Posted on September 27, 2010 by John Cronin
The biggest office deal this year in the Jewellery Quarter district of Birmingham has just been signed.
Chord Developments have secured a ten-year lease deal with global insurance brokerage Willis Group Ltd. The insurance company has taken 10,000 sq ft (929 sq m) including 12 car parking spaces on the ground floor at 40 St Paul’s Square (pictured). The company moves from 30 St Paul’s Square.
Will Monaghan, lease manager at Willis, said: “Willis has been established in the Jewellery Quarter for many years and we were keen to remain here. 40 St Paul’s Place fitted the bill as it is a landmark building in a convenient location and it offered the space we needed on one floor plate.”
The letting to Willis is Chord’s second following the launch of the office space in May this year. In August construction and fit-out company ISG took 3,314 sq ft of floor space in the building. 40 St Paul’s Square is part of the mixed-use St Paul’s Place scheme, comprises 25,400 sq ft/2,360 sq m of office space and 148 apartments. The building offers the biggest floor plates in the Jewellery Quarter.
40 St Paul’s Square boasts a full Grade A specification, including air conditioning and raised flooring in a renovated, period building overlooking a fully landscaped courtyard. The office space is over two floors and is accessed via a boutique hotel-style lobby, with marble and granite wall cladding.
Quotes rental prices for floorplates between 4,500 – 20,295 sq ft are from £18.50 per sq ft per annum. Floor space within the building amounts to a total of 35,973 sq ft.
Nick Williams, head of office agency at Savills, said: “Chord has scored two significant lettings in a matter of months. It’s a ringing endorsement of the product and the location. 40 St Paul’s Place offers a city centre-type specification, in a landmark building, but at two-thirds the rental costs of similar new Grade A stock.”
Birmingham City Council’s plan to develop the Jewellery Quarter into a hub for creative businesses has attracted significant amounts of private investment into the Quarter in recent years. The area of Birmingham is so-called as it used to house the numerous jewellery and coin manufacturers in the city.
Chord Developments are spending in excess of £35m on their St Paul’s Square development. Other office developments in the Jewellery Quarter include the St Georges development (93,528 sq ft) and the Birmingham Mint redevelopment that will offer 60,000 sq ft of floor space in the first phase.
Posted in West Midlands |
Tagged Jewellery Quarter, Rental Prices, Snowhill |
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Posted on September 27, 2010 by Rob Powell
A Glasgow businessman has come up with an unlikely incentive to help sell office space in the city – a free Aston Martin DB7.
Tim Twiddy is offering the car, worth approximately £17,000, as a freebie to the buyer of an office suite he is selling in Bath Street.
Mr Twiddy tells Scotland’s Daily Record that his wife had told him he had to get rid of the car – his second Aston Martin – so by selling the office and disposing of the car, it would “make both my commercial and domestic life much happier all round”.
The 1300 sq ft office suite was originally part of the head office of the City of Glasgow Friendly Society and is being marketed for £120,000.
Posted in Glasgow |
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Posted on September 24, 2010 by John Cronin
A new £3.5m Grade II-listed rural office development on the outskirts of Sheffield has been short-listed for the prestigious RIBA EM Awards.
The Hathersage Business Centre (pictured) is shortlisted for an award, which are handed out by the Royal Institute of British Architects to recognise excellence in architecture.
It follows the conversion of a range of semi-derelict listed buildings, which originally formed the coach house, dovecote and stables to Hathersage Hall. The completed scheme has received acclaim for the careful redevelopment of the listed buildings while at the same time achieving a Category B energy performance rating and for the implementation of sustainable building practices such air source heat pumps for under floor heating.
The newly constructed, premium grade offices offer a total of 12,500 sq ft of floor space with individual office suites ranging from 460 sq ft to 2,195 sq ft. Several of the units have been let or are under offer. Rental prices have not been made public.
The winners of the RIBA awards will be announced at a presentation ceremony in Leicester on September 30.
Posted in South Yorkshire |
Tagged Listed Buildings, Serviced Offices |
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Posted on September 24, 2010 by John Cronin
Plans for a £20m office block development in Maidenhead have been approved by the local council.
The nine storey, 35m high building at the highest point will be the second tallest building in Maidenhead after Berkshire House, another multi-storey office block in the town that is 39m at the highest point. Despite some local opposition planning panel members argued the development, on a gateway site to the town in Market Street, will be key to the town’s rejuvenation plans by bringing a surge of footfall in 600 workers. Two existing office buildings on the development site at 27 and 29 (Albany House) Market Street are to be demolished.
The new office block will be located in the commercial area of Maidenhead and will offer approximately 7,000 sq m of floor space in a building of 9,200 sq m gross. The planning committee was satisfied that the development is capable of achieving a ‘Very Good’ BREEAM rating. It is not yet known if the floorplates will be rated as Grade A.
Aegon Asset Management who plan to lease out the office space are the financial backers behind the development and the project will be undertaken by Capella Estates. Architects for the scheme are Darling Associates.
