Posted on May 19, 2011 by Nell Frizzell
“Do you have the balls to actually smell what’s going on in business”, asks Lord Sugar as a parade of polyester, spray tans and cufflinks flap across the opening credits. I have no idea what this phrase actually means, but it has given me a rather unsavoury image involving mozzarella, jock straps, wheelie chairs and a nailbrush.
As we enter episode three of The Apprentice there are fourteen candidates left. For one job. Hold on. Fourteen people for one job? Six hundred people applied to work in the Helston branch of Tescos last November. Are we sure this show is as competitive as they make out?
As usual, Lord Sugar Ray Slobinson has woken up in the night for a pee and decided to ring the housemates. Poor thing; he must be getting lonely. Having made sure that no-one will have their judgement impaired by a decent night’s sleep, Lord Alan orders them all to the Savoy. Glenn is putting on deodorant and Natasha can’t find her knickers. I can’t help but think there’s more going on here than the cameras are allowed to show.
Anyway, the taxis are here and it’s time to, in the words of Roxy Music, do the Strand and, in the words of Louis Armstrong, stomp down to the Savoy. “There is no option but to win” says Vincent, who has woefully misunderstood the rules of this competition. Unless that is the Belgian pronunciation of ‘whine’.
The Savoy Hotel looks like a Dubai public toilet, as designed by Michael Jackson and decorated by Jackie Collins. However, according to the manager, there are still things left to buy. If it’s yet more marble tiling and gold-effect souvenirs then there’s a wholesale furniture outlet in Walthamstow that I think would be right up their alley. It’s called Elegant Interiors and has a bronze tiger coffee table in the window.
Like teenagers at a school disco, the teams are then shuffled in to a mix of boys and girls.
Susan, Dildo Baggins, Gollum Glenn and Felicity are in Team Venture. As is an extremely thin woman, dressed as Pavaroti (white cravat and all) who I swear to god, I’ve never seen before in my life. Susan is elected team leader, which may seem a good idea until you realise that, as a dealer in organic skin care, this is a woman who will pay £120 to rub tree sap in to her face.
Over in team Logic, a.k.a Team Spectacles, scouser Gavin is chosen to lead Commando Zoe, the Emerald arse Jim Eastwood, Vincent “Gaston” Dinosaur and Tom Pellerau, who appears to be wearing his dad’s glasses.
As this is a shopping list episode, the teams will have to spend other people’s money on an eclectic range of goods, including 52,000 pieces of cutlery, a top hat and 2,000 uniforms. Good training if any of them ever fancy becoming MPs then.
Sadly, Logic’s Gavin Winstanley is having trouble recognising a couple of things on the list. “There are a few items I have no clue what they are like… ice.” Well, you know what they say; the sun always shines in Liverpool.
Luckily, Natasha has had the blinding idea of phoning up another hotel and asking for all the answers. This is like when the school bully told me to give her my homework or she’d phlegm in my bag; I can’t decide whether to be disappointed that she’s cheating, or impressed by her sheer tenacity.
Over on Team Venture – which is very nearly an anagram of Ever Mutant, by the way – Orlando Bloom/ Dildo Baggins is trying to buy a top hat for a fiver. Sadly, he has gone to one of the most expensive milliners in London. This, as Nick is so keen to point out, is the place where the King of Tonga comes to buy his headwear. Whatever the hell that means.
As we all know, if you need a top hat quickly and cheaply, you just mug a goth. Or Jethro Tull.
In an equally expensive, but slightly more cleaver-heavy shop, the ironically-named Team Logic – which is an anagram of Atomic Leg, by the way – Jim Eastwood is haggling over meat. Now, The Apprentice goes to Smithfield every other ruddy episode. So why, the one time they actually have to buy meat, they go to Mayfair instead is beyond me.
