Posted on November 6, 2010 by Rob Powell
The Welsh Assembly Government has been criticised after it was revealed that millions of pounds have been spent on furnishing new offices.
The Minister for Business and Budget, Jane Hutt, disclosed in a Written Answer last week that £2,138,839 had been spent on loose furnishings, such as chairs and desks, for the new offices at Llandudno Junction.
A further £1,382,355 was spent on IT costs with millions more paid to consultants for “Professional Fees”.
Conservative AM Andrew RT Davies, whose questions prompted the answers from the minister, tells WalesOnline.co.uk: “We all need somewhere to sit and work but spending £2.5m on desks, chairs and presumably de luxe sofas, is completely unforgivable.”
The Assembly Government responded to the criticism:
“The Welsh Assembly Government’s Llandudno Junction office has been completed on budget. It is a significant landmark investment for the long term in North Wales.”
The building attracted controversy during its construction when local residents said it was like having a “neighbour from hell“.
Posted in Conwy |
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Posted on November 5, 2010 by John Cronin
Plans for a new office block on the site of an historic former hospital in London have been criticised by heritage groups.
The Thomas Coram Foundation, a renowned charity for vulnerable children, originally submitted plans in 2007 to demolish the remaining buildings (pictured) that were once part of the former Foundling Hospital in Coram’s Fields, located within the Bloomsbury Conservation Area.
The plans to demolish the existing buildings including an old swimming pool and former child mortuary were first submitted in July 2006 and were subsequently approved subject to legal requirements in November 2007. That permission was due to expire on Monday, 8th November. However local councillors last night granted a subsequent application, agreeing that “commencement of material operations has begun on the site”.
Only yesterday The Victorian Society had said: “The small swimming pool and mortuary are an important physical reminder of the history of this area of London. Destroying them removes a link with the past that can’t be replaced”.
Coram’s want to redevelop the site to create a mixed-use campus that will incorporate an additional office building for their own use and for other complimentary partners with the aim of creating “London’s leading centre for child and family services”. Critics of the scheme suggest the charity is aiming to generate additional revenue for itself by letting out offices.
As part of the planning exercise a public consultation exercise has been undertaken with the public offering divided opinion. Whilst one person said “the development would be an improvement on the existing buildings” another voiced concern saying the new offices were “faceless, characterless, ugly – modern architecture should be inspiring not depressing”.
Architects for the £10m scheme are Meadowcroft Griffin and the developers are Stanhope plc.
Posted in London |
Tagged Renovations |
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Posted on November 4, 2010 by John Cronin
A Grade II Listed former chapel in Manchester that was once used as a recording studio is now offices for a media company.
Knott Mill Chapel, dates back to the 1850s and is located in Deansgate, central Manchester. Following an £800,000 conversion programme the building now offers contemporary offices for Amaze, a digital media company.
Overseen by OMI Architects, the works had to be inspected by the local authority preservation team to ensure that the character of the listed building was retained. An independent 5-storey structure was built within the nave of the chapel rather than merging a new office floor space within the existing structure. The total footage of the building amounts to some 12,000 sq ft.
In the 1980s, part of the church was used as a recording studio by pop music producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman who recorded many famous hits there including “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley. Pete Waterman sold the building in 2006 to property developers Bluetree Estates.
Tasked with finding a suitable building for office space, David Laws of quantity surveyors Edwards & Co said: “Due to the nature of the Amaze business, we had been looking extensively for an unusual style of property which is full of character to provide a creative and stimulating working environment.”
Back in February, 2010 Amaze leased 5,000 sq ft of prime, Grade A office space in the Grade I Listed Royal Liver Building in Liverpool. The company previously leased offices in the nearby Port of Liverpool Building.
Posted in Manchester |
Tagged Listed Buildings, Renovations |
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Posted on November 4, 2010 by Nell Frizzell
Before this week’s programme even kicks off, the BBC continuity announcer warns of ‘strong language’. Is this the week that Nick finally calls S’r’Alan a braying, tortoise-faced old git? Does Karen threaten to kick Nick’s wizened hangdog face inside out if he doesn’t sit up straight? Will the Sugarmeister call his sexretary a trollop? We can but hope.
The episode begins with the traditional early morning phone call. Stella sprints to the handset, listens to the message and – taking her cue from Bruce Willis – abruptly hangs up the moment she’s received co-ordinates for the Fashion Retail Academy.
