Posted on August 31, 2011 by John Cronin
A commercial property investment company has announced the completion of refurbishment works at a landmark office building in Birmingham.
Salmon Property has now completed partial refurbishment works at One Victoria Square, a large office building in Birmingham city centre (pictured).
One Victoria Square, located only 200m New Street Station, is interconnected to a second office building called Swallow House. The ninth floor has been refurbished and offers 6,500 sq ft of floor space that could be split into two. Rental prices are available on request.
Salmon Property purchased the 118,000 sq ft multi-let office property in January for £17.5m from vendors Serviced Offices UK which is a joint venture between Aviva Investors and Hermes. At the time of purchase the building was running at an occupancy rate of 88% with tenants including serviced office providers Regus, Lloyds Banking Group and the Home Office.
Commenting on the property purchase, James Bladon, of agents DTZ said: “One Victoria Square attracted good interest because it presents realistic active management opportunities to add value through lease re-gears, refurbishment, re-letting and the development of surplus sites.”
The £17.5m purchase price gave a yield of 8.3% on an average rental price of £13 / sq ft. Matthew Meaden, fund manager for Salmon Harvester Opportunity Fund, said: “This property offers us numerous opportunities for improvement. The tenant profile is strong but rents are low for such a well located office […] there are some voids for us to further increase our returns.”
Sole marketing agents are Jones Lang LaSalle.
Posted in West Midlands |
Tagged Renovations, Rental Prices, Serviced Offices |
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Posted on August 29, 2011 by Nell Frizzell
Whichever ‘creative’ convinced the Dragons that the opening sequence should show them posing as Anthony Gormley statues while Eric Claptonlite guitarsturbates underneath, gets a slap on the back from me. Ludicrously funny every time.
For those of you who have been passed out in a Jacuzzi for the last five weeks, the Dragons are hotel and healthclub owner Duncan Bannatyne, leisure expert Deborah Meaden, retail magnate Theo Pathites, telecoms giant Peter Jones and Hilary Duvey, who made her millions in haulage. And no, I don’t know what telecoms giants or retail magnates actually do either.
First up is the former-actor Darren Madison and the director Helen Wright. Well, if actors can do anything it’s beg for change from their acquaintances. Black curtains are stripped off to reveal 2D stage sets, which is apt considering the acting style with which the pitch is delivered. Polka Dot Pantomimes sing their way through a thigh-slapping pitch about needing some investment. Well, you know what they say: when it comes to business there is nothing like a lightning costume change and some smiling Aryan children to get the ball rolling.
“Duncan Bannatyne looks confused,” says Evan Davis. It’s probably just wind. So, what will Polkadot Pantomimes spend this money on? Scenery, props, costume, marketing and special effects apparently. Bring on the underwater midnight pantomime!
What’s their biggest theatre, asks Deborah? “Clacton.” A word that brings joy to the heart of investors everywhere. Hilary thinks they could succeed eventually, without giving away 20% of their business. “I think your passion with probably get you there”: the very slogan used by the Clactontourist board. Finally, Peter Jones praises their visually arresting pitch. “Even the kids were perfect.” Alright Peter. Sadly Darren and Helen leave with nothing.
“The dragons always like to see an entrepreneur walking up the steps with some tasty fayre in their hands,” says Evan. Fayre? What is this? Dragons Denne: The Restoration Years? Anyway, chef Paul DeCosta is making sexy, seductive, sensual and gorgeous chocolate. “I suppose I’m massaging you from the inside.” Oooh, blimey. I hope those bars aren’t ribbed.
After a few subliminal flashes of clock, traffic lights, clock and locker we have Kate Castle with what appears to be a Dog in a Bag. I’m not sure, but I think the RSPCA may have a problem with that. Ah, hold on. No. It’s Bog in a Bag. Now that’s a different kettle of faeces altogether. It is, put simply, a stool with a hole, a bin bag and a sanitary pad to “absorb any liquid.” Yum.