Posted in Berkshire |
Tagged Planning |
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Posted on September 23, 2010 by John Cronin
Architects David Chipperfield have won the competition for a commission to design the replacement for Elizabeth House in London.
The Elizabeth House site is currently occupied by a 1960’s building standing on a prime site in York Road, London right next to Waterloo Station. Previous plans for three towers (pictured), two for office space and the other for residential, had been much derided and were dubbed “the ugly sisters”. One of the office blocks planned was for 27 storeys, the other 22.
The £1 billion development plans put forward by Allies and Morrisons were initially blocked in 2008 by London Mayor Boris Johnson on the grounds that the towers would spoil some of London’s historic views, including those of Big Ben. After appeals by the developer, the then Communities secretary John Denham vetoed the plans in 2009 because “they would harm the Westminster World Heritage Site and local listed buildings including the Royal Festival Hall”.
Whilst indicating that tall office and residential blocks were generally suitable for the site, Denham concluded: “the two office towers did not possess the balanced, sculptural or elegant qualities crucial to the success of tall buildings”.
The existing 240,000 sq ft block and development site was bought by London & Regional Properties from P & O Estates for £85m in an all-cash transaction in March 2010. The new owners indicated at the time that they would put forward revised plans for a smaller footage development.
Having won the design commission from competing practices Grimshaw Architects and Hopkins Architects, Chipperfield now have the task of producing a design that is sympathetic to the area.
Headline rental prices for serviced offices within Elizabeth House are approximately £29/sq ft for centrally heated floor spaces and approximately £23/sq ft for comfort-cooled areas.
Posted in London |
Tagged Elizabeth House, Planning, Rental Prices, Serviced Offices |
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Posted on September 22, 2010 by John Cronin
The multi-million pound Snowhill development in Birmingham is set to recommence after being put on ice during the recession.
RT Group Development (RTGD) is understood to be looking at bids from several construction companies for a £45m office development at Birmingham Snow Hill rail station.
The office block, to be known as Two Snowhill, is the second of four phases in the development of the site, where RTGD owns 1.86 hectares of land. One Snowhill (pictured), a 12 floor office block is complete and is already occupied. Construction work on the second phase was suspended during the recession after Anglo Irish Bank, the original financier, pulled out. It left the office partially built, with two concrete cores sticking up into the skyline. The 14-floor office development, which will include basement car parking for over 140 cars is expected to be completed in late 2012.
The Snowhill development (the name is a deliberate concatenation of Snow Hill) is a mixed-use scheme offering premium office floorplates, residential housing and public spaces. The development is located in Birmingham’s business district and offers easy access to both rail and road networks.
One Snowhill is a £66m office block providing Grade A rated floorplates over 11 floors – the ground floor is used for retail outlets. Office tenants include KPMG who pre-let 118,403 sq ft back in 2006 – the deal at the time being the largest pre-let in Birmingham since 2002 and the largest outside of London since 2003. The other significant tenant is Barclays Bank, who let 98,000 sq ft of floor space and moved into the building in January this year.
When complete Two Snowhill will be the larger of the the two office blocks with an extra three floors of office space and offering 310,867 sq ft of floor space in total. Law firm Wragge & Co has agreed a pre-let deal for 60% of the building.
Joint marketing agents are Jones Lang LaSalle and CB Richard Ellis.
Posted in West Midlands |
Tagged Snowhill |
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Posted on September 21, 2010 by Rob Powell
A major new office development in Bournemouth has been given the go-ahead by local planners – three years after it originally gained planning permission.
The Troika Development was given planning consent for the construction of 25,000 sq m of B1 office space following a public inquiry in 2007, but with a three-year lifespan attached to the permission.
The developers failed to build in that time and were required to resubmit their application this year.
Despite local concerns about the large development in Riverside Avenue, which counts the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and a nursing home amongst its neighbours, a planning board at Bournemouth Council has given the green light to the scheme.
One elderly resident of the nearby nursing home voiced his disappointment at the decision in the local paper, the Bournemouth Echo. He said:
“We are very disappointed. We are going to be surrounded by four-storey buildings. At the moment we appear to live in beautiful countryside.”
The developers also have existing planning consent for a large Park and Ride site adjacent to the prospective offices.
Posted in Dorset |
Tagged Planning |
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Posted on September 21, 2010 by John Cronin
Commercial property developer MEPC has secured planning permission on two applications for office buildings in Leeds.
The plans for two additional buildings at Wellington Place were approved by Leeds City Council. A five storey office building next to the Grade II Listed Lifting Tower was described in a council report as creating:
“…A successful backdrop to the listed lifting tower and will visually contain the northern side of the main square at the centre of the Wellington Place development. It will be a high quality building and conforms to the objectives of the approved master plan.”
A six/seven storey office building with basement car park was also approved for the same site.
Managing director of Wellington Place Andrew Barlow welcomed the decision, noting the construction of the offices “demonstrates MEPC’s commitment to the expansion of the site”. However, Mr Barlow also stated MEPC is “taking a long-term approach to construction” and is therefore unlikely to carry out any speculative development.
