Posted on December 21, 2010 by John Cronin
A planning consultancy has suggested that the current Coronation Street studios in Manchester could be sold for redevelopment after ITV relocate to MediaCity.
The suggestion follows the announcement that ITV are to relocate the famous Coronation Street studios from the existing Quay Street site to the huge Peel Media owned MediaCity scheme at Salford Quays.
It is estimated that the current studios and offices owned by ITV will be left vacant by 2013 and a subsequent sale of the site could raise up to £60m.
Manchester based consultancy HOW Planning believes the Quay Street site is suitable for a redevelopment approaching 1 million sq ft. Senior Partner at HOW, Gary Halman suggests that the large site could support a mixed-use development of residential accommodation and speculative office space. He says: “those parts of the site that front Quay Street will be close to the high-density office developments of the city centre, which might make them more appropriate for new office buildings. Quay Street is more connected to the city’s new office core at Spinningfields”.
ITV was granted planning permission in 2007 to convert the Bonded Warehouse building (pictured) into offices and had planned to use the substantial premises as office accommodation for more than 800 staff. A proposed £18m conversion of the building would have created 330,000 sq ft of both office and studio floor space. At the time the BBC also considered a move to the building, though the organisation is now also relocating several production teams to MediaCity.
The regional ITV centre is relocating to the Orange building within MediaCity in a move that is being project managed by Mace Group. Mace are responsible for the offices fit-out within the building that are to be used by production, management and administrative staff. The relocation is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.
Posted in Manchester |
Tagged Media City, Peel Group, Salford Quays, Speculative Developments, Spinningfields |
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Posted on December 20, 2010 by Nell Frizzell
Episode Thirteen. Also known as Episode Surely One Of Them Must Win By Now. Or Episode Can’t This Moron Just Ring Reed Like The Rest Of Us? Or Episode If He Doesn’t Hire Someone Soon I’m Staging An Intervention. That’s right; it’s the final. And as the credits roll their last, and the foghorn narrator thunders his final humourless intro, it’s time to look back over all the biznez people too stupid and inept to fool a dimple-chinned geriatric into employment.
Bye bye Sandeesh, see yer later Hollyoaks Jamie, astaluego Bambi Liz, so long Mel, do one Naan-faced Stuart and farewell Sulky Laura; it’s been a pleasure. It’s been real.
As we rush headlong in to the most postponed first day since Prince Charles tried on his mother’s headwear, only milk-haired Stella and vertical-haired Chris remain in the fight to become Lord Sugar’s apprentice. Seeing as no-one else has bothered all season, perhaps now is the time for someone to address what an apprentice actually is. According to this Oxford illustrated dictionary sitting beside me (that’s right – I’m writing this from the 1980s, where we still have to use ‘books’ for information) an apprentice is a ‘Learner of a craft, bound to serve, and entitled to instruction from, his employer for a specified time.’ Not a single mention of sausage-flavoured crisps, sandy-knickered bikini shoots or public humiliation. Those lexicographers are idiots.
Undeterred, Chris runs to answer the phone at 6am to receive these, his final pride-stripping, esteem-quashing, CV-blighting orders. It must be pretty empty rattling around that house on their own. I wonder if they had an Amstrad slumber party last night, playing first generation, single-player, 1D doss computer games on the tank-sized Amstrentertainment system hidden in the basement. Or maybe they just painted each others’ nails and played with their mini Sugardolls.
Once the two milky bar kids have assembled at The Langham, Mini Mod Sugar turns up in his batmobile to stand in front of twelve square feet of false marble and fart instructions out of his grizzled mouth.
“Your task is to invent a brand new premium alcoholic drink,” yaps Sugatron. “And I think you’re gonna need some assistance,” he nasals. Cue awkward walk in of all the ex-canditates (well, all the candidates who haven’t learned the tough love lesson of the editing suite). So, it’s up to Stella and Chris to pick their teams for the final task. Yikes, it’s like the worst PE lesson ever! Paloma, of course, is the last to be picked. But where’s Baggs?!? Sitting in a bush outside Margaret Mountford’s house armed with a can of whiskers and a hacksaw, I’ll be bound.
Save for Handsy Marine Chris and Bambi Eyed Liz, the teams basically fall in to gender groups; Stella leads the women, Chris the men. Well, the men and a human orange apple pie (love you Alex).
