Thursday newspaper round-up: Lloyd's of London, Heathrow, gig economy

Lloyd’s of London will announce on Thursday that it has picked Brussels as the base for its new EU subsidiary to secure a European foothold after the UK’s departure from the EU. The announcement by the world’s biggest insurance market will be made alongside its annual results, a day after Theresa May triggered article 50 to kickstart the process of leaving the EU. - Guardian

British businesses have cautiously welcomed the prime minister’s pledge to work for a “bold and ambitious free trade agreement” with the EU as part of the Brexit negotiations, but reiterated warnings that it would be disastrous for the UK to leave without a deal. Concerns have been rising among businesses in recent weeks that the UK could be heading towards a hard Brexit that would mean paying World Trade Organisation tariffs of about 5% on imports and exports with Europe. - Guardian

Heathrow’s overseas backers have flown in the face of any fears surrounding Britain’s triggering of its two-year divorce from the EU by pledging £650m in investments for major projects. The London airport, which deals with more than 75m passengers every year, said its consortium of investors would spend the cash in 2019 on projects likely to include the expansion of Terminal 2 and a new southern access tunnel for road traffic to the airport. – Telegraph

A controversial design contract for the £55bn High Speed 2 rail project has been abandoned by the US engineer which won the work following cronyism allegations. In February American engineering consultancy CH2M Hill was awarded the £170m Phase 2B deal to design parts of the high speed line running from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds. – Telegraph

Housebuilders have been accused of showing a “worrying” focus on quantity over quality after a survey showed a growing number of complaints from customers. The Home Builders Federation revealed that 98 per cent of customers have reported snags or defects to their home since moving in a year ago, up from 93 per cent a year ago. – The Times

Gig economy companies such as Uber are deliberately misleading their workers in an attempt to strengthen the case against reform of employment rights, according to the head of a government review. Matthew Taylor, a former adviser to Tony Blair and chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts, said that Uber drivers and others were being led to believe there was a trade-off between flexibility and job protection. – The Times