Kate is looking for £50,000 for 15%. “Peter Jones looks bewildered.” In fact, he seems really rather desperate to be allowed to poo through his own stool. He’s all but cutting through that leather armchair as we speak. Kate has trained with a major supermarket, worked for a DIY chain as an import analyst and now struggles to get children to shit through holes. Duncan calls it “The New Commmode” which sounds like a late-70s New York musical movement to me.
“You’re very investable,” says Peter Jones. Well, it’s a chat up line of sorts, I suppose. “The camping and caravanning market could really turn over some really chunky numbers,” follows up Deborah. Wow. Thanks Deborah. That’s a mental image I hadn’t banked on. She then offers £50,000 but wants 30% of the business.
Hilary then offers the full amount for 25%. It’s a bidding war between blonde and brunette. Oh, apparently not. Kate goes for the Wedge Welly magnate Theo Pathites instead.
Next up is Steven Myberg: a South African artist looking for cash. Actors, directors, artists: and they said the Arts Council funding cuts weren’t going to have an effect. Steve wants £70,000 for 20% of his swinging chair business. For some reason Steve starts his pitch with probably the most ill-advised story about Apartheid-era police brutality the Dragons have ever heard. Quite how physical abuse of a minor will help to sell swinging bum-shelves remains, I’m afraid, beyond me. “I want Myburgh to touch everyone in theUK,” says Steve. Shudder.
Sadly, even Hilary cannot be bought for the price of a copper flower, especially as she has been to Morocco, where gardens are adorned with cheaper swinging copper seats.
Other failures include a wing-mirror protector and a hanging basket anti-theft device from the badlands of ruralShropshire
The final pitch comes in the athletic shape of Henry Buckley and JJ Harding, ex-Carphone Warehousers and current chairmen of Jog and Post – a sort of Victorian leafleting business for which young people run across the city delivering leaflets and trying not to get run down by vehicles or whipped by passing policemen. Henry and JJ want £50,000 for 10% of their business. It’s nice of them to synchronise facial hair specially for the pitch. Jog and Post are currently delivering 250,000 leaflets a week in the capital and have 200 joggers working all over London. “We are a small business and we’re bursting at the seams.” Rather like my Uncle Bob in his red tracksuit.
Peter Jones makes an offer for a third of the business, making him an equal partner with the jogging duo. Haulage Hilary, as the owner of a national courier business, offers £70,000 for a 30% share. (Nice move Shoulders!) Duncan Bannatyne then offers £50,000 for 25% which would mean that the beard buddies would keep the deciding vote in the company. Finally, Deborah then offers the full fifty grand, but for just 20% of the business, which is enough, as they say in Hollywood, to seal the deal.
So there you have it: shitting in bin bags, running through London and transvestites in Clacton. It’s all in a Dragon’s day’s work.
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Posted on August 26, 2011 by John Cronin
Owners of a business park in Lanarkshire have secured one of the largest out-of-town office lettings of recent years.
Bellshill-based HFD Group have secured an 80,000 sq ft letting with ScottishPower at their Hamilton International Park (HIP – pictured). The energy giant will bring an additional 1,000 staff to the business park, increasing their on-site headcount to 1,800.
HIP is a 116-acre site situated at Hamilton, 13 miles south east of Glasgow. The fully-developed business park will offer 650,000 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation within a range of modern office blocks. Serviced office suites from 200 sq ft are available within two buildings. Over the last couple of years HFD has targeted energy companies as preferred tenants for HIP and for offices at their Strathclyde Business Park. Other tenants include oil services company Wood Group and Spanish renewable energy company Gamesa.
HFD are investing a further £50m at HIP with the speculative development of a 223,000 sq ft carbon neutral campus. The campus is scheduled for completion by the end of the year.
The letting is larger than the recent deal secured with The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) for 60,000 sq ft of floor space at the troubled Maxim office park. Commenting on the ScottishPower transaction, a spokesman for HFD said: “We think it is the largest out-of-town letting in the West of Scotland in the last seven or eight years.”
