Posted on November 17, 2010 by John Cronin
An under-construction, speculative office building in the centre of Belfast is expected to be available for tenants early in 2011.
Hamilton House (artists impression pictured) is a new 4-storey building being constructed in Joy Street which is part of the Linen Conservation Area of Belfast. The new offices are being built in between two significant listed buildings and uses materials that create an exterior that is sympathetic to the area.
The building occupies a prominent position in Belfast’s prime business district, in close proximity to the Law Courts, landmark retail developments and is less than 100m from Belfast City Hall.
When completed the building will offer high grade office floor space in a building that has been designed with a specific emphasis on energy performance. The building will have a low carbon central air conditioning system which will provide conditioned air to all lettable areas, offering running costs two-thirds lower than that of a conventional heating system.
The building will provide office units from 2,500 sq ft to 9,200 sq ft with a high internal specification. The largest floor plate is 3,525 sq ft on the third floor of the building. However, Hamilton Architects who are behind the scheme have decided to take the majority of floor space on the top two floors having outgrown their existing offices.
Marketing agents for the development are RHM Commercial who suggest the speculative build will be a success. Quoted by associate architectural practice Kriterion, Ciaran Hughes of RHM said: ” We believe the client is offering a quality [office building] which will ‘tick the boxes’ for prospective occupiers in terms of location, specification and aesthetics.”
Construction work is expected to be completed on schedule by February, 2011.
Posted in Belfast |
Tagged Speculative Developments |
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Posted on November 16, 2010 by John Cronin
The first, pilot phase of a new business hub for the creative industry in Liverpool has been completed.
An area within the centre of Liverpool opposite the Albert Dock, known as the Baltic Triangle (pictured), is being promoted as a new business hub for local companies working primarily within the creative and digital industry. Approximately 9,000 sq ft of new office space within three buildings is now being offered to prospective tenants.
The scheme is being run by a Community Interest Company (CIC) and is a not-for-profit venture. Financial backing amounting to £5.2m has been given by the NWDA. There are also proposals for a £2m spend on road improvements and public realm works in order to create better links between the new offices and other commercial areas of the city centre.
Development of the initial £600,000 phase began in May, 2010 and includes both studio and office space along with offices for the centre itself that will offer on-site support services. Office space is available in a range of sizes including “Mezzanine / creative units” at 750 sq ft and “creative units” with the smaller units being more suited to office space at around 500 sq ft and larger units offering up to 1,600 sq ft of floor space.
Subsequent phases of development will create studios and offices of various sizes. It is expected that when complete the business hub will offer approximately 45,000 sq ft of flexible floor space within a maximum of 18 low-rise units.
Cllr Malcolm Kennedy, executive member for regeneration at Liverpool City Council, who opened the first phase, told Liverpool Vision: “The creative, digital and IT sectors employ around 25,000 people in the Liverpool city region and generate millions for the economy. Having a dedicated business hub for the creative industries in the heart of the city will encourage further investment and growth.”
Posted in Merseyside |
Tagged Renovations, Serviced Offices, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on November 15, 2010 by John Cronin
A former factory in Durham on the site of a planned mixed-use scheme is now being demolished.
Unwanted buildings that were once part of a Black & Decker tools factory are now being demolished to make way for the £200m Durham Gate (also known as DurhamGate) development in Spennymoor, County Durham. The 60 acre brownfield site is being redeveloped as a mixed-use scheme (pictured) that will include approximately 440,000 sq ft of energy-efficient, high quality office space. The scheme is a joint venture between Carillion Development and Hartlepool property investor Arlington Financial.
The backers are offering either buy or lease-only deals on a selection of proposed buildings offering a range of floor spaces from 15,000 sq ft up to 100,000 sq ft. Land sale opportunities also exist for organisations looking to build their own offices within the development.
One deal has already been secured with Sedgefield Borough Homes, a leading social housing provider, agreeing to relocate around 170 staff to new office accommodation within the scheme. Their new, purpose-built headquarters are expected to be completed by the end of 2011.
