Posted on September 23, 2011 by John Cronin
Developers have submitted plans for an office development on the site of a former bar in the Quayside area of Newcastle.
Owners of the former Stereo Bar, Tokyo Industries, want to demolish the existing building and replace with it a modern, eco-friendly one (artists impression pictured).
The proposed five-storey, oval building will offer commercial office space along with a retail unit suitable for use as a restaurant. Floor plates for office space will range in size between 7,125 sq ft and 7,580 sq ft.
In 2008 two redevelopment proposals were considered for the Stereo Bar site. An initial design for a larger, seven-storey office building was dismissed after feedback from the council and English Heritage. The larger building was considered to have too great an impact on the setting of the nearby Grade II Listed Keelman’s Hospital.
Architects Surface Light Space have designed a futuristic, oval-shaped building that will incorporate several energy efficient measures including natural ventilation and lighting, rain-water recycling and a partial, green roof. The building could expect to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’.
The site of the bar, which suffered a fire last year, is located toward the edge of the Eastern Quayside development. The area is a mix of refurbished warehouses and new-builds and around 60% of the total floor space is used as commercial office accommodation.
Rob Cameron, MD of Tokyo Industries, believes there is sufficient demand to justify the speculative development. Commenting on the proposal Mr Cameron said: “Only last week an article in the local press expressed concern over the lack of high quality office space being brought forward in the city.”
Local residents have until 28th September to submit letters in favour of or against the planning application.
Posted in Tyne and Wear |
Tagged Demolitions, Listed Buildings, Speculative Developments |
Leave a comment
Posted on September 21, 2011 by John Cronin
A real estate fund has made a significant investment in Manchester with a multi-million pound purchase of a landmark office building.
Europa Capital LLP (Europa) has purchased two buildings in city-centre Manchester, one of which being the One Piccadilly Gardens office development (pictured – image credit). Europa has also purchased a retail unit known as The Pavillion.
Europa has purchased the buildings from a private investor in an off-market transaction worth £67m. The purchase is a joint venture with property investor Paul Parkinson.
One Piccadilly Gardens was constructed by Argent in 2003 as part of their Piccadilly Place mixed-use development. One Piccadilly Gardens is a six-floor red brick building offering in excess of 167,000 sq ft of floor space of which 150,000 sq ft is Grade A office accommodation. The multi-let scheme is running at full occupancy and tenants include Bank of New York, insurers Allianz Cornhill and property agents King Sturge. Bank of New York are the significant tenant having taken over 90,000 sq ft.
Europa believes the purchase gives them a safe, long-term investment. Commenting on the transaction, Sandra Capan said: “One Piccadilly Gardens represents a good opportunity to acquire a modern, multi-let, office building at an attractive yield. The deal is in line with the Europa’s strategy of identifying well-located core assets in regional cities with a strong tenant mix but still with potential for active asset management.”
Only last month Europa invested £65m acquiring a portfolio office properties in a joint venture with Ediston Properties. The portfolio consists of seven office-based properties across the UK, offering total floor space of 316,000 sq ft.
Europa were advised by Savills.
Posted in Manchester |
Tagged Transactions |
Leave a comment
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Rob Powell
i2 Office is planning to open new serviced offices on the Greenwich Peninsula.
The fast expanding office provider has leased over 10,000 square feet of prime office space at 6 Mitre Passage (picture above, right).
The offices on the building’s 8th floor will offer superb views across the Thames and are just a stone’s throw from The O2, formerly known as the Millennium Dome.
Philip Grace, CEO of i2 Office, commented; “We believe that Greenwich Peninsula is going to be an attractive location for many businesses and are delighted with the new space, which will be available from November 2011.
“Not only is the area benefitting from major infrastructure investment but the attention to detail in terms of energy management, carbon footprint and the overall sustainability of the building combined with the latest in high speed IT solutions will make these facilities very attractive for organisations seeking more than just ‘modern, functional office space’.”
Offices in the building are also available from the local council’s Digital Enterprise centre.
Posted in London |
Tagged i2Office |
Leave a comment
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Nell Frizzell
Welcome to the Dragons’ Den: the only place on earth where five people in business suits standing on the edge of a sky scraper isn’t considered cause for alarm.
Our first pair of pitchers are the 18 year old whippersnappers Ryan Ashmore and Liam Webb who run the RKA record label, as well as tying their ties according to the Freudian football method: huge knots, massive girth and danglingly thick.