HFD has also enjoyed success this year with one of its more recent office renovation projects. The award-winning, 130,000 sq ft central Glasgow office scheme G1 is currently running at an occupancy rate of over 90%. HFD only completed the development in May 2010.
Rental prices have not been disclosed for the ScottishPower letting.
Posted in Lanarkshire |
Tagged Business Parks, Serviced Offices, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on August 24, 2011 by John Cronin
Plans for a large, controversial office scheme at the site of an historic church in Aberdeen have been approved.
Stewart Milne Developments have been granted conditional planning consent for their £40m Triple Kirks development (pictured). Triple Kirks is a well-known Aberdeen landmark and was once the site of three churches that were constructed in the 1800’s.
The remaining, Listed church spire is to be integrated within the new development of four connected office blocks, the tallest of which being nine stories high. The scheme will create approximately 72,600 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation within a BREAAM ‘Excellent’ building. Stewart Milne acquired the site in 2008 and applied for planning permission in March.
Aberdeen City Council acknowledge the size of the development but believe that there is sufficient demand for office space in Aberdeen. Councillor Kate Dean, commenting on the planning consent said: “We need high-quality office development in the city centre to help sustain all of the local businesses. I fully acknowledge that it is a sizeable scheme – but the applicants have done everything they can to reduce the massing.”
The Triple Kirks site has been the subject of various proposals over three decades but none have come to fruition. The land itself is problematic due to the 1-in-3 slope across the 0.43-acre site.
Commenting on the planning consent Malcolm Deans, MD of Stewart Milne Developments, said: “With planning consent granted, we will be actively marketing the development and are confident that, with the current lack of office space of this quality and stature, we will secure a high profile pre-let.”
Conditions attached to the planning consent relate to satisfactory conclusions of legal agreements over road improvements and affordable housing.
Posted in Aberdeenshire |
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Posted on August 22, 2011 by John Cronin
Global infrastructure specialist Balfour Beatty has acquired an office fit-out company in a deal announced to the stock exchange this morning.
Balfour Beatty has invested £8m in the acquisition of Office Projects Group Ltd (OPL), a company specialising in the UK office fit-out market. OPL, with a London-based head office and a regional office in Birmingham, has previously worked on office projects for Balfour Beatty. OPL has annual sales in excess of £40m and typically works with a blue-chip client base including BAA, B&Q and Virgin Group.
In announcing the deal, Balfour Beatty reported: “The acquisition represents a strategic fit with Balfour Beatty’s existing capabilities, further extending the company’s skill base within the [office] fit-out market.”
OPL was co-founded by ex-SAS soldier Neil Laughton and his business partner Andrew Russell in the mid 1990’s. Laughton has been involved in the commercial interiors business since 1984.
OPL has recently completed a £4.3m interior fit-out project for City-based Ignis Asset Management at offices in 150 Cheapside.
Ignis had taken 32,000 sq ft of floor space of the BREEAM ‘Excellent’, landmark building based opposite St Paul’s Cathedral and tasked OPL with providing an environment that would unify teams relocating from two existing City offices.
Commenting on the 15-week project, Joyce Hardie, Head of Facilities at Ignis, said: “Our offices in Marylebone and St Paul’s had no brand consistency and the very fact that we had employees on two different sites meant that the team felt very fragmented and disparate. Our new premises are a true reflection of our business and offer visitors a first-class business lounge environment.”
Posted in London |
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Posted on August 22, 2011 by Nell Frizzell
As the camera pans across a smoke-streaked scene of what appears to be the ‘Chim Chim Cheree’ number from Mary Poppins, and the whistling industrial guitars of a particularly sinister rock opera shrieks in, this must be Episode Four of Dragons’ Den.
The five dragons have “the credentials, commitment and the cash,” claims the voiceover. Which is slightly ironic as most of the contestants they will see are clueless, crass and should be committed.
Still, thousands of entrepreneurs have applied so, in the words of a long-suffering boxing teacher, we’d better let them have a go. It’ll be funny to see their pain if nothing else.
