each other and are then jacked apart to stress them in compression before final joining. Nearly all cable-stayed bridges are built using cantilevers as this is one of their chief advantages, many box girder bridges are built segmentally, or in short pieces. This type of construction lends itself well to balanced cantilever construction where the bridge is built in both directions from a single support and these structures are highly based on torque and rotational equilibrium. In an architectural application, Frank Lloyd Wrights Fallingwater used cantilevers to project large balconies, the East Stand at Elland Road Stadium in Leeds was, when completed, the largest cantilever stand in the world holding 17,000 spectators. The roof built over the stands at Old Trafford Football Ground uses a cantilever so that no supports will block views of the field, the old, now demolished Miami Stadium had a similar roof over the spectator area. The largest cantilever in Europe is located at St James Park in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, less obvious examples of cantilevers are free-standing radio towers without guy-wires, and chimneys, which resist being blown over by the wind through cantilever action at their base. Another use of the cantilever is in fixed-wing aircraft design, pioneered by Hugo Junkers in 1915, early aircraft wings typically bore their loads by using two wings in a biplane configuration braced with wires and struts. They were similar to bridges, having been developed by Octave Chanute. The wings were braced with crossed wires so they would stay parallel, the cables and struts generated considerable drag, and there was constant experimentation for ways to eliminate them
25.
Big Bang (financial markets)
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The effect of the Big Bang led to significant changes to the structure of the financial markets in London. In the UK, Big Bang became one of the cornerstones of the Thatcher governments reform programme, prior to these reforms, the once-dominant financial institutions of the City of London were failing to compete with foreign banking. While London was still a centre of finance, it had been surpassed by New York. The effects of Big Bang were dramatic, with Londons place as a financial capital decisively strengthened, the boom resulted in the relocation of institutions into new developments in the nearby Isle of Dogs area, particularly that of Canary Wharf. He explained that the 2007–2012 global financial crisis was a consequence of the Big Bang. In 2011 Gordon Brown said that deregulation of the sector by the incoming Labour Government of 1997 had also contributed by failing to understand how interdependent the banks were
26.
International Westminster Bank
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International Westminster Bank Plc was a wholly owned subsidiary of National Westminster Bank and its predecessors from 1913 to 1989, with branches in London, France, Spain and West Germany. The bank was formed in 1913, as London County and Westminster Bank Limited, Westminster Foreign Bank was granted a limited deposit licence in 1961, enabling it to start trading in the Eurodollar market. Its London deposit dealing desk was merged with National Westminster Banks foreign exchange dealing desk in 1979 and this was located at 52-53 Threadneedle Street. The London branch of International Westminster Bank, at 41 Threadneeedle Street, in 1982, much of the London branch was relocated to NatWests Drapers Gardens tower in nearby Throgmorton Avenue. The branch moved to its location at the Kings Cross House tower block,200 Pentonville Road. In 1988, International Westminster Banks branches in France and Monaco were incorporated into National Westminster Bank SA, after 80 years, NatWest announced its exit from French retail banking in 1993. Eventually, the remaining branch was the London office. Due to changes in international bank taxation arrangements, the ongoing existence no longer offered any commercial advantage. In 1989, International Westminster Bank Plc was merged into National Westminster Bank Plc by a Private Act of Parliament, National Westminster Bank USA was formed in 1983 from the 1978 acquisition of the National Bank of North America. Following the 1988 acquisition of First Jersey National Bank, National Westminster Bancorp, Inc. was formed as a US holding company for National Westminster Bank USA, in 1995, the subsidiaries were amalgamated into NatWest Bank, N. A. The Bancorp business was sold to Fleet Financial Group in 1996, National Westminster Bank of Canada, was formed in 1982, providing domestic and international banking services through its branches in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. The Canadian operation was sold to Hongkong Bank of Canada, a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings in 1998, Banco NatWest España S. A. was formed in 1990 by acquisition of the controlling interest in Banco NatWest March. The Spanish operation was sold to Banco Sabadell in 1996, National Westminster Limited was formed in 1974, providing short and medium term loans in Hong Kong dollars and foreign currencies, foreign exchange and deposit taking facilities. The Coutts Group was formed in 1990 from Handelsbank NW in Zurich, NatWest International Trust Corporation Limited, known as National Westminster Jersey Trust Company Limited from 1969 to 1988, became Coutts & Co Limited in 1991. in 1987. Banca Creditwest e dei Comuni Vesuviani S. p. A. was majority owned by Credito Italiano with National Westminster Bank as a minority shareholder and it had around 30 branches in Rome, Milan and Naples. In 1973, National Westminster Bank acquired a minority interest in the Dutch firm F. van Lanschot, from the early 1990s, until it sold its interest in 1994, NatWest was the majority shareholder. Lloyds and National Provincial Foreign Bank NatWest Offshore Sabadell Solbank
27.
Sky lobby
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This increases travel time, and indirectly requires many more elevator shafts to still allow acceptable travel times – thus reducing effective floor space on each floor for all levels. The other main technique to increase usage without adding more elevator shafts is double-deck elevators, early uses of the sky lobby include the original Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the John Hancock Center in Chicago. The John Hancock Centers sky lobby on the 44th floor serves only the portion of the building that occupies floors 45–92. Three express elevators run from the lobby on the ground floor to the 44th floor. At floor 44, residents transfer to two banks of three elevators, one bank serves floors 45–65 and the other serves 65–92. Although all six elevators stop at floor 65, this floor is roughly the layout as the residential floors immediately above. It is not a sky lobby because residents can also board elevators to higher floors at floor 44. Floors above 92 are serviced by direct passenger elevators from the floor, by an emergency elevator from the ground floor
28.