But back to those mystery items. Because The Apprentice is basically the Virgin Trains of business-orientated telly, absolutely nobody seems able to access the internet. That’s right. Not a single person manages to jab the word cloche in to Google. So, instead we are regaled with questions like, “Where might we find a 10-inch bell in London?” Go to Soho and ask for Jumbo Jim? Just a thought.
Of course, the absolute hero of the episode is the ball-breaking fabric salesperson who treats the request for cheap organza silk with all the enthusiasm of someone offered an orgasm with Robert Kilroy-Silk.
Like any sane-minded shopper, by 4.30pm Team Logic are looking for a cup of tea. Camomile tea, specifically. Sadly, the box they’ve found is £990 and being sold to them by Mrs Smugpants – a representative from the Planet Retro. I know how they feel – I once paid £3.25 for a cup of tea and a Bounty in a Little Chef off the A30. Sigh.
So, as the shopping frenzy comes to a close, the teams return with their wares. A top hat, 500 loo rolls, half a cow and some camomile tea? Either the Savoy is preparing for some sort of aristocratic apocalypse or they’ve signed up to the most extreme series of Come Dine With Me to date.
Back in the boardroom the results are closer than Sir Alanstrad’s eyebrows, but Logic take it by just £8. To celebrate, the winners are taken to a ‘burlesque cocktail bar’. A post-work trip to watch semi-naked women swing their nadgers around as you get drunk on overly sticky drinks? Wow, The Apprentice contestants are finally acting like high-ranking business men. I just hope they don’t get a pube in their daiquiris.
Back in the boardroom, the losers are accused of “three hours of pontificating.” I mean really – in that time S’r’Alan could have fired up the AmstradB00B and applied a tanning wipe. These chumps really are wasting his time.
Gavin takes Vincent and Zoe back in with him for the final three. “If I see things going wrong, if the ship’s sinking, I bloody jump in there myself,” divulges Lord Sugarlumps. Oh how, I’d love to put them all in a leaky boat and see who jumps first.
“I know you’re Belgian. That’s where the waffles come from.” Lord Sugar hits Vincent with one of his trademark zingers. Or, should that be zingeurs. So, are we about to lose the axe-nosed, mock-Madeley, Disney man himself?
Thankfully, no. Gavin is given the boot instead. And rightly so. The man doesn’t know what ice is, for chrissakes.
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Posted on May 19, 2011 by John Cronin
Internet search giant Google has agreed to lease offices at a landmark building in London.
Google UK has agreed to a 10-year lease for 160,000 sq ft of floor space at Legal & General Property and Mitsubishi Estate Company’s Central Saint Giles Development (pictured – website).
Google is taking the entire 4th, 5th, and 9th floors and part of the 3rd and 6th floors within the mixed-use, 12-storey building. The Central Saint Giles scheme offers residential apartments coupled with 408,000 sq ft of Grade A office space and ground-floor retail units. Rental prices have not been disclosed but market reports suggest that a figure of around £65 / sq ft has been agreed.
Legal & General have confirmed that the office space within the building is now fully let. The first tenant, media company Mindshare took 78,000 sq ft last October. The colourful building, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, offers large floor plates of approximately 43,000 sq ft and has a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’.
Google is expected to continue to search for additional office space within London as it continues to recruit staff. The company already leases floor space at Belgrave House, Buckingham Palace Road. The offices hit the headlines in 2009 when a lunchtime barbecue got out of control and the fire brigade had to be called out. Google has recently commissioned a striking interior fit-out at the offices.
Commenting on the deal, Matt Brittin, MD of Google UK, said: “This is a fabulous building and we’ll be working hard over the next few months to fit it out in Google style, ready for some of our teams to move later in the year”.
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Tagged Rental Prices, Transactions |
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Posted on May 18, 2011 by John Cronin
A wealth management company is the latest tenant to take floor space in a prime Liverpool office building.