I am very interested to see that Hilary has opted, yet again, for that timeless “eagle dressed as an astronaut” look with her voluminous white jacket.
Former radio DJ Bob Davis is first up. Oh look, he’s wearing a bow tie! And he sounds like Noddy Holder – this can’t possibly go wrong. Bob-a-Job is looking for £50,000 in return for 20% of his company. And what does this magical company do, to lure its CEO away from the glamorous world of late night phone-ins and spinning discs, I hear you ask? It manufactures Bob’s Box, of course: a huge bingo-cum-crystal-maze fun tank for corporate events and, one assumes, fetish nights. Hilary gets in straight away; lucky she’s wearing her personal protective equipment a.k.a the shouldernator.
“It looks like a very large bingo blower” spots the eagle-eyed Deborah Meaden. Honestly, you can’t get anything passed this woman. So far, Bob has made £600 a day and is looking to share his box with the nation. But let us hear more about the man behind the box: he’s known in the entertainment industry as the “car event king.” Imagine The Stig, if under that white suit was a red-faced man from the Midlands wearing a bow tie. Oh, and he also plays Thomas the Tank Engine at corporate events. Despite these rock-solid credentials, Peter Jones is worrying about Bob’s debt. In fact, he’s calling a grown man in a bowtie who used to pretend he was a train naïve. Who would have thought it?
Duncan then weighs in and forces Bob to climb the stairs all over again and re-present his pitch, for his existing company. Which, to Bob’s credit, he does very well. Although he doesn’t actually dress up as a monkey and play the drums, he does manage to convince Hilary to invest.“I know the other dragons will think I’ve lost my marbles, but I just loved being in the box.”
The second contestant, Camilla, loses out because of her slightly unpersuasive financial projections. Oh well, at least she’ll have a “fabulous home” to go back to.
Next up is former car dealer Fraser Allen, who is pitching his little piece of poolside revolution: The deckchair safe. He wants £150,000 but is offering just 5% ownership of the company. Which is a little like paying £25 for a beach towel, only to be handed a flannel. No wonder Deborah Meaden gives him a dressing down. Thank god he didn’t do the pitch in his trunks.
Remarkably, at this point, Dave doesn’t just climb in to the small blue box for a little cry. Instead he turns to Peter Jones for salvation. Sadly, it’s a no from Peter, which prompts Theo to go in to some ludicrously tortured analogy about a mythical balloon party.
Now we have the high speed contestant montage including labradors, shorts, sieves and something that looks quite like a urinal. Oh, sorry, no. It’s a mobile steaming shave unit. Imagine Man in the Iron Mask, as designed by Armitage Shanks. The dragons simply suggest holding one’s head over a bowl instead: a position I imagine many of them take after a night out in Rotherham with Hilary’s haulage lads and a 14 litre bottle of whisky.
Next up is Mexican chef Marcella and her amazing band of Mariachis. This is like watching The Ten Amigos. Now, I don’t want to play the psychic here, but I have just the tiniest suspicion that Marcella may have seen Levi Roots’ pitch, as she sings about fresh flavours and Mexican recipes. “A vivacious pitch,” says Evan, which is one way to describe a room full of salsa, pina colada and sequined men strumming guitars.
Marcella is looking for £75,000 to turn her range of Mexican food in to a household name. You know, like Dyno Rod or Tampax. Marcella is already selling to Selfridges and is in discussions with Waitrose, which explains how she has made £50,000 so far. However, Peter Jones isn’t sure about the product name, Rico, and Deborah and Duncan are both out.
Will Theo be interested? Apparently not, although he does give her some useful business advice: to concentrate on one good product. You know, like he has. Hilary then tells Marcella that she should have pitched for £750,000 and Peter Jones believes that she has to find her brand name. So, what’s in a name? Nearly a million quid, apparently.
Following the Mexican stand-off we whizz through baths, Cornish ski-ing and plate-painting pancakes.