Greater London Council
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The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its powers were devolved to the London boroughs, a new administrative body, known as the Greater London Authority, was established in 2000. It further recommended that the LCC be replaced by a strategic authority, with responsibility for public transport, road schemes, housing development. Most of the Commission’s recommendations were accepted, but the number of new boroughs was reduced to 32, other areas recommended for inclusion that were never part of Greater London included Epsom and Ewell, Caterham and Warlingham, Esher, and Weybridge. GLC councillors elected for areas within the former County of London became ex officio members of the new Inner London Education Authority, the GLC was responsible for running strategic services such as the fire service, emergency planning, waste disposal and flood prevention. The GLC shared responsibility with the London boroughs for providing roads, housing, city planning and it had a very limited role in direct service provision with most functions the responsibility of the London boroughs. The GLC did not take control of transport from the London Transport Board until 1970. Under the 1963 Act, the GLC was required to produce a Greater London Development Plan, the plan included the comprehensive redevelopment of Covent Garden and creating a central London motorway loop. The plan was subject to an Inquiry which lasted from July 1970 until May 1972, the campaign to save Covent Garden along with various opposition on other matters largely derailed the plan. Each of the six GLC elections was won by the national opposition party. The first GLC election was on 9 April 1964, each of the new boroughs elected a number of representatives under the bloc vote system. Despite Conservative hopes, the first GLC consisted of 64 Labour and 36 Conservative councillors, at the next election in 1967 the unpopularity of the national Labour government produced a massive Conservative victory with 82 seats, to Labours 18. Desmond Plummer became the first Conservative leader of London-wide government in 33 years, the Conservatives retained control in 1970 with a reduced majority. In 1972 the electoral system was reformed to introduce single-member constituencies for the election after the 1973 contest, Labour fought the 1973 election on a strongly socialist platform and won with 57 seats to 33 for the Conservatives. The GLCs hopes under the Labour administration of Reg Goodwin were badly affected by the oil crisis of 1974, massive inflation which when combined with the GLCs £1.6 billion debt led to heavy rate increases and unpopular budget cuts. Some months before the 1977 elections the Labour Group began to split, a left group, including Ken Livingstone, denounced the election manifesto of the party. The Conservatives regained control in May 1977, winning 64 seats under their new Thatcherite leader Horace Cutler against a Labour total of just 28, Cutler headed a resolutely right-wing administration, cutting spending, selling council housing and deprioritising London Transport
29.
Air rights
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Air rights are the property interest in the space above the earths surface. Generally speaking, owning, or renting, land or a building includes the right to use, Property rights defined by points on the ground were believed to extend indefinitely upward. This notion remained unchallenged before air travel became popular in the 20th century, to promote air commerce, legislators established a legal height for any interests associated with lands, thereby establishing a public right to transit through the higher altitudes. Both the public easement in the space at higher altitudes and a right to exclusive use of the space at lower altitudes has been well documented by the U. S. judiciary. New technologies have again raised questions about ownership of space and the bounds of national sovereignty. With the advent of space travel above earths atmosphere, the height at which national sovereignty extends, also, flight by drones at lower altitudes interferes with property interests associated with existing land grants and deeds. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration has the authority to control all publicly owned airspace, exclusively determining the rules. For non-public airspace, Congress has provided authority for the FAA to purchase this non-public airspace near airports to accommodate planes taking off, a Landowners domain extends up to at least 365 feet above the ground. See Causby v US, and no nation can prevent orbits above the earths atmosphere, the FAA is required to pay financial compensation to Property Owners when their property interests are taken for overflights. Compensated landowners may then be required to waive any putative damages for interference with air rights in order to avoid lawsuits from future owners nuisance claims against low flying aircraft and this is called a navigation or avigational easement. The low cost of unmanned vehicles in the 2000s re-raised legal questions regarding whose permission is required to fly at low altitudes, the landowner. The FAAs actions are expected to see challenges in the judiciary, railroads were the first companies to realize the potential of making money from their air rights. At first, the railroad constructed a platform above the rail yards to allow for the development of buildings overhead. By 1954, the railroad began to realize it could sell more air rights and this is how the Pan Am Building came to be built next to the station, after public protest regarding the demolition of Grand Central Terminal. Building on platforms over railroad tracks is still very profitable. The MTA has even proposed building a platform themselves to encourage development, in Brooklyn, the Barclays Center has been constructed over the Atlantic Yards. Similar to railroads, builders of highways have proposed selling their air rights, the City of Los Angeles funded a $100,000 feasibility study RFP in January 2007 to explore building a freeway cap park in Hollywood. The park would be built above US highway 101 and contain 24 acres of new parkland, some jurisdictions restrict vertical development, but may allow developmental rights associated with vertical size of buildings to be transferred to the surrounding buildings
30.
Drapers Gardens
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It has been the site of two major office blocks since the 1960s. During the period from the first occupation by the Drapers Company in 1544 it was a garden and place of recreation. Over the following two hundred years the remainder of the gardens remained an open space but were finally built over in 1873. The buildings standing within the boundary of the Drapers Company property line on the west side of Throgmorton Avenue were demolished to make way for the Seifert Tower, the original Drapers Gardens was a skyscraper in the City of London, designed by architect Richard Seifert. It stood at 100 metres tall and had 30 storeys and it was completed in 1967 and demolished in 2007. When viewed from Waterloo Bridge, Drapers Gardens appeared as the closest office tower to St Pauls Cathedral, conversely, there were those who cited the building as a fine example of its period and one of the few genuinely well-designed towers of the 1960s. Richard Seifert, its designer as well as the architect of Tower 42, during the eighties it became apparent that Seiferts building was not suitable as a modern office space and letting income dried up. The new office development was designed by Foggo Associates, the replacement Drapers Gardens is 75 metres tall with 16 floors, three roof terraces and a pocket park, at 270,000 square feet it has more floor space than the Seiferts design. The building’s stepped profile was developed in response to local and long distance views, the developers were Exemplar Developments and Canary Wharf Developments. It was completed in Autumn 2009, the development was then sold on to Evans Randall in 2010 for £242.5 million. Most of the floors of the building were taken by Macquarie. Between the demolition and rebuilding, a dig by Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd found Roman remains dating from 63 AD to 383 AD. These included a well with 19 metal vessels in a state of preservation, a ruler
31.