Cheviot Asset Management has signed a 10-year lease for floor space at 5 St Paul’s Square (pictured – website) in the commercial district of Liverpool city centre. Cheviot has taken 2,900 sq ft at a rental price of £18.50/sq ft, which is a slight discount to the quoted headline rental of £19 / sq ft.
St Paul’s Square is a mixed-use development amounting to 400,000 sq ft and includes offices, residential and retail space. Number 5 St Paul’s Square is a speculative development funded by a joint venture between Standard Life Investments and developer English Cities Fund. Other tenants include law firm DWF and commercial surveyor Edward Symmons.
Number 5, constructed during phase 2 of the St Paul’s Square development, offers 133,000 sq ft of Grade A floor space over 8 storeys. Largest floor plates are approximately 20,300 sq ft. The building was completed in June 2008 and had a development cost of £20m. The building has achieved a BREEAM rating of ‘Very Good’. Architects for the building were RHWL.
Commenting on the letting, Max Steinberg, chief executive of economic development agency Liverpool Vision, said: “We are delighted that Liverpool continues to attract businesses of this calibre … Cheviot’s location in St Paul’s Square is also a welcome endorsement of this new Grade A office space and underlines how vibrant and attractive Liverpool’s Commercial District is.”
The final phase of the project is Number 4, St Paul’s Square, an 8-storey 109,000 sq ft office building. Scheduled for completion in summer 2011, the speculative scheme will be the first office building in Merseyside to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’. Developers ECF successfully secured £8.8m of public funding for the development from both the Northwest Development Agency and the Northwest European Regional Development Fund.
Marketing agents include CBRE.
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Tagged Rental Prices, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on May 17, 2011 by John Cronin
Investment managers Rathbones have announced plans to relocate offices in London.
Rathbones, a publicly-listed company, has announced that it has agreed a 12-year lease on 42,200 sq ft of office space on the 3rd and 4th floors of No 1 Curzon Street, London W1.
The agreed rental price for the prestigious Mayfair offices has not been disclosed, but is expected to be high. Offices in nearby Savile Row were recently let at rental prices just under £100/ sq ft.
Agents DTZ are marketing a 13,430 sq ft lower-ground office suite within the building at a quoted rental price of £35 / sq ft plus rates of £13 / sq ft and service charges of £12.88 / sq ft.
Rathbones has indicated that it expects the relocation from its current New Bond Street offices to be completed by February 2012. The company expects the move will result in non-recurring charges of up to £5 million.
One Curzon Street was a speculative development, completed by Development Securities in 1998 at a cost of £180m. The building is now owned by the Abu Dhabi royal family, who purchased the building in 2005 for around £280m. The 215,000 sq ft building is occupied by investment and hedge-fund management companies, including an off-shoot of AIG that was considered to be at the centre of the 2008 financial crisis.
Commenting on the office relocation, Andy Pomfret, Rathbones CEO, said (pdf link): “The move to No 1 Curzon Street not only keeps Rathbones in the heart of Mayfair, but also increases our effective space in London by around 10%, through a combination of a larger and more efficient floor plan than our existing offices, without a material increase in the ongoing cost base.”
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Posted on May 16, 2011 by John Cronin
A landmark office building in Durham could be redeveloped as it nears the end of its working life.
The Milburngate House (pictured) office building on a key site in Durham City Centre is set become unoccupied as current tenants the Identity and Passport Service and the Department of National Savings and Investments plan to relocate to other offices in Durham.
The future of the building is to be discussed during a 2-day public consultation later this week. The building was constructed in the 1970s and Durham County Council chiefs believe the interior does not suit modern office operational requirements.
Councillor Neil Foster, cabinet member for regeneration at Durham County Council, said: “There is now an opportunity to take this very significant site to the market to see how it can best be redeveloped and have a positive impact on Durham’s city centre’s regeneration.”
