Posted on September 17, 2010 by John Cronin
As phase one of MediaCityUK nears completion, Manchester commercial estate agents and developers are reporting increased demand for floor space in the region.
Muse Developments, a Manchester based developer and part of Morgan Sindall Group plc has completed two lettings at Anchorage Quay in Salford Quays, totalling 12,500 sq ft. Manchester based serviced offices company Bruntwood has welcomed three new customers to Furness House in Salford Quays, in deals totalling 3,750 sq ft. Meanwhile BNP Paribas Real Estate has acquired 5,140 sq ft for a client at Wrather Group’s Zenith building in Spring Gardens.
Wes Erlam, development surveyor at Muse Developments, said: “Whilst the market remains extremely challenging, we believe the advent of Media City UK – and the proximity of Anchorage to this fantastic new destination – will present real opportunities for us moving forward. We can offer highly competitive rents and a range of space in Anchorage One and Two. We look forward to capitalising on further opportunities in the future.”
In a sign that companies are expecting the Peel Group owned Media City UK development to generate new business, Manchester law firm Ralli has opened an office in the Digital World Centre in Salford Quays.
Kirsty Johnston, business centre manager for the centre said: “Ralli’s presence at the Digital World Centre represents an exciting development in the types of organisations that are becoming attracted to Salford Quays. This move will mean the firm is well placed to jump on any opportunities generated by Media City UK.”
Posted in Manchester |
Tagged Media City, Peel Group, Salford Quays |
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Posted on September 16, 2010 by John Cronin
A developer has been ordered to partially demolish a new office block in Leeds after a neighbour complained that it deprived his own property of light.
Developers Highcross added two additional floors to the existing five storey Toronto Square office, adding over 7,000 sq ft of floor space. The £10m extension was completed in 2009 and was leased to business consultants Zolfo Cooper on a 10-year lease.
But next-door neighbour Marcus Heaney filed for an injunction against Highcross, arguing that the extra floors deprived his own property of a right to light. Heaney, who runs an event management business, owns the former Yorkshire Penny Bank building in Infirmary Street.
The case was initially thrown out on the basis that Heaney did not complain about the development during the construction phase. However, courts subsequently granted him an injunction against Highcross, requiring the developer to pull down part of the extension. Chris Mills, commercial development director at Newbury-based Highcross, said the property fund manager and developer was appealing against the ruling after taking professional advice.
The Toronto Square office development is located in the commercial district of Leeds city centre and offers Grade A floor space of 74,145 sq ft with a BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating. In January 2010 recruitment consultants Reed signed a 10-year lease for 6,695 sq ft of ground floor space at rental prices of £24/sq ft.
Posted in West Yorkshire |
Tagged Planning, Rental Prices |
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Posted on September 16, 2010 by John Cronin
Infrastructure services giant Balfour Beatty is to create 200 new jobs after signing-up for office space at a business park in Newcastle.
Balfour Beatty has taken a 10-year lease on the 41,000 sq ft Q14 building at the new Quorum Business Park on the edge of the city centre. The company is to use the floor space for a new UK customer services centre.
The business park has been constructed within an Enterprise Zone and aims to offer potential tenants competitive rental prices. Rents are quoted at between £14.95 and £16.95 per sq ft and incentives are also available. Offices in the ten available buildings have “Excellent” and “Very Good” BREEAM ratings. Serviced offices are available from single desk up to 1000 desk occupancy. On-site amenities including a nursery, retail centre, restaurants and sports club. Existing tenants include Tesco Bank, IBM and HM Revenue & Customs.
Agents are Knight Frank and DTZ.
Posted in Tyne and Wear |
Tagged Rental Prices, Serviced Offices |
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Posted on September 15, 2010 by John Cronin
Builders began digging the footings for the foundations of a new £75million office scheme in West Bromwich yesterday.
In one of the town’s biggest building projects seen in the last 30 years, construction company Bowmer and Kirkland are now working on a five-storey office block (141,000 sq ft) on All Saints Way for BT Liberata, an IT services company. About 450 staff will be based there once the office block is complete. The BT building will include a central atrium looking out onto a new public square that is also being built.
Developers Stoford are behind the scheme and have high hopes for the £75m All Saints project. All Saints, at the junction of the A41 Expressway and Cronehills Linkway on a 7 acre site, is part of a wider regeneration of West Bromwich town centre which has already seen the construction of The Public and will also see the complete overhaul of the local retail facilities. Stoford are ensuring that these new buildings comply to the BREEAM Excellent rating for office space. BREEAM (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) is the leading and most widely used environmental assessment method for buildings.
Jon Andrews, Stoford Director, said: “This landmark development is just the start of a mighty ongoing office building programme to regenerate West Bromwich as a prime business location.”
“Designed to the highest sustainable standards in an attractive mixed-use environment and with rents of less than £20 per sq ft compared with over £30 per sq ft in central Birmingham, the accommodation should prove irresistible to companies looking to relocate to a bright, easily accessible, modern setting.”
