UK Commercial Property News: North West

Showing posts with label North West. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 November 2011

Gateway Starts

With funding agreed, preliminary work is starting on the Mersey Gateway project that will bring a six lane toll bridge between Runcorn and Widnes. Steve Nicholson of Mersey Gateway said: “The agreement represents the best possible deal for the public purse and means that we can focus on delivering a project that will bring benefits to local people, commuters and businesses across the region.” It comes at a time of increased development activity in the area, epitomised by Peel getting the green light for the £175 million Trade Centre in the Wirral Waters scheme at Birkenhead Docks. Also in Merseyside, Barnfield Centric, a joint venture of Capital & Centric and Barnfield Construction, has started building the 7,618 sq.m. at the Estuary Banks Business Park, Speke, South Liverpool. The scheme has been helped with £2.54 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

The twenty hybrid units can be used for offices, research & development, light industrial and warehouse accommodation and come in a variety of sizes.

Cauldwell joins Prince

The role of local entrepreneurs in regenerating their areas has been a key factor in many parts of the UK, not least in the North West through John Whittaker of Peel.

Now we have John Caudwell, who created a successful mobile phone business employing thousands in Stoke-on-Trent, with his involvement in the conservation and regeneration of the Middleport Pottery in his home town.

This has also become another project for the Prince of Wales’ charity, Tthe Prince’s Regeneration Trust. The objective is to create local jobs, attract new business to the area and ensure that production of the Middleport blue and white Burleighware remains in Stoke.

“In an era of invisible and largely electronic economy, it is sometimes forgotten that everything we know today was built on an industrial and manufacturing revolution, which bred incredible craftsmen and products and made Britain a manufacturing powerhouse.

Coming from an engineering background myself, I really appreciate the skills required in making and producing quality products,” Caudwell said.

He added that “nowhere on earth are the skills and craftsmanship of working with clay, water, heat and colour so deeply imbedded in the DNA of the population and it is crucial that this is preserved in Stoke.”

Stoke already benefits from the skilled development by St Modwen, which has now submitted a planning application for the latest phase of the Etruria Valley development, an area which is at the heart of the city’s pottery history.

This will see an increase of 16 acres in the Etruria Valley Business Park, which is part of the wider Festival Park area, once the home of the Shotton Iron and Steel Works. The joint venture of St Modwen and the city’s regeneration company aims to build a mixture of offices, manufacturing and storage space.

Since the regeneration plan for the area was launched in 1988, there has been development of 125,415 sq.metres (1.35 million sq.ft.) which has included a large contact centre for Vodafone and a new factory for Wade Ceramics.

Going bust

Judging from the latest figures for business failures, the economy is having a hard time picking up speed in the region. According to Equifax, the failure rate of businesses in the North West increased by 9.1% in the third quarter compared with the same period of 2010. In fact, that is half the national rate.

To some extent the figures should not surprise since retailing has had a bad period with a 41.8% rise in failures. Mark Nuttall of Equifax commented: “The North West has seen failures creep up by 10%, which highlights the overall UK picture and suggests that businesses everywhere need to remain cautious. The reality is that businesses are continuing to find it much harder to keep their heads above water as the economy fails to pick up.”

Friday, 2 September 2011

Rod in North West

Taking a broad approach to development in the UK, in geographical terms and the variety of the schemes, RO Developments (ROD) has embarked on a new hotel scheme in Lancashire.

Travelodge is one of the fastest growing hotel groups in the UK and one of its latest deals is a scheme by RO Developments to redevelop St Anne’s House, a retail and office complex in Lytham St Anne’s, as a 61 bedroom hotel. Richard Bourne of ROD said: “Travelodge will bring new visitors to the town which will be a boost for local businesses and the redevelopment will greatly improve the street scene.”

In another ROD scheme in the North West, recent lettings at its Carlyle Court, Carlisle, means the retail and office property is now fully let. The latest lettings are to BTCV Enterprises, a charity, which took two suites. There have been 9 lettings in Carlyle Court in the past 12 months.

Sunday, 1 May 2011

Data centres funding

Encouragement for the government policy of creating new enterprise zones, which have been so successful in Yorkshire, has come from Highbridge raising £263 million to fund its Cobalt Data Centre Campus near Newcastle. Highbridge will use the money to build two data processing centres of 5,760 sq.metres (62,000 sq.ft.). The money has been raised by Taurus Asset Finance and Harcourt Capital through two Limited Liability Partnerships.

Guy Marsden of Highbridge commented: “We look forward to delivering two facilities as part of our long term strategy to develop quality and competitive data centres at Cobalt Park.” In the past, former coal mining areas, such as the Dearne Valley, have been given a new lease of life through becoming enterprise zones and they could be the model for the next tranche, bringing in new investment and creating employment. Marsden said finance is available for the right projects.

