Posted on February 8, 2011 by John Cronin
Property developers BAM Construct UK have received planning permission for a multi-storey office block in Leeds.
BAM has secured planning permission for a second office at its Latitude scheme in the West End of Leeds. Permission has been granted for a new, 115,000 sq ft seven-storey office building although construction will only commence once a pre-let agreement has been agreed.
The building is to be initially called Latitude Blue and will be built next to an earlier 121,944 sq ft office development in Whitehall Road originally called Latitude Red (pictured). That building was sold in 2007 to IVG, a German property, in a £140m deal for a portfolio of 7 office buildings. Market reports have suggested that IVG has struggled to secure tenants for the building that has since been rebranded as No 1, Leeds. Indicative rental prices for the Grade A office accommodation are around £24 / sq ft. Marketing agents for the scheme are Knight Frank.
Latitude Blue will be built on a 10-acre site that could eventually offer in the region of 600,000 sq ft of Grade A office floor space in several buildings along with 650 residential apartments. BAM Director, Michael Smart, said of the proposed building: ‘This will be a high-spec development, designed and built to achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating to deliver energy efficiency and low running costs.”
The company indicates it can offer flexible floor plans and fit-out specifications configured by the prospective tenant. A build lead-time of 18 months is quoted. Agents for the speculative scheme are BNP Paribas Real Estate.
Posted in West Yorkshire |
Tagged Planning, Rental Prices, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on February 7, 2011 by John Cronin
An historic building in Cornwall could reopen next year as a mixed-use scheme if hoped-for funding is received.
The Old Duchy Palace in Lostwithiel (pictured) is a Grade 1 Listed palace and is one of the most historically important buildings in Cornwall. Plans have been submitted to convert the building into a mixed-use scheme of speculative, commercial office space and local community meeting space.
The building was last used as a masonic lodge and has previously been used for a wide range of purposes including administrative offices and the County Court. Constructed in around 1290-1300 the building was purchased by the Prince’s Regeneration Trust in 2009. Prince Charles visited the building last November to see for himself the after effects of flash flooding that occurred in the area (via Lostwithiel blog).
An application for a £400,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant was rejected last September but the Trust is now hoping that funding of approximately £200,000 can be secured from the European Regional Development Fund to add to funds already secured.
The revised scheme contains a mix of commercial and community use within the building. The basement will include a heritage interpretation, telling the story of the Old Duchy Palace. The main hall and first floor will provide commercial office space and meeting room / studio office space for community use. The main first floor offices will offer an approximate floor space of 700 sq ft.
Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive, The Prince’s Regeneration Trust said: “We have worked hard over the last few months to come up with a new scheme, one that although it has less community use than we had originally intended will still ensure an exciting and viable future for the Old Duchy Palace.”
Architects for the scheme are conservation specialists Purcell Miller Tritton.
Posted in Cornwall |
Tagged Listed Buildings, Renovations, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on February 4, 2011 by John Cronin
A family owned commercial property company with office schemes in the Midlands and the north has reported another profitable financial year.
Manchester-based Bruntwood has this morning published its latest financial results for the year ending September 2010 and again the commercial property specialists have seen profits in excess of £10m. The company primarily specialises in office space and serviced offices and tends to focus on regional cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Leeds.
Bruntwood has recorded an increase of 28% in new lettings across its portfolio of office accommodation. The total value of the company’s portfolio of offices was up 4% to £948m and its net increasing 3.2% to £310m. Turnover was up 3% to £100.2m while net profit fell slightly to £11.1m.
The company now manages a total of 101 properties affording over 6m sq ft of floor space and 1860 serviced office desks. The company returned to the market to purchase the 120,000 sq ft City House office block (pictured) in Leeds. Bruntwood now manage approximately 400,000 sq ft of floor space in the city with occupancy rates in excess of 90%.
The Manchester office market is the main area of activity for Bruntwood with the company reporting that it currently owns 20% of the available market, with managed floor space now exceeding 3m sq ft. Along with several Grade A office refurbishment schemes Bruntwood has had success with a speculative new-build scheme at 1 New York Street. The building is also Grade A rated and 68,000 sq ft of the floor space was let during the year. Office suites within the building range in size from 1,500 sq ft to 18,500 sq ft. Quoted rental prices are around £28 / sq ft.
Commenting on the results, Chief Executive, Chris Oglesby said: “Despite a tough market and stiff competition, we have delivered a very impressive increase in new lettings with a record year in Greater Manchester and continued success in our other three cities.”
Posted in Manchester |
Tagged Serviced Offices, Transactions |
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Posted on February 3, 2011 by John Cronin
A long-standing, eyesore office block in Gateshead is surplus to requirements and is now being demolished.
Tyne Bridge Tower (pictured) is a 1960’s, 13-storey office block that has stood empty for nearly 6 years. The unattractive, concrete tower is considered as being a blot on the landscape and stands in the way of a proposed £10m commercial, regeneration scheme.