The local Spennymore News website reports that planning permission for the scheme was granted in March 2009. Allan Cook, director at Arlington said at that time: “I am very excited that we can now move on with seeing our initial vision for the site as a regional business location become a reality”.
The current demolition works are scheduled for completion by the end of the year. Progress of the development is also being made public on twitter.
Posted in County Durham |
Tagged Speculative Developments |
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Posted on November 13, 2010 by Rob Powell
A high profile protest by students this week has caused disruption to businesses and organisations at an office block in London.
Angry students targeted offices at 30 Millbank because it is the Conservative Party’s headquarters but neighbouring tenants are still feeling the effects of the protest.
The Charity Commission, based on the first floor of the building have posted a message on their website saying:
“Due to damage at the Commission’s London office at 30 Millbank following demonstrations, the London office will remain closed to staff and visitors. We anticipate re-opening the office on Tuesday 16th November at 10:00.”
Other organisations that share the building include Cox & Kings travel consultants, Tata Steel, EPR Architects, outsourcing company Liberata and Encore Hospitality.
Protestors angry at plans to increase the cap on university tuition fees to £9,000 stormed the building, smashing windows and damaging property in the process.
A group gained access to the roof of the seven-storey building and a fire extinguisher was thrown to the ground – an act which is now the subject of a police investigation.
The National Union of Students issued a statement thanking the students who turned up to demonstrate but said said they “were deeply disappointed at the actions of a small minority of those 50,000 people who attended.”
Posted in London |
Tagged Millbank |
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Posted on November 12, 2010 by John Cronin
Work is expected to finish later on the demolition of two dangerous buildings in Whitehaven, Cumbria.
Copeland Council has announced that demolition work on two old buildings in Albion Street is expected to finish by the end of today. The buildings, that have been demolished by hand due to their awkward location, are making way for the proposed new office development known as the Albion Square project.
Albion Square is a proposal for a £20m development incorporating quality office space, offering enough floor space to accommodate 350 workers. The proposal is for the construction of a group of office blocks, ranging in height from 3 to 5 storeys, creating a new business hub within an area of Whitehaven that has suffered from neglect in recent years. It has been suggested that a large number of office workers from the nearby nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield could be relocated to offices within this new development.
Copeland Council originally published artists impressions of how the new office blocks might look. However, there was much public criticism and the design was subsequently changed. A local newspaper reported that local residents said the buildings “looked like a bad piece of linoleum” and “Vera Duckworth’s cladding”.
A compulsory purchase order on land proposed for the scheme was granted in 2008 on the understanding that the Albion Square scheme would offer 70,000 sq ft of modern office catering for both small, starter businesses and larger, established operations. As part of a wider £200m Whitehaven redevelopment master plan, Jamie Reed, MP for Copeland, said of the Albion Square development: “The plans for the new Albion Square development will provide new modern office accommodation that will help attract new businesses into the town centre”.
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Posted on November 11, 2010 by John Cronin
One of the most striking office buildings in the centre of Glasgow has changed hands in a £40m deal.
The iconic 110 St Vincent Street building, once the Union Bank building has been purchased by SEB Europe REI, a German real estate fund for institutional investors. The previous owners were Scarborough Group who are believed to have sold the building for around £40m.
The 9-storey building offers prime, Grade A office floor space amounting to approximately 96,000 sq ft. The building was designed in the 1920s by architect James Miller and was based upon American neoclassical commercial architecture. The building still features the original ground floor banking hall (pictured) that is now used to house several meeting areas.
In 2007, a £20m renovation added additional floors to the building that doubled the amount of lettable floor space. A new steel frame was constructed inside the building facade in order to replace the existing U-shaped floors with larger floor plates of approximately 12,000 sq ft.
Current tenants of the offices are Bank of Scotland who have 12 years remaining on 15-year lease, paying an annual rent of £2.4m, equivalent to a rental price of £25 / sq ft.
