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.
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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
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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 |
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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).
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Tagged Foster and Partners, KiFin, Minerva |
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Posted on September 8, 2010 by John Cronin
After declining demand for office space during the whole of 2009 and much of 2008, Glasgow is seeing a sharp turnaround with rising occupancy levels for the first 6 months of 2010.
Demand for Grade A office space in central Glasgow is buoyant and accounts for over 50% of transactions in the first half of 2010. Reports suggest that prime rents have also increased by over 10%. Prime rents of £26.00 psf (per square foot) in January 2010 have been surpassed, with recent deals at the prestigious G1 building in George Square being secured at circa £29.00 psf. Some 82,000 of the available 130,000 sq ft within the 9 floor complex is already let.
In another significant transaction, NFU Mutual purchased the 77,000 sq ft Clarion Building in Wellington Street, predominately for its own occupation as Chartis UK had already signed-up for 8,000 sq ft of floor space within the building.
Within central Glasgow there is currently just one speculative office complex under construction, that being the 65,000 sq ft Copenhagen Building. This new development is nearing completion and offers Grade A office accommodation over 9 floors. The glass-fronted building is located in Hope Street, opposite Central Station in the International Financial Services District (IFSD).
Lettings agents expect the strengthening demand for Grade A space to have a knock-on effect upon good quality Grade B refurbishments, particularly in core city locations. Without new, premium developments coming to market, Grade A space availability will contract due to lack of supply rather than any lack in demand, creating an upturn in the B+ quality office accommodation market.
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Tagged Rental Prices |
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Posted on September 7, 2010 by John Cronin
Peel Holdings has announced its bid for Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) status for its Atlantic Gateway scheme.
Peel Group is a major land and property owner with significant assets in the UK and especially the north west including Liverpool Airport, Port of Liverpool and Manchester Ship Canal, The Trafford Centre and MediaCityUK in Salford, soon to be offices and studios for several BBC productions relocating from central London.
LEPs are to replace regional development agencies which currently fund local regeneration and Peel wants LEP status for its mixed-use £50 billion Atlantic Gateway scheme (previously called Ocean Gateway).
As part of that scheme, Peel was granted planning permission by Wirral Borough Council in August for the controversial £4.5 billion Wirral Waters development – the largest planning application in the UK for a 30 year, 18million sq foot mixed-use development project.
A similar project – Liverpool Waters – for dock land on the other side of the River Mersey includes proposals for over 50 new buildings including an iconic 60 storey hotel and office complex to be called the Shanghai Tower.
Offering approximately 1 million square feet of development space and expected to cost in excess of £300 million, Shanghai Tower will also boast a heli-pad on the roof of the building and underwater, basement car parking. It will be the tallest skyscraper outside London and river facing offices at the top of the tower would command a healthy premium for offering stunning views of what is a World Heritage Site.
Liverpool has the oldest Chinese community in Europe and is twinned with Shanghai and the tower was named after a visit to Shanghai by Peel executives. Shortlisted architects for the skyscraper are AFL, Broadway Malyan, Chapman Taylor and Benoy. Approval for this development and the broader Atlantic Gateway development is still however far from certain.
Posted in Merseyside |
Tagged Liverpool Waters, Peel Group, Wirral Waters |
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