“Fashion is the most boring thing in the world,” says Stuart SickBaggs. “Selling £2 of cotton for a hundred pounds – that’s like selling magic beans.” I love it when he talks dirty, don’t you?
So, where are they off to this week? Paris? Milan? Rome? New York? Hell no! They’re going to the Trafford Centre. Yes, that Trafford Centre. In Manchester. Wearing his best navy C&A suit, Sir Alanstrad adjusts the teams in the name of fairness (to sort the Prada from the Primark and the fashionistas from the fascists). He then nominates the new project managers; Liz for Synergy, Paloma for Apollo. No bickering. No debate. No fun.
According to Alex Epstein (and who else?), Alex Epstein is a real ‘retail guru’. A magician of the mall, a genie of the general department store, and boy do I want to rub his lamp. Oh and guess what? He used to work at the Trafford Centre. He’s not giving us the specifics of what he actually did there, mind you, but we know that he was definitely in the building.
Faced with a fashion task, Hollyoaks Jamie admits that “my wife buys all my clothes”. Does she polish your head too Jamie? Pluck those eyebrows and baby-bio your designer stubble? I do hope so. “I don’t want to offend the Mancunians,” he adds. “But they’re always a step behind London. I mean, when you go to clubs in Manchester you still have to wear shoes.” As opposed to London, where we just cover our feet with Oyster cards and stick them up the nearest available pigeon.
Both teams meet an array of young designers including the brilliantly bespectacled Cassette Playa, who tries to tempt the corporate drones with talk of ‘future primitive’ and ‘cartoon couture’. To the ears of an Apprentice contestant these words roughly translate as ‘ghraehgsjr slkiusrtb’ and ‘isnakmse powerk’. So, instead, they chase down the glittery, low cost labels like last-minute fixtures at a Lily Savage convention.
Paloma’s team have their heads turned by a designer who recycles old business wear in to high fashion. Maybe they’ll make Sir Alanstrad in to shiny-foreheaded, grey-haired, finger-pointing leather dress. And what, I hear you ask, does Stuart CarrierBaggs think about recycled fashion? “I suppose it depends on who died that week.” Oh Dildo Baggsins, you old charmer. “Recycled clothing? Isn’t that what tramps do?” No Stuart, tramps drink themselves in to early septicaemia and shout at passing lorries.
Once the shops – Synergy’s The Collection and Apollo’s One for those of you taking notes – finally open, the real selling can get under way. Which means that Laura will push cheap sparkly dressed on to teenagers like a Diana Ross pimp, Tintin’s long lost brother Christopher will make lecherous remarks about every woman in the store, Stella will wave from the window display like a particularly sparkly prostitute, Paloma will stalk the shop floor like a Hooters waitress cooing “That’s hot, that’s smoking, I’ll be chasing you” while almost all the other men in the competition will stand in the shop doorways shouting at passing shoppers like fishwives. At least Christopher makes the effort to dress like an army cadet in a khaki straightjacket.
Back at Sir Alanismorrisette’s head quarters, all eleven contestants are ushered in to the boardroom to crunch numbers. Despite his frankly astounding £300 sale of a Widow-Twanky-gone-office-wear dress, Christopher’s team, managed by Paloma, pull in a slightly lacklustre £3,223 sales. Bambi-faced Liz’s team, on the other hand, sold £3,760 worth of sparkly style. Honestly, that woman could sell rain to the Irish. So, in true Irish spirit her team go off to fritter their money away at the horse track. Cheers!
So, Synergy are up for the chop. Sir Alan begins by giving the team a short lecture on fashion. Across town, Anne Widdicombe prepares for her lecture on tantric sex. Paloma apparently held Alex “100% responsible” for the failure of the task. Which is interesting, seeing as she was the project manager. Even more interestingly, Paloma then calls Sandeesh in to her terrible trio to be judged by Lord Sugarsnap. Really, Judas had nothing on this pan-global backstabber. Nick brands Paloma “arrogant”, Paloma tries to “pin anything on Sandeesh”, Sandeesh calls Paloma “destructive”, Paloma calls Alex an “irritant” and Alex decides that he’s the “scapegoat.” All in all, a nastier, twisting, bitching display of buck-passing than has been seen all series.
In the end, Sir Alan decides to that Paloma has talked herself out of the competition and fires the Peruvian pillock with a point of his magic finger. The girl who started her business life frying donuts has been well and truly Sugared.
“I think it’s his loss to be honest.” God, I’m going to miss her humility.