Cushman & Wakefield acquired the offices on behalf of SEB. Steven Newlands, Partner at the firm said “the dynamics of the [Glasgow] city centre property market are strongly weighted towards landlords thanks to a combination of a low supply of available Grade A accommodation and strong tenant demand”. He adds “With the £20m purchase of 1 Waterloo Street last month, there isn’t a great deal of Grade A left and, as the remaining buildings fill, rents will start to rise.”
CB Richard Ellis acted on behalf of Scarborough Group.
Posted in Glasgow |
Tagged Renovations, Rental Prices |
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Posted on November 11, 2010 by Nell Frizzell
The Apprentice opening credits are starting to look a little like the obituaries section of the Oscars, so many of the little Lord Sugarists have been given the push. Oh well, at least we have this poignant look back at the heyday of Mancunian fashion failure to warm our rapidly freezing cockles.
Ah look, there’s that infamous tie dress. And look, here’s Bambi-eyed Liz dressed a bit like a lap dancer. And look, Paloma dressed as a call girl. Nostalgia, eh? If you could bottle it you’d be a millionaire. Or, in the case of Stuart ‘the brand’ Baggs, a man with fifteen thousand bottles of nostalgia gathering dust in your parents’ garage.
So, anyway. Here we are. Week six. And the brilliantly staccato narrator is back. You know. The man who can’t speak. In sentences longer than seven syllables: “7.30am. A lie in. This morning a wake up call. In person.”
Cor blimey! Stone the crows! Paint my face with Cuprinol and call me Alan! Lord Sugar is in the house! He’s turned up unannounced to give his minions their marching orders before they’re all suited and booted. I’m sure the fact that he might catch a few of them dangling about in their underpants is pure co-incidence. Far be it from me to presume that this whole little stunt was just an elaborate ruse to get a look at Stuart Baggypants in his socks and unsupportive undershorts.
Amazingly, having a relative stranger turn up at their home unannounced first thing in the morning does little to dim the Apprentices’ enthusiasm to have him as their boss. I’m starting to believe that if Lord Sugarmort turned up at the birth of their first born and demanded a pedicure and PowerPoint presentation on the various uses of the pencil these people would still want him for a manager.
So, this week the task is to create a brand for a new household cleaner in just two days. That means a label, a radio advert and a television commercial. So, it’s not entirely obvious why they all had to rush down in their wobbling pyjamas to get briefed, but there you go. Ours not to reason why.
Team Synergy, by default, is led by ex-Marine Christopher as he is the only one not to have ‘managed’ so far. Synergy also have cleaning company Joanna on their team. I hate to use the term ‘secret weapon’ here, so instead I will use the term ‘sulky cow’.
For Apollo it’s either Maverick Alex or Stuart ‘the brando’ Baggins. While Baggins undoubtedly has the face to sell grease remover, Maverick Alex “thinks so far outside the box that if I was an apple pie, then the apples inside would be orange.” Mmmmm, genetically modified radioactive apple pie. That settles it – Alex has got the job.
The first thing to be decided is the product name. Old blues eyes himself, Monotone Chris, comes up with the snappy ‘Germ-o-nater’. I know that leather-clad Republican killing machines are certainly the people I’d entrust with light domestic chores. Talking of lethal operatives, the next scene sees Syngery’s Christopher go in to a nursery to conduct some market research. They’ve sent a marine in to a nursery? Please god someone tell me they’ve hidden the water pistols and spud guns. Mum Eva comes up with the idea of the housewife as octopus – not so much a football-predicting cephalod as many-armed domestic goddess. The rest of the team fall on the idea, as Nick later puts it, ‘like tramps on chips’.
Next stop is the graphic design office to get their labels ready. Surprise, surprise, the Apollo designer has a silly haircut and is wearing a Breton-striped jersey. To be fair, this does look like the design job from hell, with two squabbling no-marks shouting things like ‘colour’ and ‘punchy’ in to your face as you try to quietly load photoshop.