This week’s final contestant is Robert Lewis from West Sussex who, in the words of Evan Davis’ voiceover, is “looking to turn thin air in to hard cash”. Have people learned nothing from Paul Daniels?
Robert is looking for a £100,000 investment in exchange for 10% of his company. His design can retro-fit advertising signs in to existing belt security barriers. It is “Neat, tidy and clean” and has produced a profit of £82,000 so far. Robert supplies to cinemas, The National Trust, a chain of pubs and bars and is currently approaching a major highstreet chemist. But why not airports, asks Deborah? This, I fear, is the business equivalent of tearing off a recently-affixed plaster and plunging your manicure in to a barely-healed wound. Either way, Deborah seems to have taken against Robert like Superman took against kryptonite. Duncan is also out.
Theo is impressed but he can’t invest in it because of Robert. Is it his ginger hair? Is it his suit? Is it his huge container load of profit coming from America? Peter Jones says that without the paper print out of an email confirming Robert’s American order he cannot invest either. Apparently Dragon’s Den actually takes place in 1992, rendering everyone involved unable to simply take out their smartphones and check the email online. So, in an extremely canny bit of bartering, Peter Jones offers the money for 100% ownership (later dropping to 49%), inspired by Robert’s 100% confidence in the American deal. This is like watching moose lock antlers: impressive, but not quite as impressive as stags.
Hilary makes an offer of £100,000 for 45%, but Robert still accepts Peter’s offer. Which is a little odd, as the money being offered seems to be less than Robert is going to make from his two containers heading to the States.
Still, mine not to reason why. Theirs but to do and buy. Those mighty five dragons.
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Posted on August 19, 2011 by John Cronin
A newly-opened innovation centre at a former airfield in Leicestershire has welcomed its first tenants.
The Harborough Innovation Centre (pictured) is a new £4.2m development located at the Airfield Business Park, Market Harborough.
Part funded by the East Midlands Development Agency and Harborough District Council, the speculative scheme was completed and officially opened in June. Centre management firm Oxford Innovation Ltd (Oxin) has been appointed to manage the centre. Oxin manages 19 existing business and innovation centres across the UK.
The council hopes the new centre will eventually create up to 180 new jobs in the town. The scheme has already attracted new tenants including business coaching firm Sporting Edge; production design specialists Broderick Projects and commercial property development agency Intali.
Commenting on the new office suites Adam Burdett, Managing director of Intali, said: “I was not expecting the quality of accommodation and service that have been delivered. I am delighted to have secured an office in what I am certain will be a hugely successful project for both Harborough District Council and Oxford Innovation.”
Harborough Innovation Centre offers 52 offices, eight studios and meeting rooms together with catering facilities and a business centre. Suites range in size from 170 sq ft to 990 sq ft and are available to let on flexible terms. The building has achieved a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’.
Airfield Business Park is a development by property developers William Davis and is a mixed-use development of offices and units. Planning consent is in place for an additional 250,000 sq ft of business space.
Posted in Leicestershire |
Tagged Business Parks, Serviced Offices, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on August 17, 2011 by John Cronin
A stalled office development in the heart of Glasgow looks set to be completed by the end of the year as contractors move back on site.
Construction work at the speculative Copenhagen Building (pictured) was put on hold last year when the original construction firm entered administration. However, the offices are now expected to be ready by the end of 2011 following Allied Irish Bank’s decision to award a £1.2m contract to Clark Contracts.
The Copenhagen Building, located on Hope Street in the International Financial Services District of Glasgow, is a redevelopment of two, Grade II Listed buildings. Incorporating a modern glass curtain wall and atrium, the 10 storey scheme offers 65,000 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation. Floor plates range in size from 5,600 sq ft to 6,765 sq ft. The building has a BREEAM rating of ‘Very Good’.