Conclusion: It’s no good selling sparkle if Sir Alan doesn’t like the cut of your jib.
Posted in Misc |
Tagged Apprentice Blog |
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Posted on November 3, 2010 by John Cronin
A property investment company has officially announced that it has completed the purchase of an office block in New Malden, London.
CLS Holdings plc (CLS) has purchased the multi-storey Apex Tower, located in High Street, New Malden for a total of £21.46m. CLS now has two office blocks in the town as it already owns the CI Tower (pictured) that is on the opposite side of the road, next to the railway station.
Apex Tower is predominately an office block scheme though there are both retails units and a pub on the ground floor. The building also has a four storey car park to the rear. The upper 15 floors of offices offer approximately 99,000 sq ft of floor space.
CLS report that the building is currently fully let, mainly on a long term lease to BAE Systems. The rent payable on the offices amounts to £1.748m giving an approximate rental price of £17.65 / sq ft.
Sten Mortstedt, Executive Chairman of CLS, commented: “We are pleased to conclude the purchase of Apex Tower. It continues our focus on owning cost effective offices, which generate reliable cash flow. ”
The nearby CI Tower in St Georges Square also has 15 upper floors of offices and offers approximately 81,400 sq ft of floor space. Agents Cattaneo Commercial are currently marketing empty office space on the 4th and 10th floors of the building at rental prices of £21 / sq ft.
Posted in London |
Tagged Rental Prices |
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Posted on November 2, 2010 by John Cronin
A new, speculative business park is to be opened in 2011 on an 18 acre site in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
A newly formed 50:50 joint venture between Centric Property Group and Barnfield Construction has purchased the site from previous owners Fortis Bank in a land deal worth £2.44m that was concluded in August. The development is to be called the Crown Business Park and is to be undertaken in multiple phases.
As the empty land already had approved planning permission, construction work has already started on the first phase which will see 20,000 sq ft of office space and 30,000 sq ft of industrial space completed by next summer. Expected development costs for phase one are expected to reach £6.2m. The project is being part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) who provided £3.2m for ground works on the 7.3 hectare brownfield site. The completion of subsequent phases will make available a total 90,000 sq ft of office space and 170,000 sq ft of industrial space.
Crown Business Park is located near to J20 of the M62, offering easy access to the national motorway network. The scheme is not the only mixed-use business park in the region however. Kingsway Business Park by J21/M62 in Rochdale is a much larger scheme, covering some 420 acres and offering 300,000 sq ft of office floor space, though much of the office space is already let.
David Malpass, Director of European Programme for the regional development agency involved commented: “Crown Business Park will provide much-needed quality buildings to the Rochdale market. It has the opportunity to attract SME companies to the local area, in particular those in the financial and business services sector, creating jobs and boosting the local economy.”
Barnfield Construction, partners in the scheme, are no strangers to the speculative office market having been involved in over 150 office developments across the UK. Property developer Tim Heatley founded Centric Property Group in 2009 after spending 8 years at office fit-out group Modus. This new joint venture aims to developed further business parks within the north west.
Rental prices and agents for the scheme are yet to be announced.
Posted in Manchester |
Tagged Business Parks, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on November 2, 2010 by Rob Powell
The Home Secretary, Theresa May MP, has announced new restrictions on large printer cartridges being brought into the UK by air.
The clampdown follows the discovery by intelligence services of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) packed inside toner cartridges. The bombs has been sent by air freight to destinations in USA – one of them was discovered at East Midlands Airport en route to Chicago.
Ms May told the House of Commons on Monday that the explosive devices had been sent from Yemen.
She announced emergency measures in response to the toner cartridge bomb plot, including:
- Suspension of the carriage of toner cartridges larger than 500g in passengers’ hand baggage on flights departing from UK airports
- Prohibition of the carriage of these items by air cargo into, via or from the UK unless they originate from a known consignor – a regular shipper with security arrangements approved by the Department for Transport
The restrictions on printer cartridges, one of the most commonly ordered of all office supplies, came into force at midnight and will last for one month.
Other restrictions in response to the plot can be found on the Home Office website.
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Posted on November 1, 2010 by John Cronin
The large-scale Fort Dunlop building in Birmingham has received an award to recognise the successful redevelopment project.
The Birmingham Civic Society has awarded its 2010 Renaissance Award to the Fort Dunlop project in recognition of the restoration of the huge, listed building that had been neglected for over 20 years.