Ryan and Liam are looking for £50,000 investment in exchange for a 15% share. If you think 15% sounds a little small, consider the fact that RKA only give their artists 20% of their earnings, pocketing the other 80%. That’s label spelled p.i.m.p.
After looking at some photos of RKA’s ‘artists’ that I can only assume are screengrabs from mysinglefriend.com the dragons enjoy a 67-second buttock-clenchingly awkward medley of ipod choonz. As they say on Tin Pan Alley – if 8 seconds of poorly amplified pop in a tv studio can’t sell an artist, then nothing can.
Surprisingly, for two 18 –year-old boys, Liam and Ryan spend a lot of time in their bedrooms, where RKA is based. They have “overheads of about £2.80” apparently. Is that really how much a pot noodle supper costs these days? That’s inflation for you.
“This is one of the hardest industries to crack,” warns Peter Jones. In fact, all the dragons seem reluctant to invest, apart from Duncan Bannatyne who makes the rather bold offer of 79% ownership. And god bless their little shiny suits, RKA records actually accept.
Hoses, trumpets, indoor ski-ing: I do love the intermediary footage between each pitch. What could possibly come next? A woman called Yasmin Hossain, apparently, who’s brought in two young boys who are playing with their tiny little balls. How nice.
Next up is the marketing entrepreneur Richard Williams and he’s brought Colonel Sanders with him. Oh, okay, fine it’s not the Colonel. It’s Gill Estrander and they’re here to pitch some sort of Realtor Network. Poor old Richard is breathing like a beagle on a chatline and I have absolutely no idea what Gill is talking about. Still, I like his spunk. “The enigmatic entrepreneurs seem only to have confounded the Dragons,” says Evan Davis. Well, let’s see; there’s definitely talk of ‘agents’ and ‘networks’ so I can only assume these two heavy breathers are MI5’s most unlikely spies.
As we’ve seen before, all five dragons pretty much explode any time someone tries to talk to them. So, faced with the determination of Colonel Sanders, it’s a miracle they didn’t all just turn tail and flee to the nearest Franciscan monastery. Personally, I was just waiting for the Colonel to start throwing batter in Peter Jones’ eyes.
“The beast doesn’t change. And when it’s hungry, it wants feeding.” I have no idea what Hilary is talking about, but by god am I going to invest in some monster snacks tomorrow.
“Businesses don’t fail – people fail. Airplanes don’t crash – pilots do,” signs off Colonel Sanders. Entrepreneurs don’t lose pitches – retail-trading chicken magnates do.
After a doomed but mercifully short swing by some ungodly foodstuff called the Haggisdog we move on to a “women’s fashion piece” designed by Michelle and Steve Ellis. What could it be? Bonnets? Side saddles? Pinafores?
Not quite. Michelle and Steve’s business Fat Frocks is looking for an investor for Wingz. Not, as you may suspect, a sequined sanitary towel, Wingz are basically undersleeves for the biceply challenged. To paraphrase Theo Paphitis, imagine a sari blouse, but with pillow cases for sleeves. The profit margin is pretty good – from £2.80 cost, each pair of Wingz is sold on for £14.99.
Sadly, Deborah is out: announced in Deborah’s traditional style of a pitying smile and that idiosyncratic little movement she does with her hands. It looks like she’s trying to get chewing gum off the inside of a knuckle. Or, more likely, she’s physically itching to give someone the finger.
Unsurprisingly Hilary “Shoulders” Duvet likes the excess sleeve garment, but also finds herself unable to invest. As Paul McCartney (nearly) said, the life of Wingz is up and down.
Our final presentation comes from the dream team of Irish builder Aiden Quinn and Lancastrian interior decorator Gemma Roper. The pair are looking for £75,000 in exchange for a 15% share of Ecohab – their dome-shaped eco constructions that look almost exactly like beehives.
“This one is ideal for a family,” says Aiden, pointing to a 4cm high model. No it’s not Aiden – unless your family happen to be headed by Rick Moranis and you’re about to star in 80s classic Honey I Shrunk The Kids.
Actually, Aiden and Gemma are here to get investment for their eco pods – or ‘garden structures’ as they would like to be known.
“Peter Jones is not looking impressed,” says Evan. There’s a surprise. Despite the fact that “Some people find it incredibly attractive,” Peter Jones simply cannot warm to the wood-clad hive. Not petrol-powered enough for this particular magnate, I suppose.
