Posted on October 26, 2011 by John Cronin
The latest letting at the Alba Centre, Livingston has seen the occupancy rate at the office complex pass 90%.
Miller Developments has announced that it has secured a five-year lease on 6,300 sq ft of office space with web-filtering company Bloxx.
The firm has taken an office suite on the second floor of the Alba Centre (pictured), one of the multi-let office buildings within Alba Business Park.
The letting to Bloxx takes the speculative scheme to within 10% of full occupancy. Other recent tenants include Athena Smartcard. Existing tenant WCEC Architects has taken up additional floor space due to expansion. Earlier this year, media heavyweight BSkyB agreed to take space in the Watermark building, one of the larger multi-let schemes within the park. Rental prices have not been disclosed.
Alba Business Park, located approximately 15miles outside of Edinburgh at Livingston, comprises of ten multi-let office buildings within a 95-acre woodland setting. A range of office accommodation is available to let, with suites at the Alba Pavilions buildings starting at 1,700 sq ft. Last month the scheme was selected as the winner of the 2011 BCO Awards “Best Project up to 2,000 sq.m.” The building is BREEAM rated ‘Very Good’.
Commenting on the latest lettings Pamela Grant, Development Director, Miller Developments, said: “The new lettings at Alba Centre take the building to over 90% occupied which is very refreshing considering the current market conditions. Alba has a very impressive tenant line up including big named occupiers such as Sky and Elonics, highlighting its reputation as a central Scotland business park.”
Joint marketing agents are GVA and Jones Lang LaSalle.
Posted in West Lothian |
Tagged Awards, Business Parks, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on October 24, 2011 by John Cronin
Developer UK & European has secured Tate & Lyle as the first occupier of floor space at its One Kingsway scheme.
UK & European has secured its first office tenant at the One Kingsway building (pictured – website). The only other current occupier in the building is the Delaunay Restaurant, based on the ground and basement levels.
Tate & Lyle has signed for the top two floors at the London, Midtown located building. Agreeing to a 15-year lease, the firm has taken 24,780 sq ft at a rental price of £67.50 / sq ft.
Occupying a prominent corner of Aldwych and Kingsway WC2, the existing 1920’s building has been completely rebuilt with only the original facade being retained. Just over 79,000 sq ft of the 105,000 sq ft of office floor space remains available over floors 1 – 6. Floor plates range from 11,050 sq ft to 13,742 sq ft. The mixed-use scheme of retail, office space and residential units has achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.
Letting agents Farebrother believes that investments in Midtown office developments are set to exceed pre-recession levels. Reporting that annual investment to date in Midtown is nearly £2bn, Julian Hind, Head of Leasing, Sales & Development comments (pdf link): “We have upped our end-of-year projection for total office take-up to circa 2.4m sq ft. Total, named demand for new and secondhand space remains strong at 4.7m sq ft, up by 300,000 sq ft on Q2.”
Earlier in the year, Capita Symonds published a report indicating that Midtown rents had risen by 18% over Q1, 2011.
Joint commercial marketing agents are Jones Lang LaSalle and Farebrother.
Posted in London |
Tagged Rental Prices, Speculative Developments, Transactions |
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Posted on October 21, 2011 by John Cronin
Supermarket giant Asda has officially opened a second office base in Leeds, the home city of the company.
On Wednesday Asda CEO Andy Clarke presided over an official opening event of new company offices at The Mint building at Holbeck Urban Village, Leeds.
Asda, which has been based in Leeds since the 1980’s, has relocated approximately 350 staff into the new offices. Asda agreed to lease 38,000 sq ft of floor space over two floors at The Mint back in April and has since overseen a fit-out programme.
The Mint (pictured above) is an eight-storey, £17m BREEAM ‘Excellent’ office building offering total floor space of 117,500 sq ft. Asda has taken the first two upper floors along with some floor space on the ground floor. Floor plates within The Mint range in size from 9,150 sq ft to 16,150 sq ft. Developers Deltalord completed the speculative scheme in 2009 and 79,500 sq ft of space remains unoccupied.
Holbeck Urban Village is a mixed-use, regeneration scheme and is a joint venture between Leeds City Council and regional development agency Yorkshire Forward. The commercial space is being targeted at the creative, digital and new media sectors. Flexible office space is available across a range of new and existing buildings, several of which are Grade II Listed.
Commenting on the new Asda offices, Colin Hayes of Deltalord said:”The considered fit-out by Asda’s design team has fully realised the architects vision of a light-filled, high-tech modern office space. [The Mint] is now enlivened by Asda’s investment in the area.”
Rental prices have not been disclosed. Joint marketing agents are AWS Ltd and Savills.
Posted in West Yorkshire |
Tagged Listed Buildings, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on October 19, 2011 by John Cronin
Plans to demolish a well-known office building in Sheffield have received objections from locals who believe it should be renovated.