1993 Bishopsgate bombing
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A news photographer was killed in the explosion and 44 people were injured, the damage cost £350 million to repair. In early 1993 the Northern Ireland peace process was at a delicate stage, Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin and John Hume of the Social Democratic and Labour Party had been engaged in private dialogue since 1988, with a view to establishing a broad Irish nationalist coalition. British Prime Minister John Major had refused to enter into talks with Sinn Féin until the IRA declared a ceasefire. During the Troubles the IRA had bombed targets in London on a number of occasions. In March 1993 an Iveco tipper truck was stolen in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, a 1 tonne ANFO bomb made by the IRAs South Armagh Brigade had been smuggled into England and was placed in the truck disguised underneath a layer of tarmac. At approximately 9 am on 24 April, two volunteers from an IRA active service unit drove the truck containing the bomb onto Bishopsgate, two police officers were already making inquiries into the truck when the warnings were received, and police began evacuating the area. The bomb exploded at 10,27 am causing extensive damage to buildings along a significant stretch of Bishopsgate, buildings up to 500 metres away were damaged, with 1,500,000 sq ft of office space being affected and over 500 tonnes of glass broken. Damage extended as far north as Liverpool Street station and south beyond Threadneedle Street, St Ethelburgas church, seven metres away from the bomb, collapsed as a result of the explosion. Civilian casualties were low as it was a Saturday morning and the City was typically occupied by only a number of residents, office workers, security guards, builders. Forty-four people were injured by the bomb and News of the World photographer Ed Henty was killed after ignoring police warnings, the truck-bomb produced explosive power of 1,200 kg of TNT. The business community and media called for increased security in the City, Prime Minister John Major received a telephone call from Francis McWilliams, the Lord Mayor of London, reminding him that the City of London earned £17 billion last year for the nation as a whole. Its operating environment and future must be preserved, Major later gave an account of the public stance taken by his government on the bombing, Frankly, we thought it was likely to bring the whole process to an end. And we told them repeatedly that that was the case and they assumed that if they bombed and put pressure on the British at Bishopsgate or with some other outrage or other, it would affect our negotiating position to their advantage. In that judgment they were wholly wrong, every time they did that, they made it harder not easier for any movement to be made towards a settlement. They hardened our attitude, whereas they believed that their actions would soften it and that is a fundamental mistake the IRA have made with successive British governments throughout the last quarter of a century. John Hume and Gerry Adams issued their first joint statement on the day as the bombing, stating. This is a view shared by a majority of the people of this island, though not by all its people, and that, The exercise of self-determination is a matter for agreement between the people of Ireland. There was also a message from the IRA leadership, calling for the British establishment to seize the opportunity and to take the steps needed for ending its futile and we again emphasise that they should pursue the path of peace or resign themselves to the path of war
32.
Provisional Irish Republican Army
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It was the biggest and most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It saw itself as the successor to the original IRA and called simply the Irish Republican Army. It was also referred to as such by others. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, following a split in the republican movement, the IRA initially focused on defence, but it began an offensive campaign in 1971. The IRAs primary goal was to force the British to negotiate a withdrawal from Northern Ireland and it used guerrilla tactics against the British Army and RUC in both rural and urban areas. It also carried out a campaign in Northern Ireland and England against what it saw as political. The IRA called a ceasefire in July 1997, after Sinn Féin was re-admitted into the Northern Ireland peace talks. It supported the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and in 2005 it disarmed under international supervision, the campaign was supported by arms and funding from Libya and from some Irish American groups. As a result, the IRA launched a new strategy known as the Long War and this saw them conduct a war of attrition against the British and increased emphasis on political activity, via the political party Sinn Féin. The success of the 1981 Irish hunger strike in mobilising support and winning elections led to the Armalite and ballot box strategy, with more time, the British demand was quickly dropped after the May 1997 general election in the UK. The IRA ceasefire was reinstated in July 1997 and Sinn Féin was admitted into all-party talks. The IRAs armed campaign, primarily in Northern Ireland but also in England and mainland Europe, the dead included around 1,100 members of the British security forces, and about 640 civilians. The IRA itself lost 275–300 members and an estimated 10,000 imprisoned at times over the 30-year period. The organisation remains classified as a proscribed terrorist group in the UK, two small groups split from the Provisional IRA, the Continuity IRA in 1986, and the Real IRA in 1997. Both reject the Good Friday Agreement and continue to engage in paramilitary activity and this new IRA group is estimated by Police Service of Northern Ireland intelligence sources to have between 250 and 300 active militants and many more supporting associates. The Provisional IRA was organised hierarchically, at the top of the organisation was the IRA Army Council, headed by the IRA Chief of Staff. All levels of the organisation were entitled to send delegates to IRA General Army Conventions, the GAC was the IRAs supreme decision-making authority. Since 1969, there have only three, in 1970,1986, and 2005, owing to the difficulty in organising such a large gathering of an illegal organisation in secret
33.
Bishopsgate
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Bishopsgate is one of the 25 wards of the City of London and also the name of a major road between Gracechurch Street and Norton Folgate in the northeast corner of Londons main financial district. Bishopsgate is named one of the original eight gates in the London Wall. The site of this gate is marked by a stone bishops mitre, fixed high upon a building located at Bishopsgates junction with Wormwood Street, by the gardens there. Although tens of thousands of people commute to and work in the ward, the ward is bounded by Worship Street to the north, where the edge of the City meets the boroughs of Islington and Hackney. It neighbours Portsoken ward and the borough of Tower Hamlets in the east, the western boundary is formed by Old Broad Street and Broad Street ward itself. Bishopsgate also bounds the wards of Aldgate, Coleman Street, Cornhill, Bishopsgate ward straddles the line of the Wall and the old gate and is often divided into Within and Without parts, with a deputy appointed for each part. Since the 1994 and 2003 boundary changes, almost all of the ward is Without, no changes to Bishopsgates ward boundaries occurred in the 2013 boundary changes. Originally Roman, the Bishops Gate was rebuilt by the Hansa merchants in 1471 in exchange for Steelyard privileges and its final form was erected in 1735 by the City authorities and demolished in 1760. This gate often displayed the heads of criminals on spikes, London Wall divided the ward and road into an intramural portion called Bishopsgate Within and an extramural portion called Bishopsgate Without. The Bishopsgate thoroughfare forms part of the A10 and the section to the north of the site of the original Gate is the start of Roman Ermine Street, the parish church for the area of Bishopsgate Without is St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate. This is located just to the north of the original Gate on the west side of the road, Bishopsgate was originally the location of many coaching inns which accommodated passengers setting out on the Old North Road. Others included the Dolphin, the Flower Pot, the Green Dragon, the Wrestlers, the Angel, the latter was a venue for the Queens Men theatrical troupe in the 16th century. The name of an inn called the Catherine Wheel is commemorated by Catherine Wheel Alley which leads off Bishopsgate to the east, in the 18th century this grand residence became a tavern called Sir Paul Pindars Head, another notable venue was the London Tavern. Also demolished was the old Crosby Hall, at one time the residence of Richard III, Bishopsgate is also the site of Dirty Dicks, the Bishopsgate Institute, and many offices and skyscrapers. Police had received a warning, but were still evacuating the area at the time of the explosion. The area had suffered damage from the Baltic Exchange bombing one year before. The street is home to the main London offices of major banks, including the Royal Bank of Scotland. Within the ward falls the Broadgate Estate, only electors who are Freemen of the City of London are eligible to stand
34.