The large office block is generally considered as being unattractive and was once described as “an assertive lump of hideous concrete” by architectural historian Alec Clifton Taylor. Architectural and urban design specialists Taylor Young have been commissioned to produce a framework and design brief for the potential redevelopment of Millburngate House. It has not yet been decided if the building will be completely demolished or converted in to more attractive and economic office space.
Office suites within the building ranging in size from 5,200 sq ft – 28,000 sq ft have previously been marketed at headline rental prices of £9.50 / sq ft.
The 2-day public consultation event is being held in the Lantern Room, at Durham Town Hall; Friday, 2pm – 7pm and Saturday 10am – 2pm.
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Tagged Public Sector, Renovations, Rental Prices |
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Posted on May 13, 2011 by John Cronin
A landmark office building in city centre Glasgow is back on the market after a comprehensive refurbishment programme.
Grosvenor Building (pictured – website) in Gordon Street, Glasgow is now actively being marketed as prime office accommodation following a £3m interior refurbishment.
The works have been managed by King Sturge Building Consultancy and undertaken by Ignis Real Estate.
The 7-storey building offers total Grade A office floor space of just over 50,000 sq ft. The offices are being marketed as total floor suites and floor plates range between 8,130 sq ft and 8,585 sq ft. Larger lets of 25,000 sq ft are available as is whole-building, sole occupancy.
The building, originally constructed in 1859, has had something of an unfortunate history with fire. Soon after completion it was burnt down but rebuilt in 1864-66. The building had another fire in 1901 and was rebuilt in 1907. A final fire occurred in 1967. The building was previously used for warehousing and retail units along with a restaurant on the top 2 floors. The building was converted to commercial office space in 1992. Ignis Asset Management purchased the building for £20.25m in 2006.
The office block has been previously occupied by the oil giant Shell, banking group HBOS and solicitors Anderson Fyfe. Rental prices are around £21.50 / sq ft with the 1st and 2nd floors expected to achieve a slight premium due to their larger windows and higher ceiling heights.
Commenting upon the refurbishment, King Sturge Building Consultancy Partner Ken Frew said: “We set out to raise the bar for Glasgow office refurbishments. The specification, finish and attention to detail are on par with many new buildings in the city and we believe that occupiers will be impressed by the quality of the fit-out.”
Joint marketing agents are King Sturge and GVA.
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Posted on May 12, 2011 by John Cronin
An interior fit-out of a striking office scheme in Glasgow has been recognised at an industry awards event.
At the regional lunch event of the British Council for Offices (BCO), offices within the Capella Building in Glasgow were judged to be the winners of the best fit-out award. Scottish law firm MacRoberts LLP, won the design award for their office interior that was designed by Haa Design. The MacRoberts offices total some 35,000 sq ft of floor space over nearly 4 floors within the Capella Building and Haa designed a colourful and open plan office environment.
The Capella Building (pictured) is a 12-storey office scheme with retail floor space at ground level.
Located within Atlantic Quay, the 110,000 sq ft glass structure is the centrepiece building within the International Financial Services District. The speculative scheme was completed in 2009 at a development cost of £26m.
MacRoberts LLP relocated from existing offices in Glasgow to the Capella Building in June 2010. Commenting ahead of the relocation Michael Murphy, Managing Partner said: “MacRoberts have made a very bold decision to secure what we consider to be the best office location in Glasgow for our business.”
MacRoberts agreed to a 15-year lease. Agreed rental prices have not been disclosed though there has been speculation that rents of around £24 / sq ft were probable.
Richard Kauntze, Chief Executive of the BCO, said: “The competition was fierce, and our winners are truly at the forefront of top quality design and functionality. We’re thrilled that Scotland continues to produce first class workspaces and it’s clear to see that the future is bright for Scottish offices.”
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Posted on May 12, 2011 by Nell Frizzell
It’s episode two and the booming strings of Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights is back in business. Which can only mean one thing; it’s time for The Apprentice contestants to joust to the death, using a ‘smart phone’, riding a noble black cab, wearing a suit of M&S polyester armour.