The iconic building has been redeveloped over several years in a joint venture between brown-field regeneration specialists Urban Splash and Advantage West Midlands, the local regional development agency (RDA).
Paul Lister, chair of the Civic Society’s planning committee, which makes the award, told the Birmingham Post: “The conversion of Fort Dunlop by Urban Splash represents a brave and imaginative transformation of this massive structure in a truly sustainable way”.
Whilst the design of the scheme has previously included many innovative energy saving measures, additional modifications have enabled the developers to further reduce the energy consumption at the scheme, giving an expected saving on fuel bills of some £200,000 pa.
A major Birmingham landmark, visible from the nearby M6 motorway, Fort Dunlop was constructed in the 1920’s and was once used as a warehouse by the Dunlop Rubber company. After being left unused for two decades the developers commenced a large-scale, mixed-use redevelopment project in 2004. Now, along with a 100 bedroom hotel and retail units the building offers over 300,000 sq ft of flexible office space. The redevelopment project, completed last year offers floor plates of approximately 33,300 sq ft on each of the six allocated office floors within the building.
The developers claim the scheme offers the biggest floor plates in the largest speculative office building outside of London. Lets are available from floor spaces of 2,000 sq ft upwards. Current rental prices are £15 / sq ft for the Grade A rated floor space. Current tenants include regional newspaper publishers, construction services, insurance companies and PR & design agencies.
Letting agents are GVA Grimley, DTZ and GBR.
Posted in West Midlands |
Tagged Listed Buildings, Renovations, Rental Prices, Speculative Developments |
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Posted on October 29, 2010 by John Cronin
The Local Government Minister Bob Neill has criticised a London council for spending money on re-fitted award-winning offices.
In response to a BBC investigation, Bob Neill has said Newham Councillors and staff were “living the ultimate Champagne socialist lifestyle on the taxpayer”. This reaction comes as the build cost of the new Newham Council office building has been revealed as totalling £18.7m. A spokesperson for the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “This glitzy refit is the sort of thing you might expect of a five star hotel”. In their defence the council has stated that taxpayers within the borough would see annual savings of £7m a year.
The British Council for Offices organisation gave a “fit-out” award to the new office scheme at their annual awards ceremony earlier this month. The award is given for a quality fit-out that “betray no signs of opulence or financial exuberance and offers outstanding value for money”.
The new building replaces some 50 existing offices that were located in various buildings and portakabins across the East London Borough. The revamped offices are located in Newham Dockside. By adopting a shared-desk system the offices have 1,780 work spaces for 2,500 staff – a ratio of 1.4 people per desk. The building, known as Building 1000, has a total floor space of approximately 166,840 sq ft.
Architects of the scheme Sheppard Robson suggested that the offices needed a “wow factor” to make the building interior work and to generate a more collaborative work environment. More images of the office interior are available here and also at Overbury who were the main contractors for the building.
Posted in London |
Tagged Public Sector, Renovations |
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Posted on October 28, 2010 by John Cronin
Legal & General Property has announced the exchange of contracts with Mindshare for their first office let in the distinctive Central Saint Giles scheme in central London.
Mindshare, a global media company and part of the WPP group, has signed-up for some 78,000 sq ft of floor space over the 7th and 8th floors in the commercial led, mixed-use scheme. Rental prices and the duration of the lease for the deal have not been disclosed.
Central Saint Giles is a mixed-use, 12-storey development located at St Giles between Covent Garden and Soho. The development, which was completed in April and officially opened at the end of May, 2010, offers private residential accommodation, restaurants and bars and approximately 408,000 sq ft of Grade A office space. It is a joint venture owned by Legal & General Property and the Mitsubishi Estate Company. The developers claim the building offers some of the largest office floor plates (43,000 sq ft) in London’s West End.
Described by Paul Finch, chairman of CABE as “one of London’s great commercial buildings, setting the standards by which office architecture should be judged”, the Central Saint Giles scheme has received mixed public opinion due to its striking appearance. Designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano – also the designer of The Shard at London Bridge Place – the building has a colourful exterior due to the 121,000 red, green, yellow and orange ceramic tiles that adorn the walls.
The building is highly energy-efficient and has achieved a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ due to the implementation of measures such as using captured rain water to flush toilets and bio-mass boilers for heating.
The developers suggest that interest in office space within the speculative scheme is strong and further lettings are expected soon.
Agents for the scheme are Cushman & Wakefield and Jones Lang LaSalle.
Posted in London |
Tagged Speculative Developments |
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