For Stella’s team, Joanna wants a heritage drink. Which, apparently means whisky. Presumably it’s the heritage of groupie-rogering, fume-puking, guitar-plucking leather-clad alcoholics that she thinks will sell. Stella likes the idea of blue bourbon. Joanna likes ‘a twist of lime’. Hey gals, why not just add a shot of cold puke and be done with it?
Over on Chris’s team, talk turns to spiced rum. Perhaps rum cubed. Rum three times? Why not have a little boy whispering “redrumredrumredrum” in your marketing? It’d be a knockout! Meanwhile, the girls go for urbon bourbon with a touch of honey and spice. I guess bin gin and frisky whisky didn’t make the grade. Shame.
Chris’ alcoholic cuboid is apparently going to include white rum, pomegranate and aromatic bitters and will be called Prism. “Like a pyramid is like a prism….?”
So, the drinks done (or not, in Stella’s case) it’s time to think about advertising. The whisky mists are advised against showing shots. Frankly, with competitors like this I’d go for full vaccines.
The boys, on the other hand, are warned off sexualised adverts. So, no licking lips, no boozy dates, and absolutely no close ups of rohypnol.
So, with the product in place and the adverts filmed it’s time to plan that all-important presentation. “It’s the balance of making sure there’s emotion in there. But equally not being something I’m not” drawls Christopher the Monotonbot.
The presentation ceremony is quite possibly the worst I’ve ever seen; the bottle of Prism is passed around like an enormous alcoholic metronome as dancing girls buck and jolt to ear-wrenching 90s pop dance. We then move on to a truly dreadful advert. Prism apparently ‘reflects every side of you’. So be careful not to bend over in the shower. The bottle is so dangerous it might as well be called The Pomgrenade.
On to Stella. “The proposition is simple: it’s the new way of drinking bourbon,” says Stella. Instead of drinking it up your arse, or down your legs, like we usually do.
So, hungover (and possibly blind, if that load of moonshine is anything to go by) it’s time to head to the boardroom for the last time. Marine Chris stands behind his female team, meekly covering his bollocks like a footballer in a penalty shootout.
Eagle-nosed Nick tells Lord Sugardrop that Monotone Chris may be “no Richard Burton, but he’s come a long way.” Joanna, who has had her makeup put on by a particularly ham-fisted transvestite, tells Alanstrad that Stella is ‘the girl for the job’.
Which must surely mean that it’s like for Alan’s Final Thought. It all comes down to experience. Does he want young blood or old hacks? Does he want a green shoot or a thick trunk? Does he want a ‘revered theological scholar’ from the upper crust or a banker from Europe’s largest council estate?
After much dithering (during which I assume Lord Sugar is desperately trying to remember why he came in here and what he was looking for while making involuntary scissor movements with his fingers) the human tortoise comes to a decision. Stella will be his apprentice. And the search is over.
Thank god. Or Godstrad as he shall henceforth be known.
Posted in Misc |
Tagged Apprentice Blog |
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Posted on December 20, 2010 by John Cronin
Plans for a new, multi-million pound council office building in Rochdale moved a step closer after planning permission was granted at the last committee meeting.
Rochdale Council intends to construct a £50m civic centre (pictured) that will offer office accommodation for 2,000 council workers, a public library and new restaurant and cafe floor space. A final decision from the Regulatory Committee is expected to be a formality. The new building is earmarked for an area of empty land next to the River Roch that was previously used as a car park. The proposed building will offer approximately 181,000 sq ft of floor space in a 7-storey scheme of which 166,000 sq ft is designated for office space.
As seen by several other county councils, Rochdale Council is suggesting that the consolidation of separate offices in to a single, larger office building will be cost effective in the longer term. Once the new building is complete the main, existing civic office building – known locally as the Black Box (pictured) – will be demolished to make way for a speculative retail scheme.
The proposed civic office development follows on from the 2007 Rochdale Riverside Masterplan that proposed 5 new buildings that would offer either significant office space or residential accommodation.
Architects for the new building Faulkner Browns have designed a building that they expect to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ as a minimum and with the possibility of achieving a rating of ‘Outstanding’ making the project one of the most environmentally friendly office buildings in the UK.
Despite the council not receiving any formal letters of objection, some local residents are not in favour of the scheme. One resident told the Manchester Evening News: “Another council office block? In a recession? Mad. Utterly mad.”
Robert McAlpine were chosen as the preferred construction company in May, 2010.