The speculative scheme has had a chequered history. Named after Copenhagen, the Duke of Wellington’s horse at the battle of Waterloo, the topping-out ceremony at the development was held in December 2008. The offices were originally scheduled to open in June, 2009. By April, 2009 the scheduled completion date had slipped to “late autumn”. That date was also missed and then construction works were suspended in 2010 when main contractors Chard Construction went into administration with debts of approximately £400,000.
On being awarded the contract to complete the works, Gordon Cunningham, Clark Contracts MD, said: “We very much look forward to completing the development which will, without doubt, be a valuable addition to Glasgow’s stock of Grade A office accommodation”.
Headline rental prices have not been disclosed.
Posted in Glasgow |
Tagged Listed Buildings, Renovations, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on August 15, 2011 by Nell Frizzell
So, we have “Five of Britain’s wealthiest and most enterprising business leaders,” sitting in a warehouse apparently designed by Travelodge and lit by the London Dungeon. According to Evan Davis, these fire-breathing business bods will “make or break the dream of budding entrepreneurs,” over the coming weeks. Imagine the love child of Jimmy Savile and Bill Gates. Actually, don’t. You’ll never sleep again.
According to Evan, they’ve all built their empires up from scratch. Arguably, the same could be said of mosquitoes.
“The best will leave with backing for their business. The rest will leave with nothing,” reiterates Evan Davis. I didn’t know they strip-searched them on their way out. Seems a little harsh.
The first business to pitch is the mischievously titled Rascal Dog Litter. It appears to be two women holding fluffy dog toys as a man shifts uncomfortably between them. This is husband and wife team Mina and Tim, plus their US investor Patricia. “As you can see, I love dogs” says Mina, which is a touch harsh seeing as her husband is standing right next to her.
“It’s a little bit much to expect your dog to hold his bladder for hours on end,” says the ever understanding Mina. Although, I feel duty-bound to point out that this is sort of what lampposts and bins were invented for. Well, that and to provide an early form of dog-specific Twitter. The kit centres on a “machine-washable grass pad”. Maybe Bodyform could approach the organic menstrual market for investment.
It’s nice to see that haulage expert Hilary has strapped on her white wing pads again for the show. Now, Hilary has some sympathy for Mina, Tim and ‘Tish as her dogs are apparently too shy to make like bears in the woods. So, she is understandably concerned about her “teacup yorkies”. I’m pretty sure they are a biscuit, but hey, who am I to argue with a woman wearing clouds as shoulder dressings?
Luckily, Patricia has a training spray. It mimics the smell of collaborative dog piss, which is a perfume that I fear Lynx cornered years ago. Still, its just the mood-maker my new kitchen has been looking for. The Rascal turnover may be up £100,000. Who knows? Not Tim. The profit figures are more elusive than a flushable dog toilet. Deborah doesn’t like the idea. She thinks dogs should go outside.
Duncan then shouts down Mina as she’s trying to explain that dogs are just like a family member. Well, I know my great uncle Bob certainly could have benefitted from a washable grass pad. Especially after Christmas lunch.
Fairly unsurprisingly all the Dragons are out. Which makes the sight of two strangers clutching fluffy toy dogs strangely heart-rending.
The second pitch starts, like all great business deals, with some booze. In particular an all-you-can drinks member’s bar. Which makes Deborah worry that all her staff will be pished. Some people have no vision. Well, no double vision, anyway.
Peter Heart from Poole is a fruit and veg man who appears to have brought half a pound of family with him for the pitch. This is more oddly dressed children than a Geldof family bash. And balloons. Lots of balloons. The business idea is to franchise the Heart’s existing fancy dress business, Fun Fancy Dress. They are currently making a fairly healthy profit and employ seven people. Presumably these employees aren’t all children dressed as Kanye West and the Village People. Sadly, as the conversation turns technical the mood deflates like a blow-up Rolf Harris costume.
But what’s this? Duncan Bannatyne is stepping in to save the day? Only with a 60% ownership deal, which then gets haggled down to £100,000 for 50%. Nice work Veg Man. Nice work indeed.