The office block has been the subject of various proposals in recent years with developers interested in converting the building into apartments. However, a £500,000 demolition programme has now started with workers now stripping the inside of the building. The offices were last occupied by the Inland Revenue.
Regional development agency One North East purchased the building from UK Land Estates for £4m as the building sits within the proposed expansion of the Baltic Business Quarter. There are no current plans to construct a new building however, and the site is to be landscaped as part of the 7-month demolition works. Longer term the agency expects the site will be used for a speculative, mixed-use development.
The Baltic Business Quarter encompasses an area of some 21-hectares and office buildings offering 1.5m sq ft of floor space are envisaged. An expansion of the Gateshead Quays area is anticipated, especially in the creative sector. Councillor Martin Gannon said: “This area is at the heart of Gateshead’s expanding Creative Quarter and its removal will not only rid us of one of the last remaining blots on this area’s skyline, it will also provide space for future development”.
Due to the office block being in close proximity to neighbouring buildings, explosives cannot be used to bring down the building.
Posted in Tyne and Wear |
Tagged Demolitions, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on February 2, 2011 by John Cronin
A Lancashire based commercial property investment company has added to its portfolio with the purchase of a significant, Grade A, Manchester office block.
Investment company HIMOR Group has purchased the Ship Canal House offices in King Street, Manchester, for nearly £23m. The impressive, Grade II Listed building, located in the traditional business district of Manchester offers in excess of 71,000 sq ft of floor space and is currently let to multiple occupants. Recently signed tenant, CLB Coopers Chartered Accountants agreed a 10-year lease for the whole 6,665 sq ft fifth floor last November.
HIMOR Group has indicated it is on an acquisition trail and aims to double the £60m property portfolio it already owns. The company sold 40 Spring Gardens, a 100,000 sq ft Manchester city centre office building, last year for £47.5m.
WHR Property Consultants acted on behalf of HIMOR and have secured a deal that returns a net yield of 6.7%. The property sales literature from GVA Grimley indicates an average rental price of £24 / sq ft with rents ranging between £10 / sq ft and £28 / sq ft. The building has some basement parking and 10 floors of office space and is currently let to 8 tenants. The largest floor plate of 9,800 sq ft is on the second floor.
Mark Williams, WHR Property Consultants, said: “We had to compete with several funds to secure this deal highlighting the healthy demand for quality office investments in the region”.
This is only the fourth time the building has been sold since it was constructed in the 1920’s. Ship Canal House was last sold in 2005 for £19.3m to Catalyst Capital.
Posted in Manchester |
Tagged Rental Prices, Transactions |
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Posted on February 1, 2011 by Rob Powell
Photographs have surfaced of Google’s colourful new office in central London.
Designed by London-based architects, Scott Brownrigg, the interior design takes its inspiration from Brighton beach, with deck chairs, beach huts and huge posters of Brighton pier.
The doorways from the reception area into the main work area will bring employees and visitors through two large ‘O’s from the Google logo.
Ken Giannini, Interior Design Director of Scott Brownrigg stated: “It is little wonder that Google is one of the most desirable places to work in the UK. We have enjoyed every minute of this exciting project. All the Google staff are up for innovation, brilliant ideas and they like to be challenged. We also recognise that Google is a serious business and demands efficiency, value and solutions that can support their business practices. This project has it all – a fun working environment that also incorporates lots of practical solutions.”
Jane Preston, UK Facilities Manager at Google said: “The first impressions by visitors and our staff has been very positive. The project fits well with our real estate and HR strategy and will definitely help support our growth plans. We see the work environment as a major recruitment factor for us to compete for the best talent and this new office certainly does that.”
The new offices in Buckingham Palace Road will accommodate up to 300 members of staff.
Posted in London |
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Posted on February 1, 2011 by John Cronin
A business park in Swindon has reportedly accounted for more than 40% of the out-of-town office lets signed in 2010.
The Kembrey Park site (typical building pictured), on the outskirts of Swindon, holds a dominate position for office lets according to a report by London and Swindon based Keningtons. The chartered surveyors report that lets at the Highcross owned Kembrey Park amount to 70,000 sq ft of floor space. That figure is however largely made up of the letting of 58,400 sq ft of office space to technology company Motorola on a ten-year lease.
In total there were 8 new tenants who leased space in the business park in 2010. Keningtons say that office take-up in Swindon was 222,173 sq ft, a 71% increase on 2009. Out-of-town office space accounted for 160,982 sq ft of the total. Motorola relocated to the business park from another building within Swindon and took floor space within the 80,000 sq ft Trilogy Building at an agreed rental price of £14.50 / sq ft.