European Banking Authority
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The European Banking Authority is a regulatory agency of the European Union headquartered in London. Its activities include conducting tests on European banks to increase transparency in the European financial system. The EBA was established on 1 January 2011, upon which date it inherited all of the tasks, the EBA has the power to overrule national regulators if they fail to properly regulate their banks. The EBA is able to prevent regulatory arbitrage and should allow banks to compete throughout the EU. The main task of the EBA is to contribute, through the adoption of binding Technical Standards and Guidelines, the Authority also plays an important role in promoting convergence of supervisory practices to ensure a harmonised application of prudential rules. Finally, the EBA is mandated to assess risks and vulnerabilities in the EU banking sector through, in particular, regular risk assessment reports, taking a leading role in promoting transparency, simplicity and fairness in the market for consumer financial products or services across the internal market. The Binding Technical Standards are legal acts which specify particular aspects of an EU legislative text, the EBA develops draft BTS which are finally endorsed and adopted by the European Commission. Contrary to other such as Guidelines or Recommendations, the BTS are legally binding. Common Reporting is the standardised reporting framework issued by the EBA for the Capital Requirements Directive reporting and it covers credit risk, market risk, operational risk, own fund and capital adequacy ratios. This reporting framework has been adopted by almost 30 European countries, regulated institutions are periodically required to file COREP reports, on both a solo and consolidated basis using XBRL in Eurofiling architecture taxonomies. All regulated organisations in the UK must use COREP to make their regular statutory reports from 1 January 2014 onwards, as a consequence of Brexit, the European Commission is currently working on plans to move the agency out of the United Kingdom. Future homes for the agency have been suggested as Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam, Milan and Frankfurt
35.
Hong Kong Airlines
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Hong Kong Airlines Ltd, IATA, HX is a Hong Kong airline company, with its corporate headquarters in Tung Chung district and its main hub at Chek Lap Kok International Airport. Hong Kong Airlines has a fleet of 34 aircraft. The cargo fleet consists of five Airbus A330-200Fs, the airline received its Air Operators Certificate from the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department with a 285 kilometres per hour 12 passenger Sikorsky S-76C+ helicopter in early 2002. It was Hong Kongs third commercial helicopter operator and the first helicopter operator to receive an AOC since Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of Peoples Republic of China. It started passenger operations to Laoag, Philippines on 5 July 2003. In September 2003, the applied for traffic rights to operate scheduled passenger services to Laoag and Chinese cities of Jinan, Naning, Meixian. In addition, Robert Yip sold 40 percent of the airline to his company, China Rich Holdings, by March 2004, the airline had added Siem Reap, Cambodia to its charter network. On 5 July 2005, the announced the purchase of two Bombardier CRJ700s from Danish carrier Maersk Air, scheduled to arrive in July and mid-August. An executive of the airline had told reporters that some of the Boeing aircraft was from Hainan Airlines order. On 27 June 2006, Hainan Airlines purchased a 45 percent holdings of the airline and the holdings would be transferred to Grand China Air, a new holding company of Hainan Airlines. Two months later, Mr Mung Kin Keung acquired the remaining 55 percent of the airline and became the shareholder on 7 August. On 22 September 2006, CR Airways Limited officially changed its name to Hong Kong Airlines Limited, the airline also introduced a new logo, which represents a bauhinia flower, the symbol of Hong Kong where the airline is anchored. The new logo represents the close relationship between the airline and Hong Kong and its new era in the civil aviation industry. The airlines IATA code was changed from N8 to HX on 27 May 2007, on 24 October 2008, the airline announced plans in preparation for the arrival of the Airbus A330-200 wide-body aircraft, which included personnel and fleet composition. The new aircraft will provide medium haul passenger and cargo services to the Middle East, on 8 June 2010, Hong Kong Airlines completed their proving flight from Hong Kong to Beijing and return earning their Air Operatings Certificate for the Airbus A330 operations from HKCAD. On 28 June 2010, schedule flight to Moscow was launched, in September 2010, Hong Kong Airlines introduced its first airbus A330F cargo freighter, launched the first full cargo route from Hong Kong to Hangzhou. On 22 October 2010, Hong Kong Airlines officially joined the IATA, in 2011, Hong Kong Airlines awarded 4-star rating by Skytrax. Passenger traffic exceeded one million, serving 19 destinations, on 8 March 2012, Hong Kong Airlines launched a daily Hong Kong – London Gatwick service with an Airbus A330-200 aircraft
36.
Kofax
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Kofax Limited is a publicly traded American software company, listed on the NASDAQ, and based in Irvine, California. It produces applications software that provides information capture, process management, data integration, customer communications management, the company was founded in 1985 and was acquired by Dicom Group in 1999. It floated in the Alternative Investment Market in 1996 and was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1997, in January 2008 the parent company changed its name from Dicom Group to Kofax. In May 2011 Kofax acquired Atalasoft Inc. a small software firm whose primary product was a document imaging toolkit named dotImage, in December 2011 Kofax acquired Singularity Limited, a provider of business process management and case management software. In July 2013 Kofax acquired Kapow Software, a data integration software provider, Kofax was first listed on the NASDAQ in December 2013. The company acquired Softpro in September 2014 and Aia Software in March 2015, in March 2015 Lexmark announced that it would acquire Kofax for roughly $1 billion
37.