Over in the Synergy Corps, The Apprentice seems to have been replaced with a new reality show called ‘The Marine wants a Mistress’ as Christopher auditions actresses to play his wife in tomorrow’s advert. “If she’s a minger then it just won’t work… Sex sells. Let’s be honest. Sex sells everything.” Couldn’t have put it better myself commander. Really challenging that sexist squaddie stereotype with this victory for female equality. Strangely, Sugary assistant Nick isn’t so convinced; “This commercial is about a stereotypical mumsy housewife sending her children off to bed early so she can grope her husband.” In fact, the advert sees this dream wife dressed up in a padded octopus suit, spraying bleach around the kitchen like an agent of chemical warfare. Well I for one know that whenever we’re planning an early night my boyfriend likes me to slip in to my kinky octopus outfit.
For Apollo’s advert Stu-artlovlierthanasummer’sday is doing a quite incredible impression of a cheesy local radio DJ. I mean, who would have thunk it? The man makes ‘hasta la vista, gravy’ sound like the voiceover for an upcoming Jason Statham movie. Sadly, in the television advert the Germ-o-nator is played by a small child – precisely the sort of person warned never to come in to contact with the product on the very bottle. Ah well.
Both teams then pitch to industry experts including squeaky clean employees from Unilever who fail, universally, to hide their sniggers. Particularly when Sandeesh announces, “This brand is going viral.” A bit like leprosy.
“I’m not sure if you’re selling marital harmony or a cleaning product,” one of the experts asks Commando Christopher. Don’t be silly Unilever, he’s selling sexism. After the pitches are complete, the experts feedback to Lord Sugardaddy as he cruises around town in his black Bentley. They use words like ‘travesty’ and ‘offensive’, which Monotone Chris handily translates as ‘memorable’ and ‘funny’.
In front of the assembled cast, Lord Sugartits gently introduces Christopher to a little thing called gender politics. His 1950s advert would, Lord Sugar tells him, “go down like a lead balloon,” with his female market. Or like a flaccid pair of pulverised bollocks, as the saying goes.
Still, it seems they just about managed to pull it off. “Synergy. I wouldn’t say you’ve won. Technically, you haven’t lost,” admits Lord Sugar. So, it’s off to a ‘private karaoke party’ so they can all to get shitfaced and sing ‘We Are the Champions’. Or ‘We Are The Vaguely Less Shit Ones’ as Twitter suggested.
So, we finally come to Lord Sugarmort’s favourite bit. The shouting, bitching, betraying firing squad. This week it’s between Alex, Sandeesh and Chris. So, between the bog-eyed, the monotone and the minutely testicled. Alex screams about how rude it is to talk over people and tries to fire on his colleagues like a vigilante paintballer on Byker Grove, but all to no avail. He’s as fired as a 12 ft high canon ball and leaves in a flurry of grovelling politeness and quivering voice.
Back at the house, the remaining competitors are in a contemplative mood. “If Alex comes back then I will genuinely eat an item of clothing from every one of you.” Oh Stuart Baggs, I love you.
Conclusion: Where there’s muck, there’s people ineptly trying to sell yet more muck.
Posted in Misc |
Tagged Apprentice Blog |
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Posted on November 10, 2010 by John Cronin
Construction work has now started on an £8m speculative office scheme in Preston.
Commercial property developers Roundhouse have commenced ground works on their South Rings Office Village scheme in Bamber Bridge near Preston. This new business park is located by J29, M6 and complements a larger mixed-use area that includes retail outlets, hotels and offices over a 37acre site.
The existing buildings within the business park have attracted tenants from a range of industries. Property management company Places For People moved into an existing office block within South Rings in February 2009, taking all of the 36,000 sq ft, Grade A rated floor space within the building to accommodate over 300 staff.