“If you go sitting in the office for three hours I aint going to be a very happy bunny”. I do wish he’d stop doing that. The vision of Lord Sugartits jumping around the Playboy mansion dressed as a bunny is making my mind turn inside out.
And so, with the initial episode still warm in its grave, we’re on to Episode two. It’s 5am and Lord Sugar has a message. I’m starting to wonder what exactly it is that the Baron of Clapton does between 2am and 9am. Shouldn’t he be hibernating? Or, I don’t know, starring in the opening credits of One Foot in the Grave? Anyway, Lord Sugar wants to pass on some vital business information and what better way than having a house full of half-naked strangers gather around a laptop for a quick blast of Chat Roulette. First up, it’s it’s Lord Sugar.
This week’s task is to make a mobile phone application. “Better known as an app,” for those of you watching this in 1987. The teams have just two days to design and launch this new app. A run-up time so guaranteed to result in a shit product that Apple refused to host them.
The teams are, once again, boys versus girls. If by ‘boys and girls’ we mean ‘thirty-something suburban sociopaths.’ In the back of their taxi – one sadly not driven by a homicidal, gun-toting Robert DeNiro – the boys are spitting lyrics and swapping rhymes on this whole ‘app’ idea.”What an app-ortunity”. “We’re fast app-roaching where we need to be”. “This is app-solutely tremendous.” “Did you have an App-le…?” Oh Vincent . Poor, sweet, copper-coloured Vincent.
With Lord Sugar’s unparalleled reputation for electrical innovation and groundbreaking technology, I assume that the Appstrad1000 will be easily downloadable on to your portable minidisc player using Netscape and a dongle made of cheese.
The first step on this highway to iHell is for each of the boys to pull up a small white pouffe, gather around a doll table and brainstorm: Traffic light? Popping bubble wrap? What the weather was a year ago? Steve Jobs better be taking notes – this shit is dynamite. In the end they go for an app that allows you to insult people in regional slang. And the name for this piece of mobile misanthropy? “Slangatang. That is brilliant.”
Over at the girls’ brainstorm Susan Ma takes what is known as the ‘Ryanair approach’ to making her point – taking several good passes over it, before eventually grinding to a halt 10 miles from anywhere. Fittingly, the girls come up with the idea of marketing the most annoying noises they can. This meeting would make a good start. As would Susan Ma lowing like a cow mid-insemination.
Over in their recording studio the boys have finished scraping the barrel of their impressions and have now set about tunnelling down in to the earth’s mantle. We’ve got a licencious Scouser and a Welsh sheep farmer (who appears to have spent a lot of time in Bangalore).
“It’s sort of bland and meaningless to me.” Yet again, Nick smacks it out of the ballpark.
After those poor designers and programmers have spent the night polishing these turds, the Apps go live, accompanied by plenty of footage of the BT phonetower. Because, you know, what says ‘mobile phone technology’ like a monument to the landline.
Unfortunately, during his sales presentation Vincent goes blanker than Paris Hilton’s CV. Someone must have spiked his foundation.
After a series of stilted, awkward meetings, both teams then head off to a gaming fair. Now, if this were a proper fair Leon would be getting mugged up against a Helter Skelter by an onion-smelling, B&H-smoking 14 year old, while Glenn Ward snogged a fat girl for a bag of candyfloss. In fact, this ‘fair’ appears to be a rally for dexterous virgins.
Edna delivers her speech to the fair attendees in what can best be described as a ‘Valium drone’, wearing a very worrying pair of elbow-length leather gloves, while the boys dress up like a stag party at V Festival.
After those interesting conference gloves I was expecting Edna to at least glide in to the boardroom wearing a gimp mask and fetish hooves. Instead, she settles for silver lipstick and a face like she’s squeezing a cat’s anal gland.