Posted in Manchester |
Tagged Demolitions, Public Sector |
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Posted on December 17, 2010 by John Cronin
Brighton and Hove City Council has received independent backing in a case against a local property company.
The council had served an enforcement notice on Baron Homes, instructing the company to convert a property back to serviced offices.
Baron Homes had converted the Grade II listed property at 8 Pavilion Parade (pictured) from offices to 7 residential apartments without having the necessary planning permission. After subsequently applying for retrospective permission, Baron Homes were turned down because it could not be shown that the existing office space had become redundant. The developers appealed against that decision and although this was also rejected the building was not converted back to offices.
An enforcement notice issued in March, 2010 was also appealed against and dismissed. An investigation by the planning inspector, Graham Self, has backed the action taken by the council and now Baron Homes are converting the building back to offices.
Councillor Lynda Hyde, chairman of the city’s planning committee, said: “It was never proved that office space is redundant in the area. Our policies are there to protect the long-term need for office space that will generate employment in the future. Indeed, the inspector noted that this is a prime location and there are other office premises in the same terrace”.
Several of the 4-storey buildings adjoining the property in question have been converted into office space, typically offering semi-serviced office suites with floor spaces of around 280 sq ft. Quoted rental prices inclusive of rates and service charges are £30 / sq ft per annum.
Posted in East Sussex |
Tagged Planning, Serviced Offices |
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Posted on December 16, 2010 by Nell Frizzell
And so we come to the penultimate stage of the competition. Which Hollyoaks Jamie probably thinks is a fight to the death using pens. According to the narrator, Lord Sugar is still looking for that ‘exceptional’ someone to rub his face with Brasso and chisel his chin dimple every morning.
Over at house number 52 the call comes through summoning contestants to Sugar HQ. Oh sweet holy mother of Argos bedding! Stuart ‘the brand’ Baggs is sleeping like a greasy-skinned student under a sheet-less duvet. Now Sugardaddy is going to have to burn the whole bed, as well as all the towels.
All the contestants have been called in to Alanstrad HQ for a job interview. Cue some final last words from the remaining aspiring apprentices: “I’ve never not got a job,” says Stella, using more negatives than a Snappy Snaps developing suite. Monotone Chris, however, pulls out the big guns with, “I did quite well at school.”
As the contestants pull up at Lord Sugar’s rat cave it must be said that the offices do look distinctly like a Curry’s megastore. Oh, no, silly me – these interviews are actually taking place on the original set of Die Hard. I can’t wait for Bruce Willis to smash through one of the conference room walls in a grubby vest, brandishing his semi-automatic 50 calibre Amstrad machine gun in one hand and a LinkedIn invitation in the other.
“Sugar saw a little bit of himself in me last week,” confesses Baggs, bashfully. Well, that will certainly put paid to last week’s blowjob rumours.
The five remaining contestants are to be interviewed by a host of Lord Sugarmeister’s nearest and dearest, which means four greying business thugs and one Anne Widdecombe impersonator. Be warned; there’s not a convincing hairpiece among them.
The first of Lord Sugarchops’ heavies tells Monotone Christ that he can either, “Do it the hard way and I’ll rip you to shreds…” or do it the easy way and just take a quiet bullet to the temple. Oh okay, “Have a sensible conversation and stop the bullshit.” But you know what he’s thinking.
After Bordan Tkachuk (a name which is surely a poor translation of the Alanstradian for ‘factcheck’) has pushed a stick of dynamite in to the various Emmental-like holes in Jamie’s CV it’s time for Margaret Mountford to give him a once over. The woman with the Alistair Darling’s hair, Rocky Balboa’s bloodlust and Dame Edna Everaage’s approach to power dressing pulls Hollyoaks up for his ‘puerile’ third nipple gag. What a tit he is.
“I can work in any industry…” claims Stella. Who, as we speak, is simultaneously working in a coal refinery, medical testing laboratory and the Forestry Commission. Not bad for an unqualified blonde from Europe’s largest council estate.
Joanna, on the other hand, turns out to have no idea what Lord Sugar actually does for a living. Well, that makes two of them.
Monotone Chris gets the Mountford treatment for describing himself as a ‘revered theological scholar’, which is a little like saying that Noel Edmonds is a revered investment analyst. Or Davina McCall is a revered social scientist.
