Posted on March 25, 2011 by John Cronin
Developer St. Modwen has been granted full planning permission for the first office scheme within the proposed Firepool development in Taunton.
Having received outline permission for the mixed-use Firepool development last September, St. Modwen are now able to start work on the first office building. Permission has been granted for a 21,950 sq ft office building that is expected to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’.
St. Modwen have already secured a pre-let agreement for the offices with renewable energy and waste management company, Viridor. Viridor are to relocate 100 staff to the new, headquarters style offices, with a target completion date of summer, 2012. Construction work is expected to start next month. The company has agreed to a 20-year lease but it is not disclosed if the quoted rental price of £17.50 / sq ft was achieved. Viridor are the first commercial tenants to sign-up for floor space within the Firepool scheme. It is reported that further office construction will only start when pre-lets are agreed.
Gareth Griffith, Estate Manager for Viridor, commented: “Moving to new head office accommodation is an important step in meeting the future needs of the business within a top-quality development. It is part of our programme to upgrade support facilities throughout the UK, and follows recent moves into new regional offices in Kent and Taunton.”
Firepool is a joint venture between St. Modwen and Taunton Deane Borough Council and is the first phase of the redevelopment of Taunton town centre. When complete, Firepool will offer approximately 500,000 sq ft of offices along with residential accommodation and retail units.
Posted in Somerset |
Tagged Planning, Rental Prices, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on March 24, 2011 by John Cronin
A revised proposal for a multi-storey office scheme by Blackfriars Bridge in London has been granted planning permission.
The 20-storey office scheme (pictured), coupled with ground level retail units and a separate residential apartment building was granted planning permission by Southwark’s planning committee this week. The speculative scheme will offer approximately 314,300 sq ft of office floor space with maximum floor plates of about 12,000 sq ft.
The £60m scheme is being developed by Great Portland Estates (GPE) in a 50:50 joint venture, known as Ropemaker Property, with the BP Pension Fund. The site at 240 Blackfriars Road was purchased from GPE for an initial payment of £20.5m. Planning permission was granted after the developers agreed to additional section 106 payments, used to fund local projects and services.
Existing office buildings on the site, amounting 34,300 sq ft were demolished in 2008. These existing offices were purchased in late November 2005, with GPE paying vendors Royal London Asset Management £11m. KPMG were the previous main occupiers, paying an annual rental of £345,000.
The office building will incorporate various energy-saving measures such as a biomass boiler for renewable energy and a ‘chilled ceiling’ cooling system. A BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ is expected.
GPE announced the restart of the mothballed project in November 2010 and have given a target completion date of June 2013. There are no reported pre-let agreements and rental prices are to be confirmed.
Architects for the scheme are Allford Hall Monoghan Morris. Marketing agents are DTZ.
Posted in London |
Tagged Demolitions, Skyscrapers, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on March 23, 2011 by John Cronin
A new letting has been secured at a landmark office scheme in Milton Keynes.
International paper merchant Paperlinx has recently agreed to a lease for 7,711 sq ft of floor space within the award-winning Pinnacle office scheme in central Milton Keynes.
This latest letting takes the occupancy rate at the building to approximately 70%, although the official website does not yet reflect the latest letting. The Pinnacle is a £70m speculative office scheme and was completed in July 2009 by joint developers Hampton Brook and Aberdeen Property Investors. Total, Grade A floor space amounts to 250,000 sq ft of which 75,000 remains vacant. Among the other tenants, accountancy firm Deloitte and law firm Denton Wilde Sapte both agreed to pre-let agreements.
Described by the developers as “most prestigious development to arrive on the business landscape of Milton Keynes for more than 25 years”, the scheme was the first office complex in Milton Keynes to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’. The building was a winner of the Office Development Awards for Sustainable Achievement. The scheme consists of two buildings, The Pinnacle and The Mews. The smaller Mews building offers a range of self-contained offices with suites within the whole scheme starting at 5,000 sq ft. Quoted rental prices are £21.50 / sq ft.
Commenting on the latest letting, Ian Jackson, a Director of Hampton Brook said: “PaperlinX were initially attracted to The Pinnacle because of the high quality of offices the building provided, its stunning location and excellent communications for their staff.”
Marketing agents include Lambert Smith Hampton.
Posted in Buckinghamshire |
Tagged Rental Prices, Transactions |
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Posted on March 22, 2011 by John Cronin
Commercial property investor Wainbridge has secured the purchase of 3 office schemes located in London and Bristol.
Wainbridge, a boutique investment management firm focusing on real estate, has spent £39m on the office schemes on behalf of the Wainbridge Global Opportunities London (WGOL) property fund. The office schemes are located in London, Croydon and Bristol and offer a combined floor space of 264,858 sq ft.
The London office scheme consists of 3 adjoining office buildings in Chenies Street, Fitzrovia (pictured) providing 60,670 sq ft of floor space that is fully let to marketing group Omnicom until 2016. The purchase price for the offices was £24.5m and Wainbridge is to undertake a £4.5m refurbishment programme.
