As you will be aware, the global financial markets have been significantly affected by the accelerating cases of the COVID-19. This has resulted, amongst other initiatives, in the lockdown of Italy and parts of Spain this week. It is likely that the situation will worsen in the UK in the coming days/weeks/months with the World Health Organisation  having now declared it as a pandemic.

At Clearbell we have been carefully monitoring the situation to ensure the well-being of our employees, to understand the evolving advice from the government and to minimise travel both from the business and personal point of view.

We test and update our contingency and business continuity planning regularly and are doing so again so we are prepared for unexpected events. Our staff are able to work remotely at home or alternative locations. We also can connect with our team, investors and service providers via Microsoft Teams, our video and telephone conferencing facility. In addition we are liaising with our key service partners to ensure they have appropriate business continuity plans in place to minimise disruption of service. We are in regular contact with our tenants to ensure that they have the support they need from us.

In the UK budget earlier this week the government announced £30 billion of emergency funding to support the UK economy underpinned by the reduction in interest rates by the Bank of England. It would hope that this would minimise the further decline in the economy.

Whilst this virus is a new phenomenon for us, it is perhaps too early to estimate the impact in terms of the real estate market. 

We will continue to keep you updated, but in the meantime should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Kind regards

Clearbell Partners