Kembrey Park consists of several office buildings of various sizes, many having been recently refurbished. Buildings are available to let in total as headquarters style premises or alternatively whole floors or flexible suites are available. The Cherry Orchard building has available office suites with floor spaces ranging in size from 700 sq ft – 5,000 sq ft with quoted rental prices of between £12.50 / sq ft – £14 / sq ft.
Highcross director, Nick Turner said “Kembrey’s strength is its supply of a wide variety of flexible, high quality space from 400 sq ft suites right up to 70,000 sq ft headquarters buildings.”
Joint agents are Keningtons and Loveday and Loveday.
Posted in Uncategorized, Wiltshire |
Tagged Business Parks, Rental Prices, Transactions |
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Posted on January 31, 2011 by John Cronin
Plans for a speculative redevelopment of the current Saatchi headquarters in Fitzrovia, London have been announced.
Property developers Derwent London are proposing a £100m mixed-use redevelopment at the site at 80 Charlotte Street in what would become one the largest developments in London. The current office block is home to advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi who lease the building from Derwent London. The existing lease is due to expire in March, 2013. Other office accommodation on the site is let to other advertising /marketing companies including Target Media, a tenant in an adjacent building in Whitfield Street. The current tenants will vacate the buildings when the leases expire.
The existing buildings on the 1.4acre site offer office floor space of approximately 230,000 sq ft whereas the proposed scheme (pictured) will include 320,000 sq ft of office and retail space along with over 50 flats and 15 affordable homes. Submitted plans for the scheme are detailed in applications one and two. The plans will be decided upon in late March.
The developers intend to retain the external frames of the office blocks, a technique that they have previously used on other office redevelopments such as the 157,000 sq ft Johnson Building in Hatton Garden. Simon Silver, head of regeneration at Derwent, said: “We really like retaining most of the buildings.”
Architects behind the scheme are Make. A pubic exhibition of the proposed development will be held from 4pm to 7pm, Thursday, 10 February 2011, Fitzrovia Exhibition Gallery, 43 Whitfield Street W1 (source Fitzrovia News). An indicative completion date of 2015 has been suggested.
Posted in London |
Tagged Planning, Renovations, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on January 28, 2011 by John Cronin
Newcastle City Council has announced the purchase of a multi-storey office and retail building in the city.
The council has purchased Higham House (pictured – image source), a 6-storey building for £5m. The transaction has been debt financed. The ground floor is used for retail units and the upper 5 floors are used as office accommodation.
The council intends to continue to rent out the retail units and offices and believes that it can make a profit with the rental income covering the loan repayments. Rental prices for office space within the building have been previously quoted in the range £15 – £15.50 /sq ft.
The purchase is not the first foray into the commercial offices market made by the council. In April, 2009 it purchased the empty Northern Rock Tower in Gosforth for approximately £22m. The glass tower, headquarters style offices were put on the market when Northern Rock collapsed during the banking crisis. The council purchased the 120,000 sq ft building and currently lets the floor space to environmental support firm Eaga.
The latest office purchase has been criticised by opposing Newcastle councillors. Newcastle’s Labour leader, Councillor Nick Forbes commented: “My fear is that the council will have a huge property portfolio of office space which will be difficult to let out and taxpayers will have to start picking up the running costs. At a time when services are being cut, this is ludicrous.”
Local marketing agent Naylors are currently marketing 3,196 sq ft of open plan floor space on the 3rd floor of Higham House. Rental prices are for negotiation and have not been disclosed.
Posted in Tyne and Wear |
Tagged Public Sector, Rental Prices, Transactions |
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Posted on January 27, 2011 by John Cronin
Construction of new, mixed-use building containing offices in the upmarket area of Victoria, London SW1 is set to start following the demolition of an existing building.
The speculative development at 1-7 Howick Place (pictured) will create a new building offering approximately 140,000 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation along with apartments and a ground floor retail unit.
Joint developers Doughty Hanson and Terrace Hill Group have appointed Kier as main constructors and the 18-month build is expected to start next month following the completion of the demolition works. Debt financing has been provided by Aareal Bank AG.
Six floors of the proposed 8-storey building will be made available for offices. Floor plates will be in the range 15,000 sq ft to 20,000 sq ft. The former, 155,000 sq ft building on the site was used by retailer House of Fraser as mixed-use retail and office accommodation.
Architects for the £45m scheme, Rolfe Judd, have designed a glass and red-brick building to complement the existing buildings in a conservation area. Planning permission for the scheme was granted in January 2009 after successful negotiations with the Mayor’s Office. The new building will incorporate a range of sustainability measures and is expected to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’.
Philip Leech, Chief Executive of Terrace Hill said: “We are already seeing rental growth in the Victoria office market which we expect to be sustained over the next three to four years.”
An autumn, 2012 completion date is expected. Marketing agents for the offices element of the scheme are Cushman & Wakefield and CB Richard Ellis.
Posted in London |
Tagged Demolitions, Planning, Speculative Developments |
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