The Croydon office is the multi-let, 112,329 sq ft Sunley House building. The 12-storey premises, purchased from the receivers for £11m, are currently running at an occupancy rate of 67%. Tenants include Zurich Insurance and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The modern, Grade A rated building underwent a £4m refurbishment programme in 2008. Sunley House is near to the No1 Croydon scheme, a 166,500 sq ft landmark office building that Waingate purchased in November, 2010.
Wainbridge also purchased a Bristol offices scheme in a tied deal linked to the Croydon scheme. The 91,859 sq ft, 15-storey Froomsgate office building is located in Bristol city centre, adjacent to the commercial district. The offices, purchased for £3m, are currently running at an occupancy rate of 74%. Wainbridge is planning to convert the offices to a student accommodation facility (pdf link).
Posted in London |
Tagged Renovations, Serviced Offices, Transactions |
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Posted on March 21, 2011 by John Cronin
A significant letting has been agreed for floor space within a premium office scheme in the centre of Glasgow.
Developers HFD Group have announced the signing of a new lease to outsourcing and investment company Mercer. The latest corporate tenant at the G1 scheme have signed for 34,000 sq ft of floor space across the 2nd, 3rd and 9th floors.
Other G1 tenants include Ernst & Young and Maclay Murray Spens. The speculative office scheme is now running at a 94% occupancy rate, only 10 months after the building was opened.
HFD’s Development Director, Stephen Lewis said: “From the outset, we were convinced that we were setting new standards in office accommodation, which ultimately would attract the highest calibre of occupiers.”
The G1 scheme, located in the George Square area of the city centre, is one of the most ambitious schemes undertaken in recent years. The G1 building is a £70m redevelopment of an existing Grade A listed building and only the external walls remain as a facade. The building is considered as one of the most prestigious schemes in the Glasgow offices market. Rental prices for the 130,000 sq ft building hover at around £29 / sq ft.
Angela Pirie, Jones Lang LaSalle, acting on behalf of Mercer added: “Following a detailed review of Mercer’s occupational requirements in Glasgow we are delighted to have identified suitable office space and negotiated this lease on their behalf, matching a leading international consultancy firm with world class office space.”
The letting means that only 7,500 sq ft of floor space remains unoccupied on the 4th floor of the building.
Posted in Glasgow |
Tagged Listed Buildings, Rental Prices, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on March 18, 2011 by John Cronin
Commercial property investors Highcross have been active in the market, purchasing a quartet of offices in a single £9m deal.
Following on from a £6.7m deal for an industrial building in Aberdeen last month, Highcross have announced the purchase of a 4 office portfolio for £9m from vendors, Northern Britain Property Partners. The portfolio amounts to total floor space of 118,806 sq ft and the transaction is expected to generate a net yield of 12.53%, equating to an average rental price of £9.50 / sq ft.
The 4 offices are located across the north in Preston, Leeds, Sheffield and Hull and are currently multi-let to 27 tenants including Hewlett Packard, Big Lottery Fund and Lloyds Banking Group.
The largest of the offices is Marina Court, Hull (pictured) which offers approximately 39,000 sq ft of floor space that is let in flexible suites ranging from 400 sq ft up to 3,000 sq ft. Typical quoted rental prices are £6.50 / sq ft.
Another office scheme in the portfolio is Midgery Court in Fulwood Business Park, Preston. This development actually consists of 4 office buildings, totalling 48,708 sq ft of floor space, with each office offering 12,177 sq ft.
The remaining offices in the purchase are Carlton Tower, a 21,402 sq ft multi-suite scheme in Leeds city centre with offices offering floor space of approximately 1,300 sq ft and the 10,000 sq ft Carbrook Business Park near the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield.
Richard Pellatt, Director of Highcross’ Northern office comments: “The purchase represented an opportunity to acquire a quality office portfolio with a diverse regional spread and strong mix of tenants.”
Mr Pellatt also says that Highcross have an further £200m available for additional purchases in established regional locations.
Posted in West Yorkshire |
Tagged Business Parks, Rental Prices, Transactions |
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Posted on March 17, 2011 by John Cronin
Derby City Council is to invest millions of pounds from a regeneration fund to kick-start office schemes in the city.
Using £10m from the council managed Derby Regeneration Fund, 5 commercial office schemes are set to receive investment in an attempt to stimulate the local economy. The plan has been announced at the MIPIM property event in Cannes. Whilst not all of the office locations have been revealed it is believed that schemes at Friar Gate Square, Central Square and St Mary’s Gate are included.
Friar Gate Square in Argent Street (pictured) is a speculative, new-build office scheme that was originally announced in 2009 by property developers Lowbridge. The proposed scheme is for 2 office blocks offering more than 72,000 sq ft of floor space along with some residential accommodation. The buildings are to be constructed along with a car park on derelict land. The scheme is expected to cost in the region of £20m and construction work is set to start in May.
Developers Bolsterstone are expected to receive funding for their 50,000 sq ft Central Square offices scheme. The stalled development was initially scheduled for completion in 2009. The speculative scheme is expected to cost in the region of £12m and will offer flexible office suites starting in size from 2,500 sq ft.