“I’m all for green,” says Hilary Devey before going off on a pretty impressive rant about her domestic fishing lodge. I imagine this is where she hauls in a marlin, some great whites and a couple of humpback whales using just her shoulders pads as nets. Sadly, even her love of al fresco fishing can’t persuade the haulage high priestess to invest.
After a lot of extremely ballsy negotiating, Theo ends up offering Aiden and Gemma the full £75,000 but split in to a £37,500 equity and £37,500 interest free loan. Very clever.
And so we have come to the end: balls, beehives, bedroom records and some rather bonkers bar snacks. Have a lovely week!
Posted in Misc |
Tagged Dragons' Den Blog |
Leave a comment
Posted on September 19, 2011 by John Cronin
A Birmingham-based commercial property investment company has acquired two more office buildings as part of a recent multi-million spend.
Real Estate Investors plc (REI) has announced that is has purchased three properties in transactions totalling more than £13m. Along with the purchase of Southgate Retail Park in Derby, REI has acquired two office-based schemes. The rental income from the buildings will increase the annual rent roll of REI to approximately £6.1m, a figure up 50% since the start of 2011.
REI has purchased Peat House (pictured – credit) from Aviva for £4.4m. Peat House is a prominent, Leicester office building that is fully-let to KPMG. The building offers approximately 43,400 sq ft of floor space over five floors and is let until 2015. The annual rental income of £510,225 equates to an approximate rental price of £11.75 / sq ft.
REI has also acquired a mixed-use building in Birmingham city-centre. Gateway House, also sold by Aviva, is a 27,000 sq ft property offering retail and office floor space. Purchased for £3.85m, the annual rental income for the seven-storey building amounts to £624,000 but this will rise once a tenant is found for an unoccupied office suite of just over 4,000 sq ft on the sixth floor.
REI now has several Birmingham-based office schemes in its portfolio including Cathedral Place, the former headquarters of the Birmingham Midshires Building Society. REI itself now occupies the third floor of the 13,000 sq ft building. Commenting on the latest acquisitions, Paul Bassi, CE of REI said: “These properties are prime, high quality ex-institutional assets that provide good rental income and significant scope for asset management initiatives that will enhance capital values.”
Posted in West Midlands |
Tagged Rental Prices, Transactions |
Leave a comment
Posted on September 16, 2011 by Rob Powell
The owner of the iconic Tower 42 in the City of London has put it up for sale with a price tag of £290 million.
The former Natwest Tower is one of a clutch of large office properties in the City which have been put on the market by Blackrock and LaSalle Investment Management.
Tower 42, which is at 25 Old Broad Street, was Britain’s tallest building throughout the 1980s following its completion at the start of the decade.
It was eventually overtaken by the One Canada Square tower in Canary Wharf.
The other office buildings in the City that Blackrock and LaSalle are selling are in Liverpool Street and Bishopsgate, with two more in Old Broad Street.
“With limited supply and increasing demand exerting upward pressure on rents in the City market, investors can anticipate strong returns and considerable long term growth potential,” said Jeff Morton, managing director at Blackrock.
Posted in London |
Leave a comment
Posted on September 16, 2011 by John Cronin
Developers of an old London brewery and former offices of a music publishing company have secured new tenants following a renovation project.
The Phoenix Brewery (pictured – website) is a multi-let, Grade A office scheme located on Bramley Road within the London Borough of Kensington & Chelsea. The property was formerly known as the Chrysalis Building and was the headquarters of music publishing company Chrysalis.
Cube Real Estate (Cube RE) purchased the building in 2010 and have since undertaken a full refurbishment of the former Victorian warehouse. Having secured several new tenants including BMG Chrysalis, Live Nation Merchandise and Clearpoint Media the scheme is now running at an occupancy rate of 70%. Agreed rental prices have been in the range £26 – £29.50 / sq ft.
The refurbished building offers five floors of contemporary office accommodation, available to let as suites from 1,000 sq ft up to 20,000 sq ft. Approximately 8,000 sq ft of floor space remains available within the 28,000 sq ft building. The building offers offices on both Bramley Road and Freston Road. New tenant Live Nation Merchandise signed for 5,500 sq ft of floor space in July having been advised by commercial advisors Glinsman Weller.
Cube RE purchased the offices in May 2010 for £6.8m, which included an immediate leaseback to Chrysalis Music of four floors, totaling 8,559 sq ft at a rent of £250,000 on a five year lease.