To be constructed in three phases, South Rings will offer 60,000 sq ft of floor space across 23 offices ranging from in floor spaces from 750 sq ft to 6,000 sq ft. Each of the new buildings in the scheme is restricted to a height of two storeys. The biggest unit will offer total office floor space of approximately 6,200 sq ft. The buildings are estimated to offer desk space for approximately 200 workers. When completed the buildings are expected to achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Very Good’.
Roundhouse have previously completed a similar scheme at South Preston Office Village that consists of 16 office units that is now nearing full occupancy. The developer considers that there is still sufficient demand for additional office space within the Preston area.
Rental prices for the South Rings scheme are in the range £13 / sq ft to £17 / sq ft .
Marketing agents for Roundhouse are Bailey Deakin & Hamiltons and King Sturge LLP.
Posted in Lancashire |
Tagged Rental Prices, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on November 9, 2010 by John Cronin
A former soap factory in Manchester is now being converted into offices in a multi-million pound redevelopment.
Work has now started on the first phase of the large scale redevelopment of the former Colgate Palmolive soap factory in Salford Quays. The site is adjacent to the large Exchange Quays office block and is the latest office scheme to start in an area that is undergoing a major transformation. The huge MediaCity development is nearby offering a wide range of offices, studio facilities and residential properties. The scheme, officially known as Soapworks, Ivy Wharf, is a joint venture between Carlyle Group and Abstract Securities. Carlyle Group paid £30m for the 8.42acre site in 2008. Planning consent was obtained in May, 2010.
The complete Soapworks scheme is to include a hotel and residential accommodation along with hundreds of square feet of office space (pictured).
Phase 1 of the development has now started and sees the conversion of an old boiler house into a 4-storey office complex offering approximately 25,000 sq ft of floor space. Completion of this phase is expected by June, 2011. The complete scheme will offer in excess of 350,000 sq ft of office space. The scheme will offer floor plates of approximately 82,000 sq ft, allowing large tenants single floor occupation. Suites will be available in a range of sizes starting at 2,000 sq ft.
Interest in the speculative scheme is claimed to be strong. Mark Harris, director of The Carlyle Group, said: “…we are in the process of talking to a number of prospective tenants”. He goes on to say: “we are able to offer rents of around half those of central Manchester.”
Architects for the scheme are Liverpool based shed km who also designed the large scale Fort Dunlop project. Developers are Bowmer & Kirkland and marketing agents are Canning O’Neill.
Posted in Manchester |
Tagged Media City, Renovations, Salford Quays, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on November 8, 2010 by John Cronin
Plans for a large, mixed-use redevelopment of an historic Shropshire flax mill have been approved.
Ditherington Flax Mill (image source) in Shrewsbury was the world’s first iron-framed building when constructed in 1797. The site, which has been empty for over twenty years, is Grade 1 Listed and has been owned by English Heritage since 2005.
Outline planning permission to convert the existing buildings into offices, shops and residential accommodation was granted by local councillors last Thursday.
When redeveloped, the building will potentially offer approximately 100,000 sq ft of flexible office floor space for both public and commercial sector use. The revised scheme will have a total floor space of some 118,000 sq ft.
However, commencement of the scheme is still far from certain. Public funding is to be sought for at least part of the indicative £30m speculative development costs. Project leader for Shropshire Council Richard Lawrence said “We are certainly further down the line than we ever had been and we have a master plan for the whole of the site.”
Alan Mosley, Shropshire Councillor for Castlefields and Ditherington, said: “A great deal of hard work is going into the restoration of the much loved Flax mill as a centre for working, learning, commerce, culture and community activity and it is now a step closer to reality.
Urban regeneration specialists Urban Splash were chosen as the preferred developer back in 2007. Other developers shortlisted included Manchester based CTP and SJS property regeneration specialists from Leeds.
Architects for the scheme are Feilden Clegg Bradley.
Posted in Shropshire |
Tagged Listed Buildings, Renovations, Speculative Developments |
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