IWG plc
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Regus is a multinational corporation that provides a global workplace. As of 23 June 2015, it operated 4000 business centres across 120 countries. Founded in Brussels, Belgium, in 1989, Regus is based in Luxembourg City, Regus is incorporated in Saint Helier, Jersey. In 1989 while on a trip to Brussels, English entrepreneur Mark Dixon noted the lack of office space available to travelling business people. He identified a need for space that was maintained, staffed. In 1994 Regus entered Latin America with a center in São Paulo, the company completed a successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2000. In 2001 it acquired Stratis Business Centers, a U. S. -based network of franchised business centers, later in 2001 the Regus business center on the 93rd floor of South Tower at the World Trade Center was destroyed during the 9/11 attacks, five employees lost their lives. The company was criticized for a lack of response to the families, though a Regus official said they had made proactive outreach to each. In 2002 the company sold a stake of its cornerstone UK business to Rex 2002 Limited. This move raised £51 million for the company, which had been facing financial difficulties. In 2003 Regus filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for its US business, less than a year later it took its US business out of Chapter 11 after restructuring, financed by its share of the profitable UK business. The company acquired HQ Global Workplaces, a global workplace provider based in the U. S. in 2004 and it re-acquired the Regus UK business in 2006 for £88 million, marking the end of a dramatic recovery from the companys near collapse in 2002. The company went on to acquire Laptop Lane, a chain of American airport business centers, in 2007 Regus further expanded its global position, opening business centers in Bulgaria, Jordan, Kenya and Qatar. It is aimed at clients who travel frequently, effective October 14,2008, Regus Group plc became Regus plc. Regus plc was created as a company for Regus Group plc, in order to establish the companys headquarters in Luxembourg. Regus has maintained a policy of expansion, opening new business centers, on 19 February 2013 Regus took control of MWB BE, the UKs second largest serviced office provider with a £65. 6m cash bid. In 2013 Regus opened in its 100th country, Nepal, and its 1, 500th centre in Pune, in 2014 Regus opened its 2, 300th business centre in Boulder, Colorado and opened in 50 new towns and cities in Q1 alone. It also signed deals with Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport, as well as the Singapore government, Regus and its brands provide serviced offices, virtual offices, meeting rooms, and videoconferencing to clients on a contract basis
38.
RMG Networks
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RMG Networks, formerly Symon Communications, is a digital signage company headquartered in Texas. It provides digital signage media hardware, software and services to nearly 70% of the Fortune 100, RMG is headquartered in Dallas with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. The companys stock is traded on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol RMGN, reach Media Group was founded in 2006 as Danoo and got financial backing from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, DAG Ventures, National CineMedia and Tennenbaum Capital Partners. In July 2009, Danoo acquired IdeaCast, in August 2009, the company renamed itself RMG Networks and appointed Garry McGuire to take over as CEO from Aileen Lee. In May 2012, RMG sold its digital signage network targeting cafes, small restaurants, the company went public via a reverse merger with SCG Financial Acquisition Corp. in April 2013. RMG Networks RMG Networks Investor Relations
39.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
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Pillsbury is a full-service law firm with an industry focus on energy and natural resources, financial services including financial institutions, real estate and construction, and technology. Based in the major financial, technology and energy centers, Pillsbury counsels clients on global business, regulatory. It has approximately 700 attorneys operating from 18 offices in the U. S. London, Asia, the firm has connections to the two main political parties in the United States. The law firms two oldest predecessor firms were founded in New York in 1868 and in San Francisco in 1874, the San Francisco firm, generally known as Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, helped create a number of new West Coast businesses including Chevron and Pacific Bell. In the 2000s, Pillsbury has become an advocate of labor outsourcing as a means of cutting costs by offering services to both buyers and providers of outsourcing services. Predecessor firm Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro opened in San Francisco in 1874, in 1900, Pillsbury incorporated Standard Oil of California—the company would later become Chevron, which has remained one of the firm’s longstanding clients. Pillsbury managed Chevron’s then-record $13.2 billion cash merger with Gulf Oil in 1984, Pillsbury is the result of several law firm mergers. In 1990, Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro merged with Los Angeles-based Lillick & McHose, in 2001, the firm merged with Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts of New York City. The firm changed its name to Pillsbury Winthrop, in 2005 Pillsbury Winthrop merged with Shaw Pittman, a 300-lawyer Washington, D. C. -based firm working in global sourcing, energy, real estate, technology and communications. Pillsbury was involved in the drafting of the 1952 Patent Act, which serves as the basis for patent law today, and launched the first nuclear energy law practice in the U. S. in 1966. In 1968, the firm handled the formation of Intel Corporation, in 1980, Pillsbury advised on the then-largest foreign acquisition of a U. S. bank, and in 1994, the firm registered the first trademark for a dotcom. In 2012, the firm entered into discussions with Washington, D. C. -based Dickstein Shapiro. Counseled Global Cash Access Holdings in its $1.2 billion acquisition of Multimedia Games in September 2014, represented the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in its D. C. appeals court win against the U. S. Department of Energy. The appeals court ordered the DOE to suspend $750 million a year in nuclear waste fees until it comes up with a permanent facility for depositing the waste. Advised Synnex in its $505 million acquisition of IBM’s customer-care outsourcing business in September 2013, represented Aerostar Airport Holdings in 2013 in arranging a $2.6 billion, 40-year deal creating that is the first public-private partnership for a major U. S. airport. Pillsbury helped the client obtain FAA and TSA approval to lease and operate Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, advised Mission West Properties Inc. owned by Carl Berg, on its sale of a portfolio of real estate valued at $1.3 billion. Silicon Valley Business Journal named this the biggest commercial real estate deal in the Valley in 2012, “The was so massive, its total sale price alone is equivalent to the other top four sales combined on our list, ” wrote the Journal. Represented Nicira, a network software startup, on its $1.26 billion sale to VMware in 2012
40.
Piraeus Bank
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Piraeus Bank SA, is a Greek multinational financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece. As of September 2015, it is the bank in Greece, by assets with a 30% market share in net loans and second in liabilities. Piraeus Banks stocks are listed on the Athens Stock Exchange since January 1918, the Group employs 19,239 people, while the entire branch network numbers 931 units, with a presence in 8 countries including Greece. Piraeus Bank is in 2015 the leading Bank in Greece, in terms of assets, with 30% market share in terms of loans and second in liabilities with a 29% in terms of deposits. In terms of assets, it is the largest bank but in term of market capitalisation it is the third largest after Alpha Bank. Along with its growth during the decades of 1990 and 2000. Thus, in 1998, the Bank absorbed the activities of Chase Manhattan in Greece, took controlling interest in Macedonia-Thrace Bank. At the beginning of 1999, the Bank acquired Xiosbank and absorbed the activities of National Westminster Bank Plc in Greece, in June 2000, Piraeus Bank absorbed its two commercial banks in Greece. In 2002, Piraeus Bank acquired the Hellenic Industrial Development Bank which was absorbed in December 2003, Piraeus Bank is a universal bank providing various banking services. Piraeus Bank and its subsidiaries form the Piraeus Bank Group, a group of shipowners in Piraeus founded Banque du Pirée in 1916 to finance trade. The bank started trading on the Athens Exchange in 1918, the Greek government bought the bank in 1975 and transformed it into a universal bank. The new headquarters designed by Sir Basil Spence were built on Stadiou Street in Athens, in December 1991 the government privatised the bank, which has grown in size and scope since then. In 1995 the Group established Piraeus Bank Romania with 160 branches and one year later Tirana Bank, in 1999 with its acquisition of Xiosbank, PB took over Xioss branch in Sofia, Bulgaria, it has now some 83 branches in the country. PB also acquired the small New York-based Marathon National Bank and Interbank N. Y, in 1998 the bank absorbed the Greek branch networks of Chase Manhattan Bank, Crédit Lyonnais, and acquired a controlling interest in Macedonia-Thrace Bank. A year later it added in the activities of National Westminster Bank, in 2002 Piraeus Bank signed a strategic alliance with ING Group. In 2005 it acquired the Bulgarian Eurobank, Atlas Bank in Serbia, in 2007 it expanded in Ukraine by acquiring the International Commerce Bank and established Piraeus Bank Cyprus with the acquisition of Arab Bank Cyprus. In 2002 the bank absorbed 58% of ETBA Bank, PB also started a strategic alliance with ING Group, which took a 5% stake in the Piraeus Bank. In 2006 the PB sold back to ING its stake in a jointly owned mutual funds company, cooperation continues via the bank-assurance company ING-PIRAEUS
41.