Sandwell Metropolitan Council is heavily behind the new office development. Fred Lynch, CEO, Transform Sandwell, said: “The building of the regional business centre is a real demonstration of how BT contributes to economic regeneration within the Borough. It will be a strikingly modern ‘green’ office space and will also bring much needed economic activity to an important part of this area.”
Meanwhile, final details are being put together for the planning application for a separate office block next door to BT that will be home to West Bromwich Building Society. The Society plans to relocate 450 head office staff to the new All Saints development by early 2012. The firm is expected to take 70,000 sq ft of the 270,000 sq ft site. Having agreed in principle to lease the floor space, the Society is looking to leave it’s current head office on West Bromwich High Street where it has been based for over 30 years.
Posted in West Midlands |
Tagged All Saints, Rental Prices |
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Posted on September 14, 2010 by John Cronin
Reports suggest that the developers of the Pinnacle tower in the City of London are about to secure the much-needed first tenant for the building.
News sources including the London Evening Standard report that investment fund management group Schroders plc are considering leasing up to as much as a quarter of the available office space. Developers of the tower Arab Investments need to secure a large lease on the building in order to secure further funding to proceed with construction of the large-scale development.
The Pinnacle is a speculative development and is the only new City office building under construction that is scheduled to open after 2011. When complete it will be the tallest office block in the City, standing at some 288m, affording approximately 1m sq ft of premium floor space over 61 floors. The building has been dubbed the Helter-Skelter due to the spiral like design of the exterior. Architects behind the development are Kohn Pedersen Fox.
It is suggested that Arab Investments are hoping to let 250,000 sq ft of space on the third to 10th floors to a single company at rental prices of approximately £60/sq ft. The highest floors in the tower will be the last to be let at rental prices of up to £90/sq ft. Bloomberg have interviewed Khalid Affara, managing director of London-based Arab Investments who said: “I’m confident I will sign a tenant to enable this project to continue” and without naming names he also suggests that “two or three” providers of serviced offices are waiting to sign lease agreements on the Pinnacle.
Commercial agents CB Richard Ellis have just announced that they have been appointed as joint leasing agent to work alongside Savills Commercial on The Pinnacle. Mark Slim, Executive Director, Central London, CB Richard Ellis, said: “The Pinnacle will be one of the City’s finest buildings and this mandate represents a major win for the firm. CBRE has wanted to be part of the Pinnacle team for some time and we are delighted to be involved going forward. We will put the full global resources of CBRE into motion on behalf of The Pinnacle Limited and its shareholders.”
Slim goes on to say: “Availability in the City is heading down fast. There’s not a lot of choice for tenants in terms of big floor plates and big buildings.”
Posted in London |
Tagged Rental Prices, Serviced Offices |
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Posted on September 14, 2010 by John Cronin
Open House London 2010 is taking place on Saturday 18th – Sunday 19th September giving members of the public free access to a number of London buildings.
The free architectural showcase aims to allow the public to see inside a wide range of public and private buildings. Over 700 buildings are taking part including several London office developments:
- Tower 42 – the tallest tower in the City of London
- Centre Point – a Grade II listed tower
- 55 Broadway – London Underground Head Office
- National Office of Arts Council England – RIBA Award Winner 2009
Foster and Partners, architects of many award winning commercial developments are also opening the mezzanine floor of their own Battersea studio for the event with recent projects on display.
For more news of the event, a list of buildings taking part and details on how to obtain a free guide visit the official website.
Posted in London |
Tagged Foster and Partners, Open House London |
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Posted on September 13, 2010 by John Cronin
Runners will get the chance to take part in a race with a difference next year – to the top of the Gherkin.
The charity race, organised to raise funds for the NSPCC, will see runners climb the 1,037 stairs of the iconic City of London skyscraper.
Registration has now opened for Step Change 2011, which will take place next March and for which limited spaces are available.
About ‘The Gherkin’
The Gherkin is one of the most recognisable office blocks in the City of London, if not the world. The unusually shaped skyscraper (hence the widely used nickname) is situated at 30 St Mary Axe on the former site of the Baltic Exchange.
Standing at 180m tall, it is, for the time being at least, the second most tallest building in the City of London and the sixth tallest in London. Despite the curved shape of the building there is just one piece of curved glass in the structure that being the lens at the apex of the tower. Designed by architects Foster and Partners the award winning building was based upon a radial plan to ensure that it met with a site that was somewhat space constrained. The maximum circumference of the building at 178m is just 2m less than its height.
Offering 76,400 sq m of floor space over 41 floors the Gherkin offers premium Grade A office accommodation along with a retail shopping arcade. Described by the architects as being the first ecological tall building in London, the energy-conscious enclosure of the structure resolves walls and roof in to a continuous triangulated skin, allowing column-free floor space, light and views.
The Gherkin widens in profile as it rises and tapers towards the tower apex. This distinctive form of the building is in response to the constraints of the site and as such:
- the building appears more slender than a rectangular block of equivalent size
- reflections are reduced and transparency is improved
- the slimming profile towards the base maximises the public realm at ground level
- the profile reduces the amount of wind deflected to the ground compared with a rectilinear tower of similar size, helping to maintain pedestrian comfort at street level.