As Evan points out, entrepreneurs have to make their idea stand out. Which, in the case of Leon Lee from Kent doesn’t just extend to having the same name twice, but also stripping down to his vest. Or weight-loss clothing, as he calls it. Peter Jones whips on one of Leon’s batman suits, which has been proven by Preston University. That’s a little like saying that your protein shake has been proven by the Redruth Agricultural College, but what the hey.
Next up we have former electronic engineer Alexandre Tomich, who I’m pretty sure is wearing his dad’s corduroy jacket. Alexandre wants £80,000 investment for his Philharmonic, portable, remotely-controlled lights. Poor old Alexandre is more nervous, breathy and panicked than a sixth former asking his sex education teacher out for dinner. Never mind. Maybe he can blind them with his apocalyptic lights display.
“Duncan Bannatyne is not looking impressed,” intones Evan. Well, that makes a change. Alexandre is a self-made refugee who feels at home tinkering with the switches of Britain, he tells the panel. However, Hilary is struggling to imagine Alexandre being regular. The boy probably just needs some muesli. Or prunes.
Will Peter Jones offer the olive branch of almost total ownership? Sadly, no. But all Dragons treat the Grandmaster Flash with respect and admiration. So, that’s nice.
The final pitch comes from the brotherly love team of Jim and Richard George. These two – who have made the effort to come along wearing not just matching suits, but matching faces – approach the Dragons for £160,000 for 20% ownership. Their product is basically a plastic coat for fence posts that you apply with a blowtorch. You see, this is why I never wore shell suits too close to a radiator.
Before these fence jackets, the brothers George were producing what they call “door products,” whatever in the name of knobs and knockers they are. Doors, presumably. Which is probably a good track record business-wise, if not grammatically. No wonder Network Rail are interested.
Deborah offers all the money for 35% of the business, but she is rebutted like sheep spring-boarding in to a dry stone wall. Theo offers all the money, but for 30% ownership, while Hilary is happy to bunk up with Duncan and split the investment. Which means four offers on the table but for more ownership than they’d hoped for.
Sadly, the fabulous George boys manage to throw it all away with an audacious and possibly unwise set of refusals. As dragon after dragon pulls out, it’s like watching Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum get beaten about the head with a cement fleece.
Oh well. In the words of Evan Davies, at least it shows that if you don’t like a deal, you can always walk away. I hope you’re listening Noel Edmonds. I hope you’re listening.
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Tagged Dragons' Den Blog |
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Posted on August 15, 2011 by John Cronin
Plans for a new Business Quarter in Chester have progressed with the acquisition of a prime development site.
Manchester-based Muse Developments has announced the purchase of a 3.5-acre site from Lloyds Banking Group. The purchase price has not been disclosed.
The proposed Business Quarter, located by Chester railway station, is a major part of the ambitious, billion-pound One City masterplan proposed by Chester Council. The scheme is expected to create over 1,000 new jobs and will see the development of 500,000 sq ft of prime, city-centre office accommodation.
Phase one of the development will see the existing Premier House building (pictured) demolished and replaced by two new, six-storey office buildings offering total floor space of 150,000 sq ft. The offices will be constructed using latest energy-saving techniques and are expected to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’ ratings. Lloyds, which has other large offices in Chester, announced the closure of its Premier House call centre in July, 2010.
Simon Reynolds, director at GVA, who advised Muse on the acquisition, said: “This an exciting opportunity which will enable Chester city centre to compete with other key regional centres such as Liverpool and Manchester. The new Business Quarter will also provide Grade ‘A’ office accommodation, which will be a market leader in terms of design and sustainability.”
Chester already has a significant development that has proved popular with the financial services industry. Chester Business Park, located 1.5m outside the city-centre, is a 175-acre site offering 1,250,000 sq ft of prime office accommodation. Tenants include Marks & Spencer and Bank of America.
Muse expects to submit a planning application in early 2012, with construction to start the following year.
Posted in Cheshire |
Tagged Business Parks, Demolitions, Planning, Speculative Developments |
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