Samsung
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Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the Samsung brand, Samsung was founded by Lee Byung-chul in 1938 as a trading company. Over the next three decades, the group diversified into areas including food processing, textiles, insurance, securities, Samsung entered the electronics industry in the late 1960s and the construction and shipbuilding industries in the mid-1970s, these areas would drive its subsequent growth. Following Lees death in 1987, Samsung was separated into four business groups – Samsung Group, Shinsegae Group, CJ Group, since 1990, Samsung has increasingly globalised its activities and electronics, in particular, its mobile phones and semiconductors have become its most important source of income. Notable Samsung industrial affiliates include Samsung Electronics, Samsung Heavy Industries, other notable subsidiaries include Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Everland and Cheil Worldwide. Samsung has an influence on South Koreas economic development, politics, media. Its affiliate companies produce around a fifth of South Koreas total exports, Samsungs revenue was equal to 17% of South Koreas $1,082 billion GDP. On 17 February 2017, Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong was arrested for bribery, embezzlement, hiding assets overseas, according to Samsungs founder, the meaning of the Korean hanja word Samsung is tri-star or three stars. The word three represents something big, numerous and powerful, in 1938, Lee Byung-chull of a large landowning family in the Uiryeong county moved to nearby Daegu city and founded Samsung Sanghoe. Samsung started out as a trading company with forty employees located in Su-dong. It dealt in dried-fish, locally-grown groceries and made noodles, the company prospered and Lee moved its head office to Seoul in 1947. When the Korean War broke out, he was forced to leave Seoul and he started a sugar refinery in Busan named Cheil Jedang. In 1954, Lee founded Cheil Mojik and built the plant in Chimsan-dong and it was the largest woollen mill ever in the country. Samsung diversified into different areas. Lee sought to establish Samsung as leader in a range of industries. Samsung moved into lines of such as insurance, securities. President Park Chung Hee placed great importance on industrialization and he focused his economic development strategy on a handful of large domestic conglomerates, protecting them from competition and assisting them financially. In 1947, Cho Hong-jai, the Hyosung groups founder, jointly invested in a new company called Samsung Mulsan Gongsa, or the Samsung Trading Corporation, the trading firm grew to become the present-day Samsung C&T Corporation
42.
ViewSonic
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The privately held company has approximately $1 billion in worldwide sales annually. ViewSonics headquarters are located in Brea, California, United States, the company was initially founded as Keypoint Technology Corporation in 1987 by James Chu. In 1990 it launched the ViewSonic line of computer monitors. The ViewSonic logo features Gouldian finches, colorful birds native to Australia, every ViewSonic display features this logo but is often mistaken for a kitchy animal sticker and can be removed as such. In the mid-1990s, ViewSonic rose to one of the top-rated makers of computer CRT monitors, alongside Sony, NEC, MAG Innovision. ViewSonic soon displaced the rest of these companies to emerge as the largest display manufacturer from America/Japan at the turn of the millennium, in 2000, ViewSonic acquired the Nokia Display Products branded business. In 2005, ViewSonic and Tatung won a British patent lawsuit filed against them by LG Philips in a dispute over which company created technology for rear mounting of LCDs in a mobile PC, in 2007 ViewSonic launched its General Support Center in Wuhan, China. GSC, specialized in finance, customer service, sales support, supply management and Excel related services. GSC, enable ViewSonic to concentrate on their areas, while outsourcing their non-core areas of business GSC. On July 2,2007, the company filed with the Securities, in 1998, ViewSonic announced that two of its Professional Series monitors achieved TCO99 certification. In 2000, ViewSonic partnered with AT&T Corporation to offer Internet appliances integrated with the AT&T WorldNet Service, the Internet appliances ranged from standalone i-boxes, integrated LCD and CRT devices, to web phones and wireless web pads. The units were deemed capable of operating on any operating system, including Windows CE, Linux, QNX. In 2002 ViewSonic announced a 3840 ×2400 WQUXGA,22. 2-inch monitor, ViewSonic was the first manufacturer to bring Smart Display to the market, with the Airpanel V150 in early 2003. This included a 15 1024 × 768 LCD, a 400 MHz Intel XScale processor,32 MB ROM,64 MB RAM,802. 11b wireless, and a USB wireless hub for the host PC. At the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show, ViewSonic introduced display products, namely a projector, monitors, the ViewSonic LCD monitor range currently includes four product groups, the VA value range, the VG multimedia range, the VX gamer range, and the VP professional range. The two-letter range codes are used at the start of the product name followed by a number which indicates the diagonal screen size. They also produce the Optiquest line of budget displays, viewsonic Singapore unveiled their latest projectors series, the PJD7 that is designed for education and commercial use, and Pro8 which is ideal for businesses and homes.2, a. k. a. Asus Acer AOC NEC Display Solutions Samsung Electronics LG Electronics BenQ QXGA ViewSonic G Tablet ViewSonic Corporation ViewSonic Corporation Yahoo
43.