When faced with Margaret Mountford’s wall of white-haired disapproval, Stuart ‘the bilbo’ Baggs chooses the interesting tact of threatening her cat. “With this, your cat could be in Bermuda…” It’s a novel, if unlikely threat for a fifty-nine year-old papyrologist.
Claude Littner, the lost Mitchell brother of Sugared business bullying then tells Baggins, “You are not a Brand. You are a 20 year old kid.” Before qualifying this outrageous claim with, “You’re not a big fish. You’re not even a fish.” Of course he’s not a fish, you hairless fool; he’s a field full of ponies.
Once the gruelling day of lying, squirming and sulking is over, Sugar’s stooges head back to the boardroom to compare notes. Claude insists that you have to admire someone who’s not got many qualifications, which must be music to the ears of all those rioting students wallowing in £15,000 of debt, while Tkachuk accuses Monotone Chris of being “really quite monotonous.” Well, really. “He drones on, but he’s actually quite bright,” pipes up Nick, who seems to be under the impression that Chris is, in fact, the lovechild of a glow worm and a bee.
Some testicle-chinned suithanger accuses Stella of being, “good, but an admin queen,” until Nick leaps to her defence with the staggeringly tepid “She’s thoroughly decent.”
The bitching and sniping over, it’s time to call the contestants in to get fired. Amazingly, after all the lying, shirking and smarming only three are going to be let go. You’d think it would make more business sense to fire them all and simple hire Margaret Mountford’s jet-setting cat instead. But you can’t teach a dogged old boss new tricks.
“Ours is more of a dynamic environment,” Lord Sugaga tells Stella. Oh yeah. It’s a veritable Pineapple Studios down at Alanstrad HQ. You should see dress down Fridays. Lord Sugarmort also warns Joanna that she may be a little out of her depth with all those “balance sheets and… er.. spreadsheets.” God, he’s right, it is pretty bloody technical up there at the top.
In the end, Sir Alanstrad sacks Stuart for being, “full of shit.” Excuse me? You’ve just noticed? At no point in the field of ponies, cat-tracking, selling magic beans, extreme masculinity fart-faced honking did you get even an inkling that this man was spitting out shit faster than a sewage? The mind Baggles. Anyway, after Stuart’s truly shocking exit Joanna is the next to get the heave ho, followed swiftly by Hollyoaks Jamie.
Which leaves Christopher and Stella to fight it out next week in a class war with Lord Suguardianofthestupid providing munitions. God help us all.
Posted in Misc |
Tagged Apprentice Blog |
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Posted on December 16, 2010 by John Cronin
A large office complex in central London has been sold in a multi-million pound deal announced to the stock market yesterday.
The Bishops Square offices building has been sold by Bishops Square Holdings Limited, a 25:75 joint venture between Hammerson plc and Oman Investment Fund. The new owners are JP Morgan Asset Management who have agreed to pay £557m for the buildings. The complex was last valued for accounting purposes at £510m in June, 2010. Hammerson had previously bought out the 25% holding in the development belonging to the City of London in 2007.
Bishops Square (pictured) is predominately offices with retail space on the ground floor. Completed in 2005 and designed by Foster & Partners, the development also created a significant, new public space in London. The development has been recognised with several awards, including Best Commercial-led Regeneration Project of the Year (2006) and British Urban Regeneration Award (2008).
Total, Grade A office floor space amounts to 774,000 sq ft with the retail space taking an additional 40,000 sq ft. The offices are solely let as headquarters to international law firm Allen & Overy LLP on a long term lease. Annual rental income for the whole building amounts to £35m / year with average rental prices for the combined retail and office space equating to approximately £43 / sq ft.
Peter Reilly, Head of J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s European Real Estate Group, said: “We remain bullish on investing in high-quality, well-tenanted office properties located throughout Europe.”
Posted in London |
Tagged Foster and Partners, Rental Prices, Transactions |
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Posted on December 15, 2010 by John Cronin
Construction is due to start on a new mixed-use scheme on the site of a former RAF base in Somerset.
Following an agreement between The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and regeneration specialists St. Modwen, construction can now start on the first phase of the large-scale, mixed-use scheme at the former RAF Locking site (pictured) near Weston-super-Mare. The development is to include a mix of residential housing and speculative office buildings.