Number Three Wellington Place will offer 110,000 sq ft of office space, while Number Ten is set to feature 35,000 sq ft.
Wellington Place is a seven hectare site in the west end commercial district of Leeds on the site of the former Central Station. When fully developed the site will provide in excess of 2.7m sq ft of both commercial and residential accommodation around a sequence of three major new public spaces which link the riverside with the city centre.
Number Two Wellington Place (pictured), is the existing seven storey, solar glazed building providing offices with Grade A floor-plates and is let to tenants including Sky, Irwin Mitchell and Regus, the serviced offices provider. 14,590 sq ft of floor space is available to let on the first floor.
7 Wellington Place has detailed planning consent and is available as a potential headquarters building on a design and build basis or for pre-rental by the floor. Potential exists to provide a building of up to 160,000 sq ft.
Wellington Central, is a building on the site constructed from recycled freight containers. Used as the marketing suite for the development the office is also available to tenants for rental for meetings and events.
Agents for Wellington Place are Jones Lang LaSalle and DTZ.
Posted in West Yorkshire |
Tagged Planning, Serviced Offices |
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Posted on September 20, 2010 by John Cronin
Commercial property developers are increasing the availability of premium grade floor space in Liverpool by renovating existing office buildings.
As highlighted by the just-released offices in the well-known India Buildings block in Water Street, developers are increasing the somewhat limited stock of Grade A office space in Liverpool by renovating old city centre buildings. The Royal Liver Building, Cunard Building, One Derby Square and 43 Castle Street are just some of the properties to have received extensive refurbishment over the last 12 months.
Developer Green Property Limited has opened up the myriad of narrow corridors and small, individual rooms within India Buildings to make available a range of flexible floorplates including whole floors within the listed building. Available office space ranges from 200 sq ft (18.5 sq m) to 35,000 sq ft (3,251 sq m) on a single floor with Grade A specification accommodation included. Rental prices are not currently quoted by joint agents CB Richard Ellis and Matthews Goodman.
Across The Strand at The Port of Liverpool building, developers Downing have commenced work on a new 8,330 sq ft office suite on the second floor of the Grade II listed building. Downing, Liverpool’s largest private commercial landlord is reporting healthy interest in the office space that will warrant a premium rental price. Downing has spent £15m in total on restoration works at The Port of Liverpool building, including restoring the iconic dome. The whole project is one of the UK’s largest privately-funded refurbishments of a listed building.
Paul Jolley, CB Richard Ellis associate director, said in a recent interview:
“A number of major owners, such as UK Land & Property, Downing and Green Property have upgraded their buildings.
“There used to be very little Grade A office space in the city, but this has markedly improved with the installation of modern specification of lighting and air conditioning.
“Of course, properties of India Buildings’ era are based on spinal corridors with small offices and now ways of working have changed.
“But, as more forward-thinking owners have shown, it’s not difficult to change that to keep up with the times.”
But not all Grade A office space in Liverpool is confined to the abundance of 2,500 listed buildings within the city, many being located in the business district. Developers English City Fund have just celebrated a topping out ceremony on the last phase of No 4 St Paul’s Square. The 109,000 sq ft new build, located in the business quarter of the city, is due for completion in May 2011, providing multi-let, Grade A rated office space. The scheme is one of the most significant speculative developments in Liverpool since the 2006 completion of 20 Chapel Street, a 150,000 sq ft new-build tower whose tenants include Liverpool Football Club, Barclays and Barclays Wealth, Bank of Ireland and Ernst & Young.
Posted in Merseyside |
Tagged Listed Buildings, Renovations, Serviced Offices |
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Posted on September 17, 2010 by John Cronin
A flagship Bristol office complex that was previously owned by failed property group Castlemore has come to market with a price tag of £82m.
The One Glass Wharf development affords some 215,000 sq ft of high grade office floor space, of which 81% is pre-let to law firm Burges Salmon. Approximately 42,000 sq ft on the ground to second floor is vacant and is being marketed at £27.50 per sq ft. The asking price of £82m would give an initial yield of 6.75%.
One Glass Wharf was left part-finished when Castlemore Securities collapsed in 2009. Castlemore reportedly had a £1billion property pipeline including 40 Holborn Viaduct, a 178,000 sq ft office block overlooking Holborn Circus, London.
One Glass Wharf is part of the Temple Quay area of Bristol, located only a short distance from the City Centre in what is reportedly “rapidly becoming known as the city’s business hub”. The area has seen a significant inward investment and has seen speculative office developments completed within the last two years.
Other recent developments in this new business quarter area of Bristol include The Paragon, a £35m speculative office development in nearby Victoria Street in the Redcliffe area of Bristol. Ernst & Young recently let 20,322 sq ft of office space over two floors at The Paragon on a 20-year lease at a rental price of £27.50 sq ft.
Alder King and King Sturge are advising on the sale of One Glass Wharf; Alder King and Lambert Smith Hampton are letting agents on the vacant space.
Posted in Bristol |
Tagged Rental Prices |
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