Light-emitting diode
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A light-emitting diode is a two-lead semiconductor light source. It is a p–n junction diode, which emits light when activated, when a suitable voltage is applied to the leads, electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is called electroluminescence, and the color of the light is determined by the band gap of the semiconductor. LEDs are typically small and integrated optical components may be used to shape the radiation pattern, appearing as practical electronic components in 1962, the earliest LEDs emitted low-intensity infrared light. Infrared LEDs are still used as transmitting elements in remote-control circuits. The first visible-light LEDs were also of low intensity and limited to red, modern LEDs are available across the visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness. Early LEDs were often used as indicator lamps for electronic devices and they were soon packaged into numeric readouts in the form of seven-segment displays and were commonly seen in digital clocks. Recent developments in LEDs permit them to be used in environmental, LEDs have allowed new displays and sensors to be developed, while their high switching rates are also used in advanced communications technology. LEDs have many advantages over incandescent light sources including lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved physical robustness, smaller size, and faster switching. Light-emitting diodes are now used in applications as diverse as aviation lighting, automotive headlamps, advertising, general lighting, traffic signals, camera flashes, as of 2017, LED lights home room lighting are as cheap or cheaper than compact fluorescent lamp sources of comparable output. They are also more energy efficient and, arguably, have fewer environmental concerns linked to their disposal. Electroluminescence as a phenomenon was discovered in 1907 by the British experimenter H. J. Round of Marconi Labs, using a crystal of silicon carbide, russian inventor Oleg Losev reported creation of the first LED in 1927. His research was distributed in Soviet, German and British scientific journals, rubin Braunstein of the Radio Corporation of America reported on infrared emission from gallium arsenide and other semiconductor alloys in 1955. Braunstein observed infrared emission generated by simple diode structures using gallium antimonide, GaAs, indium phosphide, in 1957, Braunstein further demonstrated that the rudimentary devices could be used for non-radio communication across a short distance. As noted by Kroemer Braunstein …had set up a simple optical communications link, the emitted light was detected by a PbS diode some distance away. This signal was fed into an amplifier and played back by a loudspeaker. Intercepting the beam stopped the music and we had a great deal of fun playing with this setup. This setup presaged the use of LEDs for optical communication applications, by October 1961, they had demonstrated efficient light emission and signal coupling between a GaAs p-n junction light emitter and an electrically-isolated semiconductor photodetector
44.
Olympic symbols
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The Olympic symbols are icons, flags and symbols used by the International Olympic Committee to elevate the Olympic Games. Some—such as the flame, fanfare, and theme—are more commonly used during Olympic competition, the Olympic motto is the hendiatris Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for Faster, Higher, Stronger. It was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin upon the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894, Coubertin borrowed it from his friend Henri Didon, a Dominican priest who was an athletics enthusiast. Coubertin said These three words represent a programme of moral beauty, the aesthetics of sport are intangible. The motto was introduced in 1924 at the Olympic Games in Paris, a more informal but well-known motto, also introduced by Coubertin, is The most important thing is not to win but to take part. Coubertin got this motto from a sermon by the Bishop of Pennsylvania during the 1908 London Games, the rings are five interlocking rings, colored blue, yellow, black, green and red on a white field, known as the Olympic rings. The symbol was designed in 1912 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He appears to have intended the rings to represent the five participating continents, Africa, Asia, America, Australia, according to Coubertin, the colors of the rings together with the white of the background included the colors composing every competing nations flag at the time. Upon its initial introduction, Coubertin stated the following in the August 1912 edition of Olympique, the six colors combined in this way reproduce the colours of every country without exception. This, truly, is an international emblem, the 1914 Congress was suspended due to the outbreak of World War I, but the symbol and flag were later adopted. They would first officially debut at the Games of the VII Olympiad in Antwerp, the symbols popularity and widespread use began during the lead-up to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. The ceremony was celebrated but the stone was never removed and this has become known as Carl Diems Stone. This created a myth that the symbol had an ancient Greek origin, the rings would subsequently be featured prominently in Nazi images in 1936 as part of an effort to glorify the Third Reich. The current view of the International Olympic Committee is that the symbol reinforces the idea that the Olympic Movement is international and welcomes all countries of the world to join. As can be read in the Olympic Charter, the Olympic symbol represents the union of the five continents of the world, however, no continent is represented by any specific ring. Nevertheless, the logo of the Association of National Olympic Committees places the logo of each of its five continental associations inside the ring of the corresponding color, the Olympic flag was created by Pierre de Coubertin in 1914. There are specific Olympic flags that are displayed by cities that will be hosting the next Olympic games and these flags should not be confused with the larger Olympic flags designed and created specifically for each games, which are flown over the host stadium and then retired. The first Olympic flag was presented to the IOC at the 1920 Summer Olympics by the city of Antwerp, at the end of the Games, the flag could not be found and a new Olympic flag had to be made for the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris
45.
2012 Summer Olympics
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It took place in London and to a lesser extent across the United Kingdom from 25 July to 12 August 2012. The first event, the stage in womens football began on 25 July at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. 10,768 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees participated, London is the first and only city thus far to host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948. Construction for the Games involved considerable redevelopment, with an emphasis on sustainability, the main focus was a new 200-hectare Olympic Park, constructed on a former industrial site at Stratford, East London. The Games also made use of venues that already existed before the bid, the Games received widespread acclaim for their organisation, with the volunteers, the British military and public enthusiasm praised particularly highly. During the Games, Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time, saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Brunei entered female athletes for the first time, so that every currently eligible country has sent a female competitor to at least one Olympic Games. Womens boxing was included for the first time, thus the Games became the first at which every sport had female competitors and these were the final Olympic Games under the IOC presidency of Jacques Rogge. The final medal tally was led by the United States, followed by China, several world and Olympic records were set at the games. Furthermore, the focus on sporting legacy and post-games venue sustainability was seen as a blueprint for future Olympics. On 18 May 2004, as a result of a technical evaluation. All five submitted their candidate files by 19 November 2004 and were visited by the IOC inspection team during February, throughout the process, Paris was widely seen as the favourite, particularly as this was its third bid in recent years. London was initially seen as lagging behind Paris by a considerable margin and its position began to improve after the appointment of Lord Coe as the new head of London 2012 on 19 May 2004. In late August 2004, reports predicted a tie between London and Paris, on 6 June 2005, the IOC released its evaluation reports for the five candidate cities. They did not contain any scores or rankings, but the report for Paris was considered the most positive, London was close behind, having closed most of the gap observed by the initial evaluation in 2004. New York and Madrid also received positive evaluations. On 1 July 2005, when asked who would win, Jacques Rogge said, but my gut feeling tells me that it will be very close. Perhaps it will come down to a difference of say ten votes, on 6 July 2005, the final selection was announced at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore. Moscow was the first city to be eliminated, followed by New York, the final two contenders were London and Paris
46.
