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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Posted on March 11, 2011 by John Cronin
A new letting of a floor within a new office scheme in Bristol has left the city short of available Grade A floor space.
Developers Ashfield Land have announced the letting of the second floor of their St Catherine’s Court scheme (pictured) to international assurance group Lloyd’s Register. The firm has signed a 10-year lease for the 6,987 sq ft floor within the building. Quoted rental prices are £28 / sq ft.
According to agents Alder King, this latest letting has left the Bristol offices market short on availability for Grade A floor space. Simon Price, partner at Alder King said: “There is only one Grade A building currently under construction in Bristol and as a result of this and other recent deals, the amount of top quality space that is now available is extremely limited”.
St Catherine’s Court, completed in 2009, has only the 6,805 sq ft top floor available for immediate occupation. The BREEAM rated ‘Excellent’ speculative scheme was the first new-build office in the Clifton area of Bristol in over 20 years. The 5-storey building offers total floor space of approximately 31,000 sq ft along with basement car parking.
Another Bristol office scheme with a troubled history was sold yesterday in a multi-million pound deal. Aerium, the European real estate fund manager, purchased the speculative One Glass Wharf scheme from the administrators for £83m. The 215,000 sq ft scheme came to market last September. Reports indicate that the offices have a current occupancy rate in excess of 80%.
Marketing agents for St Catherine’s Court are Alder King and WGH Property.
Posted in Bristol |
Tagged Rental Prices, Speculative Developments, Transactions |
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Posted on March 10, 2011 by John Cronin
The Co-operative Group has launched an £800m development scheme for Manchester city centre, to be known as NOMA.
The ambitious, mixed-use scheme (pictured) was launched this week by the Co-op at the MIPIM property conference in Cannes. NOMA 53 (derived from north of Manchester) is a commercial led, 4million sq ft scheme that will include 1.5million sq ft of office floor space.
The scheme has a construction timeline approaching 15 years with phase one already in progress. The Co-op is currently having new 326,000 sq ft headquarter offices constructed on the 20-acre site by developers BAM. Scheduled completion for the BREAAM rated ‘Excellent’ offices is September, 2012. The land is owned by the Co-op.
The Co-op envisages NOMA as a leading commercial centre, consisting of headquarters accommodation along with offices for media, financial and service industries. The speculative scheme will however have to compete for media industry tenants with the large, Peel Holdings MediaCity scheme at nearby Salford.
Martyn Hulme, Managing Director of Co-op Estates said: “This commercially led scheme will offer a range of floorplates to satisfy the needs of both large corporate occupiers and small and medium sized enterprises”. Potential tenants will be able to specify their exact requirements at the pre-let stage. It is not clear if construction of new-build offices will commence without pre-let agreements being signed.
The scheme will involve a programme of public realm works, to be designed by Netherlands based Mecanoo and the site will be integrated into the existing transport network. The Co-op says the scheme will generate all of its own power requirements via a renewable energy centre and smart grid. As such BREEAM ratings of ‘Excellent’ should be expected.
The Co-op is currently the sole developer for the scheme but expects to commit to joint ventures.
Posted in Manchester |
Tagged Media City, NOMA, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on March 9, 2011 by John Cronin
A research report published by a leading commercial property agent indicates that the Edinburgh office market saw a marked improvement in 2010.
In the latest report published by property agents Colliers International it can be seen that there was a 24% increase in transactions for Edinburgh offices in 2010 compared to the previous 12 months. Total floor space take-up during the year amounted to 446,000 sq ft. As Edinburgh is a leading financial centre, lettings to the banking and financial services industry remain popular although activity is below average. Lettings amounted to 54,500 sq ft during 2010, substantially lower than the 10-year average of 114,247 sq ft.
The public sector accounted for one of the largest lets in the city centre with the NHS signing-up for 37,000 sq ft of floor space at the imposing Waverley Gate building (pictured – credit). There were no deals recorded for city centre Edinburgh offices over 40,000 sq ft and only 6 for space greater than 15,000 sq ft.
Colliers suggest that current demand is below trend and that they expect demand from public sector tenants to soften due to austerity measures. The first 2 months of 2011 have been strong however with significant lettings secured. Virgin Money has agreed to let 30,000 sq ft of floor space within the prestigious, Grade A, St Andrews Square scheme. Serviced offices provider Regus have extended their lease on 20,700 sq ft at Conference House.
Colliers estimate that some 300,000 sq ft of floor space remains available for occupation with average, city centre rental prices currently around £27.50 / sq ft.
Posted in Edinburgh |
Tagged Rental Prices, Research, Serviced Offices |
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Posted on March 8, 2011 by John Cronin
Converted offices within a converted Lincolnshire train station have been officially opened by the local council and are now available for start-up businesses.
An empty part of Sleaford train station (pictured) that had been boarded-up for several years has now undergone an 8-month, £125,000 refurbishment scheme to create 8 self-contained offices.
The scheme was officially opened last Friday by North Kesteven District Council Leader Councillor Mrs Marion Brighton, OBE. The council has signed a 15-year lease on the 2,000 sq ft listed building, owned by Network Rail.
The speculative scheme, known as the Sleaford Station Business Centre, is being primarily aimed at start-up businesses. The office suites range in size from 97 sq ft to 883 sq ft and have a rental price of £10 / sq ft. Flexible lease arrangements are available. Enquiries from potential tenants have been received and an initial letting is expected in the near future.
The scheme is part of the wider Sleaford Masterplan which aims to encourage investment and economic growth in the town. Cllr Mrs Brighton said: “The railway station is an important building, at a gateway to Sleaford. For too long it has been an eyesore”. She goes on to say: “We can only hope that as tenants move in to these useful and attractive workspaces, they enjoy every prosperity and success.”
The construction work was undertaken by Taylor Pearson who were awarded the contract in autumn 2010. Marketing agents are Hodgson Elkington.
Posted in Lincolnshire |
Tagged Listed Buildings, Renovations, Speculative Developments |
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