The results are in and the girls’ 24 hour downloads outstrip the boys’ slangeotypes by 6,000. The female of the species, it appears, understands the international language of mewling.
To celebrate the girls head off to dinner with Michel Roux, while Lord Sugaga delivers one of his zingers about how “the next application you’ll be making will be a job application.” Closely followed by the admission that “I’m bored.” Someone needs a biscuit and bit of quiet time on the mat, I think.
After a painful bit of indecision, Leon’s top heavy-face announces that it will be taking Glenn and Alex back in to the boardroom for the final selection. So, it’s between Dobby the House Elf, Orlando Baggins and Marlon Blando.
“If you and I were to go in to my business there would be no bush to hide in,” Alex tells Lord Sugar. I literally have no idea what he’s talking about. I’m just hoping it has nothing to do with bushels or bunnies. Is his bushwhacking enough to save him from the chop? Will his ability with the breadknife save his neck? Of course not – he’s all eyebrow and no bollocks.
Alex: you’re fired.
“You take a situation, learn from it and move on.” Unless, of course, you’re Stuart Baggs.
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Posted on May 11, 2011 by Nell Frizzell
“It’s the business deal of the decade.” As another hysterical voiceover breaks its broadcasting waters over the feet of business, Series 7 of The Apprentice is born.
“I started a global business, literally with nothing,” squints Melody Hossaini. Ding ding! Nineteen seconds in and already we have an incorrect use of the word ‘literally’. That must surely be a record. Unless, of course, old Melody managed to launch a global business without so much as a telephone, pencil or pair of knickers. Seeing as she’s been working with “over 12 Nobel prize winners in over 100 countries” let’s all just pray that, by now, she’s been able to invest in a toothbrush and some shoes.
“Don’t tell me the sky’s the limit if there are footprints on the moon.” Yeah, you guys. Stop blinding poor Melody with your motivational space talk. And, while I’m at it, don’t tell her to reach for the sky while there are rings around Uranus, either.
“I’ve got plenty of charisma and, yeah, I’m not bad looking.” Hold on. Is that a talking bikini wax? Is it Richard Madeley? No! It’s Gaston from Disney’s The Beauty and the Beast aka Vincent Disneur (you’d think Disney could have come up with a slightly more inventive pseudonym than Disneur).
“My social life, my personal life, literally don’t mean anything to me. I live to work; it’s all I do.” Oooh, Helen Louise Milligan sounds like fun, doesn’t she? I bet Christmas round at hers is an absolute scream.
“I am cold and hard,” says Alex Britez Cabral. Well, I suppose that would explain why all the female contestants appear to be wearing morgue makeup. “A limp handshake is unforgiveable,” according to Edna Agbarha. Not to mention a pimp handshake. Or a shrimp milkshake.
“Doing it the hard way, Lord Sugar went from market stall to market leader,” farts out that relentlessly dramatic voiceover. I suppose by ‘hard way’ we mean ‘hard for anyone to understand how he convinced the BBC this was a good idea.’
And so, at long last, the opening montage is complete. By this time even Rocky Balboa would be curled in the foetal position, mournfully pushing staples in to his forehead.
It is 4pm on day one and everyone has gathered in the boardroom for a pep talk from the Lord himself. Apparently, S’rAlan is frequently asked if it is still possible to start a business from a humble background, like he did, way back in 1987. The answer? ”Yes. Absolutely yes.” He really is like the British Obama, isn’t he? If Obama were a tortoise who made fax machines.
The first task will be to buy £250 of produce, add value and sell it on. Hold on. Is that how business works? I watched every single episode of the last series and had no idea that was what they were trying to do.
As usual, Nick and Karen will be “following you all the time and reporting back to me.” Contravening most European industrial laws, not to mention the odd human right.
With the contestants split in to gender-specific teams it’s time to come up with a really professional, slick, impressive name. Or, failing that, to throw around some meaningless buzz words until your mouth literally throws itself off your face in desperation.