Commenting on the redevelopment, Jonny Lawes of Cube RE said: “The contemporary offices retain the building’s original character which has proved popular with companies seeking an unusual and inspiring space”.
Architects for the scheme were Stiff & Trevillion. Joint marketing agents are Hanover Green and Pilcher Hersham.
Posted in London |
Tagged Renovations, Rental Prices, Speculative Developments |
Leave a comment
Posted on September 14, 2011 by John Cronin
A letting on behalf of an insurance company has been secured at one of the most striking office schemes in Manchester.
Commercial agent WHR Property Consultants has acquired in excess of 5,000 sq ft of floor space at the imposing 82 King Street building in city-centre Manchester on behalf of insurance broker Caunce O’Hara.
The incoming tenant has agreed to a 10-year lease at a rental price of £25 / sq ft. Caunce O’Hara are to relocate from smaller offices at City Wharf in New Bailey Street.
82 King Street is an imposing, Grade I Listed former banking hall coupled with a 14-storey office tower to the rear. The former home of the Bank of England, the scheme is arguably the most iconic office redevelopment in Manchester. The tower, which is connected to the banking hall, was constructed in 1996 and refurbished in 2009.
Suites within the building are available from 2,830 sq ft to over 6,100 sq ft. Serviced office facilities within the building are also available from providers including Regus. In total the scheme offers approximately 85,000 sq ft of floor space. The building is owned by property investment fund managers F&C REIT.
Caunce O’Hara had a requirement for city-centre Manchester office space. Alex Russell, Associate Partner at WHR commented: “We worked closely with Caunce O’Hara to understand its requirements and after identifying a shortlist of possible buildings, 82 King Street was deemed the ideal solution for the expanding company.”
Joint marketing agents for 82 King Street are GVA and Jones Lang LaSalle.
Posted in Manchester |
Leave a comment
Posted on September 13, 2011 by Nell Frizzell
Evan Davis’ must be a strange life. By morning he’s interviewing prime ministers, grilling politicians and heckling journalists. By night he staring uncertainly down a video camera in an abandoned warehouse, surrounded by empty lockers and bits of chain. Oh well, I suppose those moleskin suits don’t buy themselves. Talking of buying, let’s see what investable delights get dragged up those stainless steel stairs this week.
First up we have Nick, Richard and Sebastian with their self-pouring pint. The trio are looking for £50,000 in exchange for 15% ownership of their business. Well, I say business: I mean a prosthetic limb for a beer pump that allows a glass to fill itself with all the mechanical joy of an old man’s old chap. Perhaps they should call it The Brewers Droop Scoop?
The invention will, apparently, speed up the time it takes to get served at the bar by stopping all those lazy bar staff from holding each drink as it pours. Maybe we could get rid of locals, televised sport and chatting while we’re at it? In fact, perhaps we should just get rid of pubs altogether and just get ourselves wheeled along under a row of optics and barrels, like a conveyor belt of alcofun. Or ask Wallace and Gromit to design the entire pub, with steam-powered fruit machines, pulley-powered cigarettes and a huge plasticine barmaid called Brenda.
Theo Paphitis seems interested in the half-time potential of self-pouring pints while Hilary Duvet admits to pouring her first pint at the age of six. Mind you, judging by her cherubic voice, Hilary had already been smoking for a good three years by then. Anyway, it was experience enough to convince Hilary that what you need to get served in double time is twice the staff with double the training.
Duncan Bannatyne won’t be interested until they invent the self-pouring Irn Bru and Deborah is worried about speed pouring. Whatever the heck that is. However, both Deborah and Theo put together an offer of £50,000 for 30%. That, my friends, deserves a drink.
Next up, Jackie Thompson from Lincolnshire dresses all four dragons up in white jumpsuits and masks. Now, I hate to get biological here but Peter Jones’ jumpsuit isn’t quite long enough in the body, turning his CSI outfit into more of a wash’n’wear self-dividing cheese wire. Yum.
Our third presentation comes from ex-city trader Bola who has a dream of cashing in on snotty-nosed toffs. Quite literally. Bola wants to eliminate bogies, boogers and nose goblins with his natty new nasal tweezers (try saying that with a face full of mucus). In fact, the Cleebo tweezers are just a small part of Bola’s range. One can only imagine what products lie beneath that black cloth – snot plungers? Bogie swords? Phlegm thimbles?
