Movers and shapers of London’s smartest district

 
28 October 2014

The dealer

Elliot Moss, 43

Director of business development, Mishcon de Reya

Has worked in Midtown for five years

What do you do?

I’m one of the non-lawyers at the firm, building our reputation with new business, social impact programmes and international strategies. We are about to put on a children’s rights festival at the Southbank.

Any quirks to your work?

Every day there are free drinks and cakes. We get 15 per cent off local restaurants, including the Holborn Dining Rooms and half-price membership for Gymbox.

What tech do you use?

My iPhone, and I’m very appy with the apps. They are organised into sections for each of my four kids.

Tell us your tech rules

I activate the Do Not Disturb function between 10pm and 7am and there’s a strict “no tech at the table” rule at home.

How do you network?

Hush on High Holborn is perfect for breakfast meetings. I have poached eggs with smoked salmon and a flat white. The Chicken Shop at the Hoxton Holborn is phenomenal too.

What are your favourite aspects of Midtown working?

Midtown is incredibly well positioned. The City is 10 minutes away and I can walk to Soho House. It’s an area that works and it’s getting sexier.

The connector

Tass Mavrogordato, 52

Chief executive, inmidtown

Has worked in Midtown seven years

What do you do?

We are always looking at new ways to improve the area, so we work with everyone from TfL to the Metropolitan Police and the local council, Camden, to make sure Midtown is an exciting, vibrant place for workers and visitors alike. We also focus on environmental innovation, which involves organising partnerships for rooftop gardens — such as on the roof of law firm 90 High

Holborn which supplies the Rosewood London with vegetables and the hotel in turn gives compost back to the garden — plus urban bee keeping, secure cycle parking and closed loop recycling.

How do you work?

The inmidtown office is a small open-plan place in Sicilian Avenue. We take an innovative, problem-solving approach to all of our work.

Any quirks to your work?

A perk is being able to see parts of London that are usually secret. Recently we went to Victoria House, an amazing building in Bloomsbury where part of Skyfall was filmed.

What’s the next big work trend for your company?

This month we’re launching the Midtown Big Ideas Exchange to get businesses in the area together, sharing ideas and knowledge in a really unique way. It’s the first time any district in London has done this and it’s all part of what makes working in Midtown so exciting.

The foodie

Kimberley Tso, 31

General manager, Hubbard & Bell, The Soho House Group

Has worked in Midtown two months

What do you do?

I’m responsible for running Hubbard & Bell, a café, bar and grill, open from breakfast until the early hours.

Any quirks to your work?

All Soho House staff immediately become members of our food network, Cookhouse: it celebrates our unique food philosophy and the brilliant chefs working in our kitchens worldwide. It’s a great development programme, which is very experiential; we host everything from workshops, to research trips abroad. As part of this, I spent a lot of time in Brooklyn with our chefs ahead of Hubbard & Bell opening. It was really inspiring.

Tell us your tech rules

I’m always moving around, but try to check emails a few times throughout the day on my iPhone and iPad. Because of the nature of our work, as a rule we communicate important information face to face or over the phone, to avoid unnecessary delays.

What are your favourite aspects of Midtown working?

I’m having a lot of fun getting to know our neighbours after time working abroad at Cecconi’s in Los Angeles. There are some fantastic companies near Hubbard & Bell, like Google and Warner Bros, which bring all types of interesting people through the doors.

What’s the next big work trend for your company?

Coffee is something we are paying a lot of attention to throughout the Soho House Group. At Hubbard & Bell we enjoy drinking Origin Coffee, which we serve from a bespoke La Marzocco machine. We also stock House Press, our own fresh cold pressed juices.

The vlogger

Hazel Hayes, 26

Vlogger and resident of the YouTube lab

Has worked in Midtown three years.

What do you do?

I have a YouTube channel called Chewing Sand and work closely with YouTube, telling them how they can best collaborate with YouTubers.

How do you work?

I don’t have a desk, just my trusty MacBook Pro that comes everywhere with me. The YouTube office in Google is more of an informal hub for

everything in the production process, with a nice sofa area and production rooms that you can book.

Any quirks to your work?

The building is an inspiring place to bring people. The ninth floor has a gym with a great view of the Shard, as well as a library, massage rooms and a free canteen. On Friday at 5pm the beer fridges are opened and we let our hair down. But it’s the people that make Google. We have an enthusiastic workforce who are all super ambitious, friendly and have been carefully picked. It feels as much like a family as a team.

Tell us your tech rules

I switch off work email notifications when I’m on holiday, but generally working at Google means you can regulate your own workflow — if you’re up late one night you can come in later the next day.

The plan man

Tom Venables, 34

director, design and planning, AECOM

Has worked in Midtown eight years.

What do you do?

Recent projects include designing the Olympic Park and the World Cup Stadium in Qatar.

How do you work?

We hotdesk to save space. A tidy desk policy is encouraged although I try to get the same seat. When I’m out meeting clients during the day I sometimes find it easier to work in a café like Fairly Square on Red Lion Street. It does ginger martinis.

Any quirks to your work?

The office is cyclingfriendly. We’re part of the cycle-to-work scheme and I have a custom-built burntorange Condor Fratello bike.

What are your favourite aspects of Midtown working?

The area is great for entertaining clients. Favourite places include The Old Nick Pub, because it has lots of craft ales, and The Bull Steakhouse.

For more information on Midtown: http://inmidtown.org

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in