A third, speculative scheme will also see a new-build project increase the stock of Derby offices. Clowes Developments are expected to receive funding for a 3-storey office building, offering 5,500 sq ft of floor space, to be built at 3a St Mary’s Gate. The firm is currently refurbishing offices within a 4-storey, Grade 2 Listed building at 50-51 Friar Gate.
Chief executive, Derby Regeneration Fund Adam Wilkinson said: “We listened to developers and found there was a need for this Fund. We’ve had no real new office development for 20 years – that’s been a failure”.
Posted in Derbyshire |
Tagged Speculative Developments, Transactions |
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Posted on March 16, 2011 by John Cronin
A tall office tower in the City of London is now on the market after the previous owners went into administration.
The offices at 6-8 Bishopsgate (pictured) are now being marketed for sale with a price tag of between £95m and £100m. The previous owners of the building, Canadian investment managers Jesta Capital purchased it in 2006 for £108m. Jesta Capital itself attempted to sell the building late last year.
The 24-storey office block offers total floor space of approximately 147,000 sq ft and is currently let to Deutsche Bank until 2015. The indicative yield for the building is 7%.
There were plans for a new replacement tower on the site but the design for the original DIFA tower were criticised and the proposed scheme lapsed. 6-8 Bishopsgate has undergone a refurbishment programme in recent years including a complete refit of the fire safety systems.
Last month another City office block that was previously owned by Jesta Capital also came to market. Peterborough Court in Fleet Street is up for sale at a price of around £300m. The 370,000 sq ft complex is actually two buildings comprising of the smaller 39,000 sq ft Daniel House and the larger 280,000 sq ft Peterborough Court. The remaining space in the buildings is used for retail and ancillary floorspace.
Formerly the offices of The Daily Telegraph, the building is currently occupied by investment banking giant Goldman Sachs. It is believed that Goldman Sachs pay approximately £18m per year in rent, or around £49 / sq ft, on a lease that runs until 2026.
Posted in London |
Tagged Renovations, Rental Prices, Transactions |
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Posted on March 15, 2011 by John Cronin
Microsoft Research has agreed to a multi-million pound deal for new headquarters offices in Cambridge.
In a £37m deal announced last week by Orchard Street Investment Management, Microsoft Research has signed for a new headquarters office scheme to be built at the CB1 development. Construction of the 77,000 sq ft building is to start immediately and a completion date of winter 2012 is expected.
Gary Felce, Partner at Orchard Street, said: “[This is] a landmark transaction for the Cambridge city centre office market, setting a new tone and a standard for the next wave of development to follow.”
CB1 (pictured) is a large, mixed-use scheme planned for a 26-acre site next to Cambridge mainline station. Developers Brookgate have plans for approximately 500,000 sq ft of Grade A office space along with student accommodation, residential, retail and hotel space. The revised scheme, announced last August, is a joint venture with Network Rail and a new station square is also planned.
The deal with Microsoft is seen as significant for the project and further commercial deals are now anticipated. The new-build headquarter building will be the first, new Cambridge office project seen in the city centre for more than 25 years.
The CB1 scheme has endured stop-start progress. The project was mothballed for much of 2009 due to former developer Ashwell Property Group entering into administration in December of that year. Brookgate was then formed and in summer 2010 had to submit revised plans for the first phase of scheme after the student accommodation buildings were described as “anywhere architecture” (pdf link).
Microsoft Research was represented by agents Jones Lang LaSalle.
Posted in Cambridgeshire |
Tagged Speculative Developments, Transactions |
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Posted on March 14, 2011 by John Cronin
An innovative, speculative office scheme that actually reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been completed in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
The Old Corn Mill conversion scheme (pictured) has been given a rare A+ energy performance rating as a result of the energy efficient features installed in the building. The office development is 1 of only 14 carbon negative commercial buildings in the UK.
A combination of technologies including solar panels, wind turbines and water power have been incorporated into the refurbishment of the old mill that dates back to around 1750. The building at Bullhouse Mill, near Penistone, produces more green energy in a year than it consumes, with the exported surplus effectively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, giving it an energy performance rating of A+.
Located at Bullhouse Mill, the converted and extended building is adjacent to the existing Bullhouse Mill Enterprise Hub which offers serviced office facilities from £35 / week for a single workstation. The 75,000 sq ft, mixed-use hub is supported by the Enterprising Barnsley organisation. Office suites within the Old Corn Mill range in size from 925 sq ft up to 6,305 sq ft. Quoted rental prices are £12.50 / sq ft and tenants are expected to benefit from reduced heating and electricity bills as a result of the energy efficiency measures used.
Developer Charles Booth says: “We believe there is a market for a sustainable office building, so whether that is for companies who believe in a low carbon future or others wanting to keep a low carbon chain, there is quite a wide market out there.”
Marketing agents for the scheme are Chris Rowlands and Co.
Posted in South Yorkshire |
Tagged Renovations, Rental Prices, Serviced Offices, Speculative Developments |
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