Hambleton House, (pictured) is the former headquarter offices the Sheffield-based South Yorkshire Transport Passenger Executive (SYPTE).
The offices have remained unoccupied since SYPTE relocating to new premises within the city six years ago. The property arm of SYPTE now wants to demolish the building as it believes the property is beyond repair.
Due to objections to the proposed demolition, SYPTE has now been forced to obtain full planning permission for the demolition. Campaigners hope that this will delay proceedings and create an opportunity to save the building. Local resident Neil Keally told the The Star: “A city centre building of this stature, history and architectural interest should absolutely not be allowed to be simply demolished.”
The site actually consists of two separate buildings, Hambleton House and a smaller adjoining property known as Castlegate Buildings. Located on Exchange Street, Hambleton House is a 26,000 sq ft, seven-storey office block dating back to the mid 1920’s. It is believed to have been constructed by the retailing family WH Smith. Castlegate Buildings offers 13,200 sq ft of floor space over two floors, half of which is suitable as office accommodation.
The buildings are in close proximity to The Square office development that is being developed by Carillion. The development consists of a Travelodge, a car park and office buildings ranging in size from 30,000 sq ft to 100,000 sq ft. SYPTE now occupies one of the phase-one office blocks.
It is still not certain if SYPTE will press ahead with the demolition. Commenting on the proposals, John Haddon, spokesperson said: “Other possible options are to refurbish the building and/or work with the council to maintain the building in some format.”
Posted in South Yorkshire |
Tagged Demolitions |
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Posted on October 18, 2011 by Rob Powell
Designers have floated proposals for a new office development in London’s Old Street.
Startup City would be an new addition to what’s become known as Silicon Roundabout, offering configurable office space to tech startups with a new enclosed public space on the ground floor.
Dubbed a “city-within-a-city” by designers, the building’s façade would be a programmable digital exterior offering advertising opportunities by the pixel and by the minute.
The concept is the result of a partnership between Space Station and 00:/ (‘zero zero’).
Space Station director Russell Chopp commented:
“The roundabout is a landmark opportunity to articulate and amplify what is happening in the area.”
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Posted in London |
Tagged Speculative Developments |
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Posted on October 17, 2011 by John Cronin
Construction company Carillion has been awarded a contract to build a significant new office development in the centre of Manchester.
Beating off competition from the likes of BAM Construction and Kier Group, Carillion has been chosen to build a speculative £60m office scheme at One St Peter’s Square in the city centre.
A 14-storey, 273,000 sq ft landmark building (pictured) is to replace the existing Elizabeth House office block. The ambitious scheme is a joint venture between developers Argent and Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund.
One St Peter’s Square is expected to be attractive to large, blue-chip tenants. A pre-let agreement with KPMG has already been secured for approximately 63,000 sq ft of floor space. KPMG have agreed to a 15-year lease and are taking the top three floors which offer floor plates of over 20,000 sq ft. KPMG are to relocate 700 staff from their current base at St James’ House on John Dalton Street. Rental prices have not been disclosed.
Designed by architects Glenn Howells, the building will offer mixed-use space at ground floor level including public exhibition areas, with 13 floors of office space above. The scheme is expected to achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating.
Commenting on the development, James Heather of Argent said: “Whilst we are delighted to have a 63,000 sq ft pre-let to KPMG, we still have almost 210,000 sq ft of Grade A office space available. As one of the only developers currently speculatively building commercial property outside of London it further reinforces our commitment to the scheme”.
Demolition of the existing building is being undertaken by Manchester-based Connell Brothers and construction is scheduled to start in April, 2012.
Posted in Manchester |
Tagged Demolitions, Speculative Developments, Transactions |
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Posted on October 14, 2011 by John Cronin
Empty office space at the headquarters of Scottish Natural Heritage is to be made available to commercial tenants.
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is to make available vacant floorspace within its award-winning headquarters building on a commercial basis for the first time.
SNH already sublets suites within Great Glen House, Inverness (pictured) to the Crofters Commission and Paths for All Partnership, both of which are public bodies.
Great Glen House is a three-storey office building that was completed in 2006 at a build cost of approximately £12m. Constructed on the same basis as for commercial office projects, the build was undertaken on a pre-let agreement at a rental price of £15 / sq ft. SNH subsequently exercised an option to purchase the scheme.
The 65,000 sq ft building comprises of flexible, open-plan office space along with meeting rooms, a library, workshops and fully-equipped gym. Incorporating a wide range of energy-efficient and sustainable construction techniques, Great Glen House is one of the UK’s highest accredited environmental buildings. A BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating has been awarded and on completion the scheme achieved the highest ever office BREEAM score of 84.01%. In 2007 the building was voted the best corporate workplace in Scotland at the BCO Awards.
Commenting on the surplus office space Joe Moore, corporate services director at SNH said: “[We are] continuously looking at ways of making the property more environmentally, operationally and financially efficient”.