The building has a fully glazed facade maximising the available natural light (modified by solar control blinds) and affording spectacular views across London from all offices. The facade has opening panels that draw fresh air in to the communal spaces the spiral up the building. This system reduces the towers reliance on air conditioning and together with other sustainable measures, means that the building is expected to use up to half the energy consumed by air-conditioned office towers.
The building was chosen as the winner of the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Sterling Prize 2004 after receiving a unanimous decision from the judging panel.
Originally developed for insurance giant Swiss Re the building is currently let to several companies.
Hat tip: Londonist
Posted in London |
Tagged Foster and Partners, Serviced Offices |
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Posted on September 10, 2010 by John Cronin
The administration of the collapsed commercial law firm Halliwells continues with their former Manchester offices coming to market.
The prestigious office building 3 Hardman Square, Spinningfields, Manchester is available to let with immediate occupation from 26th September, 2010. Spinningfields is a large office, retail and residential development in Manchester that lies in the western side of the city centre. CB Richard Ellis have been instructed to let the building which is owned by Credit Suisse Asset Management and asset managed by Müller International.
Ecclesiastical Insurance occupies 5,000 sq ft on the first floor of the property, but the remaining 175,000 sq ft is available by way of new lease at a headline rent of £30 per sq ft.
When development at Spinningfields is complete there will be 20 buildings on the 6 acre, 4.5m sq ft, former brown field site. Developers behind the project are Allied London Properties. Launched in July 2000, Spinningfields was quoted in the Financial Times as being the “Canary Wharf of the north”. Other occupants in Hardman Street include Manchester Evening News, Deloitte, HSBC and Grant Thornton.
Number 3 Hardman Street was designed by Foster and Partners (Norman Foster being originally from Stockport) and was completed in 2007 offering approx 188,000 sq ft of Grade A floor space over 9 floors. The Manchester Civil Justice Centre currently stands as the tallest building in the Spinningfields district. There are plans for a 40 storey building at 1 Hardman Street offering 600,000 sqft of office space.
Premium Grade A office floor space is in short supply in Manchester’s Central Business District and 3 Hardman Street offers the largest remaining Grade A office floorplates. Will Kennon, associate director of office agency at CBRE North West, said the building would “act as a pressure valve in the city centre office market”.
Posted in Manchester |
Tagged Allied London, Foster and Partners, Rental Prices, Spinningfields |
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Posted on September 10, 2010 by Rob Powell
Serviced office provider, ‘The Office Group’ has been sold for over £40 million, according to a report in City AM.
The company, which operates serviced offices in locations across London, has been bought by Lloyd Dorfman – the man who founded Travelex.
The office company was sold to the business man by private equity firm, Bridges Ventures.
“With interests in this sector already I was looking to diversify and it was evident that The Office Group had a very clear, differentiated proposition, an established customer base and a great vision for the future,” said Dorfman told City AM.
The Office Group has serviced offices in Farringdon, King’s Cross, Shoreditch, Marylebone and outside of London in Bristol.
Posted in Bristol, London |
Tagged Serviced Offices |
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Posted on September 9, 2010 by John Cronin
Minerva, the London offices developer, has successfully defended itself from a complete change in management proposed by activist investor Nathan Kirsh.
At an extraordinary general meeting yesterday, all six of the resolutions proposed by Kirsh’s investment company KiFin were rejected overwhelmingly by independent shareholders. Mr Kirsh, who owns 29.5% of Minerva has previously failed to take control of the property company and it is suspected that this latest setback will not deter him from a further takeover attempt. However Salmaan Hasan, (Minerva CEO) is quoted as saying “the dialogue with KiFin is something we will seek. We don’t want this to carry on and we don’t want a conflict”.
Minerva (website) has a portfolio of high-end residential developments, office and retail assets within the companies Croydon Estate and two of the City’s largest office developments, The Walbrook and St Botolphs.
The Walbrook is a 445,000 sq ft office development designed by Internationally renowned architects Foster and Partners and was completed to shell in February 2010. With a principal entrance on Walbrook, just south of the Mansion House, the building is equidistant from Bank and Cannon Street tube stations. The Walbrook is a redevelopment of three existing Minerva properties; St Swithin’s House, Granite House and Walbrook House. The development offers 410,000 sq ft of offices suitable for a major occupier along with 35,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant floor space.
St Botolphs is a 14 storey landmark office building with circa 560,000 sq ft accommodation, including retail space. The building, standing on an island site of 1.25 acres on the eastern side of The City of London, offers office accommodation suitable for company headquarters use. The office development, designed by internationally renowned architects Grimshaw, celebrated its topping out on 5th February 2010. Some 45% of the office space is pre-let to Lockton International (insurance brokers) and Clyde and Co LLP (international commercial lawyers).
Posted in London |
Tagged Foster and Partners, KiFin, Minerva |
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