Now, according to Evan Davis, “The dragons have got 17 children between them”. Imagine their house – Ma Dragon up in the attic, while the little Dragon Chidluns run out in the yard; like an episode of The Waltons, except they’re all ruthless capitalists and only four are allowed to sit down at any one time. Most worrying is who’s looking after these 17 children tonight if they’re all at work? Perhaps they’ve been locked in a childproof Dragon’s Pen.
“I’ve never failed at anything I’ve done.” Says Bola just seconds before failing to win any investment. Ouch.
We are then treated to a ‘canine safety accessory’ that I imagine could prove very popular with lesbian and divorced female dog walkers, if you know what I mean.
Next, Wendy Thompson from the Isle of Wight is looking for £50,000 in exchange for a 40% share in her enormous wooden mousetrap. Oh no, sorry, it’s a health swing. In explaining the benefits of the Health Swing, Wendy goes in to quite a formidable back story, including a passing reference to some cattle. Well, if you can’t blind them with science you can always give historical evasiveness a try.
According to Wendy you can even “watch television while swinging”. No wonder she’s such a “likeable entrepreneur,” if that’s what she gets back to on the island.
When asked if she’s ever started her own business before, Wendy launches in to one of her trademark historical answers: “I was born on a farm. Before I went to school I milked a cow.” When asked if she has taken any orders for her health swing, Wendy replies: “Well, I went on a cruise… “That’s the way Wendy – don’t let them tie you down.
Although none of the Dragons choose to invest, Hilary does offer to put Wendy in touch with the Stroke Association and put her time in to helping the septuagenarian entrepreneur. How nice.
Gareth and Brian Smith come along next with their own range of low fat snacks called Crips. Wow. They sound Tatsy. Sadly, the father and son team are hardly – how can I put this – a winning advert for low fat snacking, and neither is their track record of three years of enormous losses in a row.
Finally we come to former milkman Simon Booth from Somerset. Simon is one of those “lucky entrepreneurs to have turned personal passion in to a money-making venture.” Like a concubine then, or a gigolo.
Simon is willing to give up 10% of his business in exchange for £75,000 investment. His business, Kiddimoto, produces pedal-less wooden bikes for kids that look like motorbikes. Luckily, Simon’s daughter manages to demonstrate all the fun of a Kiddimoto without freewheeling head first down the steel steps of the studio’s artful gloom.
Now, despite turning over £490,000 last year, our milkless man only actually managed £30,000 profit. Which means that, somewhere along the line, he’s lost £460,000 – a figure that is unlikely to endear him to a panel of investors.
Despite being the show’s premium petrolhead Peter Jones doesn’t have the time to invest in Kiddimoto. I suppose being a “Telecomms Giant” must be rather time-consuming, what with all those telecoms children you have to terrify and telecoms bridges you have to lurk under waiting for passing telecoms goats.
Luckily, MC Bannatime and Hilary are on hand to offer the £75,000 for a 15% stake each.
So there we have it: snot, snacks, swings, “sticks” and one very happy Simon. See you next week!
Posted in Misc |
Tagged Dragons' Den Blog |
Leave a comment
Posted on September 12, 2011 by John Cronin
Head office staff at DIY giant B&Q have moved into new headquarters following the completion of the fit-out project.
Contractor Sir Robert McAlpine has announced the completion of a multi-million pound office fit-out at the new B&Q headquarter office complex in Eastleigh, Hampshire.
McAlpine was awarded the fit-out contract having also completed the main phased redevelopment of the B&Q corporate hub earlier this year.
The large scale development at Chandlers Ford, comprising over 300,000 sq ft, consists of headquarters accommodation, retail store support offices and a merchandising centre known as the “smart lab” where prototype store layouts are trialled. In order to support lorry deliveries to the smart lab a staff car park has been built above the office and lab space.
The three-storey building is built around an outward facing atrium (pictured) and has been constructed using a range of energy-efficient measures such as natural lighting and ventilation and recycled water usage. The building has achieved a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’. The offices have been designed to accommodate up to 1,500 staff and existing staff have now relocated from three separate buidings.
The existing office buildings were demolished and approximately 90% of the materials were recycled. The local authority reused items such as door frames and light fittings and floor panels and carpet tiles were relaid in the new building.
The headquarters are to be officially opened this month by B&Q ambassador and television presenter George Clarke and yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur who has a long-standing sponsorship deal with the company.
Architects for the scheme are BDP.
Posted in Hampshire |
Tagged Demolitions, Renovations |
1 Comment
Newer posts →
← Older posts