Agents Knight Frank are marketing the second floor suite, extending to 4,898 sq ft, at a headline rental price of £25 / sq ft. Floor space is available for immediate occupation. Serviced office facilities are also available.
Posted in Inverness |
Tagged Awards, Public Sector, Rental Prices, Serviced Offices |
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Posted on October 12, 2011 by John Cronin
Following a pre-let agreement work has now started on a £2m energy-efficient office building in Chippenham.
Having a secured a pre-let agreement developers Summerfield are now pressing ahead with the final office building (artists impression pictured) at Methuen Park, Chippenham.
IT services company Bechtle Direct has agreed to a 10-year lease on Turnpike House, a two-storey, Grade A office building offering 8,200 sq ft of floor space.
Turnpike House will be an energy-efficient building and has been described by agents Alder King as being the “greenest building in Chippenham”. Expected to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’, the building will incorporate a range of energy-saving measures including photovoltaic cells on the roof and air source heat pumps. Summerfield has previously been awarded BREEAM ‘Excellent’ ratings on three other completed office developments.
Turnpike House is scheduled to be completed in 2012 and will be the fourth office building at Turnpike Park, part of the larger Methuen Park. The modern, 3.2-acre site is located in Chippenham and is 3 miles from J17, M4. Existing tenants include Herman Miller and Wincanton Logistics.
Commenting on the pre-let agreement, James Napp, MD of Bechtle Direct said: “[Our] company needs to relocate to larger premises to help us meet future challenges. The reputation of Summerfield and the time to construct the new Turnpike offices fits both our expectations and needs. We aim to be in our new headquarters during the summer of 2012.”
Rental prices have not been disclosed. Other office space within Methuen Park is being marketed at around £14.50 / sq ft.
Joint marketing agents are Alder King and Jones Lang LaSalle.
Posted in Wiltshire |
Tagged Business Parks, Rental Prices, Transactions |
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Posted on October 10, 2011 by John Cronin
A pre-let agreement has been finalised on offices formerly occupied by Bath and North East Somerset Council.
Trimbridge House (pictured) has been let in its entirety to specialist finance company Ascentric. The firm agreed to a 10-year lease in a pre-let agreement. Rental prices have not been disclosed.
The former 1970’s council offices building offers just under 21,000 sq ft of floor space over four floors. Floor plates range from 4,723 sq ft to 5,652 sq ft.
Trimbridge House closed as council offices in October last year when the existing lease expired. Agent and works manager Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has since overseen a £1.2m refurbishment project that has included new windows, a new glazed frontage and a full interior refit.
Owners and landlords Henderson Global Investors were confident that their speculative investment in the refurbishment works would generate strong interest from prospective tenants. Henderson purchased the centrally located Bath offices in 1999 and the premises were last refurbished in 1993. The accommodation was marketed as being available on either a whole-building or floor-by-floor basis.
Commenting on the letting Marcus Langlands Pearse, property fund manager at Henderson UK Property Unit Trust, said: “The fact that Henderson is happy to spend substantial amounts of money on the renovation works is a feature of its belief in Bath as a commercial centre combined with the excellent location of the building. We are delighted to have let the building in its entirety to Ascentric, a quality tenant.”
The offices were formally opened by local Bath MP, Don Foster. Ascentric has relocated 160 staff from existing offices elsewhere in Bath.
Posted in Somerset |
Tagged Renovations |
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Posted on October 7, 2011 by John Cronin
Earlier this week, His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh officially opened the new Ordnance Survey headquarters in Southampton.
The visit of The Duke of Edinburgh marks the official opening of the new building (pictured) that was completed earlier this year. Over 1,000 staff have already relocated from the existing headquarters in Maybush, Southampton.
Ordnance Survey (OS), an independent non-ministerial government department, now has start-of-the-art headquarter offices that cost approximately £40m. Main developers Kier began construction in April 2009 at a 15.5-acre site at Adanac Park, close to the M271.
Adanac Park is a new, modern business park set in 75-acres of landscaped grounds. When fully-developed the site will offer approximately 825,000 sq ft of floor space within several two, three and four-storey office buildings. Developers Barker-Mill Estates are appealing against a planning application refusal for construction of a private hospital within the business park.
The innovative 180,000 sq ft OS office building is located on plot 4 of Adanac Park. Consisting of a large three-story atrium with four connected blocks, has been designed to minimise carbon emissions and to be energy efficient. The range of sustainable construction methods deployed include a rainwater harvesting system, natural ventilation and lighting systems and a large ground source heat pump that cost £2.5m. The building has achieved a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’.
Commenting on the new headquarters, Vanessa Lawrence CB, Ordnance Survey director general and chief executive says: “Our new head office will safeguard Ordnance Survey’s long-term future as an innovative and world-class organisation based in the Southampton area. “
Posted in Hampshire |
Tagged Business Parks, Public Sector |
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