Paralympic symbols
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The Paralympic symbols are the icons, flags and symbols used by the International Paralympic Committee to promote the Paralympic Games. The Paralympic motto is Spirit in Motion, the motto was introduced in 2004 at the Paralympic Games in Athens. The previous motto was Mind, Body, Spirit, introduced in 1994, the symbol of the Paralympic Games is composed of three agitos, coloured red, blue, and green, encircling a single point, on a white field. The agito is a symbol of movement in the shape of an asymmetrical crescent, the Paralympic symbol was created by the Scholz & Friends agency and approved in April 2003. The colours of the agitos with the white background stand for the three colours that are most widely represented in national flags around the world, the shape also symbolises the Paralympic vision To Enable Paralympic Athletes to Achieve Sporting Excellence and to Inspire and Excite the World. This Paralympic symbol was first used in publications and other products in 2003, due to limited time before the 2004 Paralympic Summer Games in Athens, the new symbol was not used by participating delegations during the Games. At the 2004 Closing Ceremony however, the flag that was handed over to Beijing had the new symbol, the symbol was first used in a Paralympic emblem at the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games in Torino. The first Paralympic flag used five pa arranged similarly to the Olympic Rings, but not interlocking, a new symbol created for the International Paralympic Committee in 1991 included six overlapping pa in a circle. In November 1991, the IPC members voted against the new symbol, however, the IOC made clear that it would refuse further collaboration with the IPC if the five-pa symbol remained in place. In March 1992, the Paralympic symbol was changed to a version utilizing only three pa, the three-pa version remained in place from the close of the Lillehammer Games through the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens, Greece. Each Paralympic Games has its own Paralympic emblem, the city that hosts the Paralympic Games creates a symbol to represent the event. See Category, Summer Paralympic Games and Category, Winter Paralympic Games for various Paralympic emblems and this design incorporates the Paralympic symbol, the name of the event, and one or more distinctive elements to identify the event. It is the responsibility of the International Paralympic Committee to approve Paralympic emblems for the Paralympic Games, the Paralympic emblems are used in promotional materials, by sponsors of the Paralympics, and on the uniforms of every Paralympic competitor. All emblems are the property of the IPC, atlanta 1996 – Nagano 1998 – Sydney 2000 – Three graphic shapes, portrays the Paralympic torch, echoes the sails of Sydneys Opera House. Salt Lake 2002 – Three distinct marks, A sphere over two broad fluid lines, Athens 2004 – Features the profile of an athlete—male or female—looking forward. Torino 2006 – Three graphic elements represent human figures creating an upward soaring movement, designed by the Benincasa-Husmann studio Beijing 2008 – Sky, Earth and Human Being, A figure of an athlete in motion, in the shape of the Chinese character zhi. The standard colours are green, magenta, orange and blue, created by designers at Wolff Olins. The emblem was released on the day as the emblem for the Olympic Games
47.
2012 Summer Paralympics
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They were the first-ever organized sporting event for disabled athletes, and served as a precursor to the modern Paralympic Games. Stoke Mandeville also co-hosted the 1984 Summer Paralympics with Long Island, New York, after its original host, at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore, the rights to host the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were awarded to London. As with the Olympics, the 2012 Summer Paralympics were overseen by LOCOG, LOCOG was responsible for overseeing the staging of the games, while the ODA dealt with infrastructure and venues. The Government Olympic Executive within the Department for Culture, Media, the GOE reported through the DCMS Permanent Secretary to the Minister for Sports and the Olympics Hugh Robertson. It focused on oversight of the Games, cross-programme management and the London 2012 Olympic Legacy, the 2012 Summer Paralympics used many of the same venues as the 2012 Summer Olympics, along with two new locations such as Eton Manor for wheelchair tennis and Brands Hatch for road cycling. Londons purpose-built Olympic venues and facilities, including the Olympic Village itself, were designed to be accessible as possible so they could accommodate the Paralympics. Some venues also contained additional accessible seating areas during the Paralympics, transport for London operated the Paralympic Route Network to facilitate road traffic between venues and facilities. The network provided 8.7 miles of lanes specifically reserved for Paralympic athletes, TfL continued to operate its Get Ahead of the Games website during the Paralympics, which provided updates and advice for commuters during the Games. Prior to the Games, concerns were raised by TfL commissioner Peter Hendy that Londons transportation system might not be able to handle the Paralympics adequately, Sevenoaks railway station was designated as the preferred station for spectators travelling to watch the cycling at Brands Hatch. Organisers chose Sevenoaks over the closer Swanley railway station because of its existing step-free access and excellent transport links, whilst organisers did not believe that Swanley would be able to have wheelchair lifts installed by the start of the Paralympics, the station finished their installation by early August 2012. The formal handover occurred during the ceremony of the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. This was followed by a presentation by Britain, which was similar to its presentation during the Olympics closing ceremony. It featured urban dance group ZooNation, the Royal Ballet, and Candoco, a double-decker bus drove around the stadium, guided by Ade Adepitan, to music composed by Philip Sheppard. The top of the bus was open and folded down to show a privet hedge featuring London landmarks such as Tower Bridge, The Gherkin and the London Eye. Cherisse Osei, drummer for Mika, and Sam Hegedus then performed, before the top of the bus folded up into its original form, both the Paralympic and Olympic flags were formally raised outside of Londons City Hall on 26 September 2008. British Paralympians Helene Raynsford and Chris Holmes raised the Paralympic flag, on 8 September 2011 Trafalgar Square staged International Paralympic Day, hosted by Rick Edwards, Ade Adepitan and Iwan Thomas, to coincide with a visit to London by representatives of the IPC. The event celebrated the Paralympic Games, showcasing and demonstrating the 20 sports that would feature during the Games and it also featured appearances by Paralympic athletes Oscar Pistorius, Ellie Simmonds and Sascha Kindred, and the unveiling of a bronze statue of Pistorius by Ben Dearnley. British Prime Minister David Cameron and Londons mayor Boris Johnson also appeared, two days later on 10 September, supermarket chain Sainsburys and Channel 4 presented Sainsburys Super Saturday, a family event at Clapham Common