The first phase, which is due to start in Spring 2011, will see the construction of 100 new houses and offices affording approximately 6,000 sq ft of floor space. Plots will also be readied for the subsequent construction of a 14,000 sq ft office building and a 30,000 sq ft innovation centre. A business park is also planned for the site amounting to some 430,000 sq ft. The RAF Locking site has previously reported that a subsidiary of Oxford Scientific Instruments PLC has committed to leasing 50,000 sq ft of floor space to house their 170 staff.
The redevelopment of the former 200-acre RAF site, to be known as Locking Parklands, will create up to 2,000 new jobs, 1,500 new homes and 450,000 sq ft of quality office space. The complete project is expected to take more than 20 years to complete and is expected to cost around £400m.
The office buildings are to be constructed using the latest energy-saving techniques such as biomass heating and solar air conditioning and are expected to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’. The first phase offices are scheduled to be marketed from mid-2011.
Architects for the regeneration project are the Nash Partnership.
Posted in Somerset |
Tagged Business Parks, Locking Parklands, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on December 14, 2010 by John Cronin
Construction company Wates has been chosen as developer for the first phase of a multi-million pound office and leisure development scheme in Doncaster.
Muse Developments have chosen Wates for the construction of the new civic offices and a new theatre in the first phase of the £300m Waterdale scheme in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. The large scale Waterdale scheme consists of a new public square, public buildings, new civic offices, housing and commercial office space.
The five-storey, 157,500 sq ft office building (pictured) will house most of the council’s town centre services on one central site and become home to approximately 1,400 council staff.
The new offices are being built on the site of the former Doncaster College. The council aims to free up existing office space that is deemed to be “old and tired” allowing for redevelopment in future phases of the Waterdale scheme. The possibility of various council partners letting floor space within the new civic offices is also being considered. The complete development, to be constructed in four phases, has an expected completion date of 2018. The council believes that the scheme will create inward investment of some £200m and generate demand from the private sector for speculatively built office space.
The new council office building is to be constructed using the latest energy saving technologies including such as natural ventilation and roof top planting for rainwater harvesting. Dan Needham of Muse Developments believes the new offices will be cost efficient. He says: “When complete the highly energy efficient building will save the council millions of pounds in running costs over future years.” A BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ is expected.
A start date for the construction of the commercial office space has not yet been made public. Architects for the scheme are Cartwright Pickard.
Posted in South Yorkshire |
Tagged Public Sector, Speculative Developments, Waterdale |
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Posted on December 13, 2010 by John Cronin
Outline plans for a multi-million pound mixed-use development in Stoke-on-Trent have finally been submitted.
The Central Business District regeneration project is an office led scheme that will transform a brown-field site in the centre of Stoke. When complete, the £180m development scheme will offer 750,000 sq ft of Grade A office floor space along with retail and residential accommodation, a hotel and new public spaces.
The developers Genr8 Developments, who were chosen as preferred developers in March 2009, have conducted a series of public consultations and have now submitted their outline plans for the scheme. The county council appears to be in favour of the scheme and planning permission seems likely.
In October Councillor Mervin Smith, Stoke-on-Trent City Council cabinet member for city development & regeneration, said: “There is a need for good quality office space in the city centre. If we are to attract increased business investment then we need to make sure that we have an offer which is attractive.”
The development is be built in phases and construction works will take several years. A target completion date of 2017 has previously been suggested. The new scheme is to be built on the site of the demolished Unity House building. The multi-storey building was the tallest in Stoke-on-Trent before it was demolished in 2006. The 148,000 sq ft of floor space in the building was used as offices by Stoke-on-Trent City Council and also to some departments of Staffordshire County. However, due to claimed “sick building syndrome” Unity House stood empty for over 10 years and as it deteriorated it became unsafe and locals considered it an eyesore building.
Construction of the Central Business District was scheduled to start in 2010 but a start date of 2011 at the earliest is now expected.
Posted in Staffordshire |
Tagged Planning, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on December 13, 2010 by Rob Powell
The social media website, Twitter, has been looking at London office space according to news reports.
The Sunday Telegraph reported yesterday that executives from the San Francisco-based company were in London looking at potential locations for their new European Headquarters.
The West End and Old Street roundabout, commonly known as the Silicon Roundabout because of the community of tech firms nearby, have been talked up as the locations of most interest to Twitter bosses.
A spokesperson for the company told the Telegraph, “There were a few of us in London this week. We are considering London and other European locations to create an initial and small presence in 2011.”
The microblogging serviced has experienced phenomenal growth since it was launched in 2006 by founders Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone.
Posted in London |
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