The women consider Galvanised and Platinum before finally settling on Team Venture? Venture? I suppose Team Ept, Team Mirable and Team Roit were all taken. The men, on the other hand, go for Team Logic. Only on the Apprentice could Vincent’s question “Who likes ability?” be met with deathly silence and awkward glances at the floor.
So, it’s time to turn crates full of fruit and veg in to, well, small plastic tubs of fruit and veg. The boys are making fruit and juices; the girls fruit salads and pasta pots. If I go to hell, these people will be running the canteen.
“I’m just rolling with the punches and I want my team to do the same,” riffs lyrical master and team leader Edward Hunter. Well, he does have an extremely punchable face.
Over at the kitchens, both teams have dressed up as forensic scientists in order to chop oranges. That’s nice. Maybe next week they’ll dress up as firemen and surgeons to bake scones.
Once the produce is prepped and packed both teams head out to hit that hungry London market. Except they all stop selling at 4pm. Well, you know what they say; if you want to get ahead in business, always close up by teatime.
After Lord Sugarcubes has called everyone back to his for a wicked boardroom afterparty, Edward’s leadership starts to be criticised as “random”. This is like watching Prime Minister’s Question time, scripted by Hollyoaks. Then, in one of the more sinister moments of the show, Edward starts muttering “Don’t fit the mould, don’t fit the mould” like some sort of malfunctioning Terminator as Lord Sugar tries to impart his wizenedom.
The results are in and the girls’ £2 fruit pots have thrust them in to a storming £500 victory. Which can only mean one thing: the boys are sent to the Café of Despair. Imprisoned by the giant mugs of failure and sauce-bottles of heartbreak. It’s basically Central Perk, but in Hades.
Lord Sugarthepill finally calls Leon, Edward and Gavin back in to the boardroom for a man-to-hobbit-to-potato-to-ex-Everton-player chat.
“All I’m guilty of is being too ambitious,” moans Edward. Oscar Wilde, it appears, has been reincarnated as a stubbly accountant from Reading. Is his wit and determination enough to save him? Of course not. The man is thunderous moron.
Edward ‘hairy neck’ Hunter: you’re fired.
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Posted on May 11, 2011 by John Cronin
A rental deal has been secured for prime office space in Mayfair at a rental price approaching £100 / sq ft.
Hedge fund York Capital Management has agreed to lease office space at the prestigious office building at 23 Savile Row, Mayfair (pictured – website) at an agreed rental price of £97.50 / sq ft.
A 12-month rent-free period has been agreed as part of the 10-year lease agreement. Having taken an office suite of 7,610 sq ft floor space on the 4th floor, York Capital will be paying an annual rent of £741,917.00 to landlords D2 Private.
23 Savile Row is a landmark building of 7-stories, offering a total Grade A floor space of 100,000 sq ft. The largest floors can accommodate up to 200 people and unrestricted floor plates are up to a maximum of 16,500 sq ft. Market reports indicate that D2 Private are aiming to achieve rental prices in excess of £100 / sq ft for the remaining 25,000 sq ft of vacant floor space in the building.
In recent research commercial agents CBRE reported that in the 1st quarter of 2011 West End office prime rents rose 2.2% to £92.50 / sq ft. This compares to unchanged City office rental prices of £55 / sq ft and Canary Wharf office rental prices of £37.50 / sq ft.
In 2007, D2 Private claimed to achieve the highest rental prices for office space worldwide when it let 7,289 sq ft of floor space at its 12 St James’s Square development for £140 / sq ft.
Other commercial buildings in the D2 Private portfolio include Waterside, Paddington Basin and Woolgate Exchange in the City. Waterside is entirely occupied by Marks & Spencers as their corporate headquarters. Woolgate Exchange, a 350,000 sq ft office development is occupied by West LB Bank.
Agents GVA advised York Capital.
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Tagged Canary Wharf Group, Rental Prices |
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