Wednesday, 1 December 2010

North West Commercial Property in brief 2

Wrightbus, which has been awarded a contract for the new London bus which is to inherit the mantle of the much loved Routemaster, has opened an office on the South Preston Office Village. This part of Lancashire is regarded as a centre of excellence for the passenger transport industry. Wrightbus manufactures the vehicles in Northern Ireland.

The North West Commercial Property Register

The North West Commercial Property Register is a leading UK business property publication from Martin Austen Publishing. The aim of the publication is to offer a simple and effective means of finding Offices Space in the North West, Serviced Offices in the North West and commercial property in North West. You can also find the latest commercial property news for the North West.

Transforming the Soapworks

Carlyle Group and Abstract Nikal Management have made a sensible decision in the light of the improving market by deciding to start the mixed use refurbishment of the Soapworks in Salford Quays. This is a major project, being marketed by Canning O’Neill, of close to 37,160 sq.metres (400,000 sq.ft.) at the former Colgate Palmolive factory and is the only major speculative scheme starting in the area.

The plan is for a mixture of Grade A offices, hotels, leisure and ancillary facilities. The first phase comprises the refurbishment of the former boiler house which should be viewed in the wider context of Peel’s nearby Media City which has a growing occupier list headed by the BBC and possibly ITN. Mark Canning of Canning O’Neill said: “There has been strong interest in the scheme and we are talking to a number of prospective tenants across a number of sectors.”

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South Manchester Also Improves

South Manchester Business Park market has echoed the city centre and returned to a healthier tempo. The first nine months of the year saw deals of 38,423 sq.m. (413,648 sq.ft.) which is close to the figures for the whole of 2009.

Stockport has been enjoying this new positive perspective with a range of lettings. For example, Orbit’s Beckwith House has three new office tenants, continuing the process of filling up the refurbished building in the centre of the town.

Zoe Kirk of Orbit said: “The building offers high quality accommodation on a town centre location.” Orbit, which is part of the Emerson Group, has a portfolio of over 743,200 sq.m. (8 million sq.ft.). Also in Stockport, the national training provider, Synapse, has leased a wing of Langtree’s Kingsgate building, a 7 storey refurbished property. The excellent transport connections of Stockport played a prominent part in the decision by Synapse to locate there.

In comparison with south Manchester which has had rough periods in the past few years, Trafford Park remains high in the popularity stakes. We see that with the success of SEGRO which has two lettings there, one being to a new arrival. One of SEGRO’s largest customers, with a substantial amount of space, is AKW Group which has now leased an extra 7,308 sq.m. (78,666 sq.ft.) in two units at Wharfside. Tony Worthington of AKW, which is a storage and warehousing group, said: “The SEGRO team provided a quick and effective solution that has given us the flexibility to acquire additional space which is close to our existing site.”

The new occupier on the park is AMC Auctioneers who have taken the 3,328 sq.m. (35,817 sq.ft.) Unit A, Redwing.

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And Ask Wins Through

Ask Developments has revised the next stage of its town centre mixed use scheme for Urmston’s Eden Square which has brought an approval from Trafford Council’s Planning Committee. This means the scheme, once a Section 106 Agreement is signed, is closer to the start of construction with the changes following discussions with retailers who want larger premises than can be accommodated in the first phase of the project which is already operating. The changes will increase the attractions of retailing in Urmston, where there has already been a spate of lettings. Leon Guyett of Ask said: “Together with our partner, Trafford Council, this is a positive decision and will allow us to deliver a completed town centre scheme which will further enhance Urmston’s reputation as an attractive place to live, work and shop.” Kelly Paddick of Drivers Jonas, the planning consultant, said: “This marks the completion of a vital regeneration project incorporating three larger retail units and creates a real opportunity for a range of new businesses to locate in Urmston and create a truly vibrant town centre.” The hope now is that the new facilities will act as a catalyst and pull in companies but also spark off other regeneration projects in the town which is so conveniently located on the motorway network.

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Not a cloud in the sky

A clear advantage that Manchester has over many cities is its ever growing airport which now has over 60 airlines serving over 190 destinations throughout the world. Now with two full length runways and three passenger terminals, the airport has the capacity to grow well beyond its current total of 19 million passengers a year. Without doubt, this has given the North West a real international status, which is enhanced by such organisations as Manchester United (probably the best known football team in the world). This is only part of the story because the Manchester Airports Group (MAG) is the UK’s largest British owned airports operation with an annual passenger roll of 24 million through its network of Manchester, East Midlands, Humberside and Bournemouth. At the heart of the business is a property portfolio which has expanded to over £320 million with more than 200 buildings and 5,000 acres. That means it is a sizeable property company with 850 customers.

Clearly MAG is intent on expansion to meet the needs of all its airports. In the past decade one of the problems at the larges airport operator, BAA, has been a lack of major investment despite building Terminal Five at Heathrow. For example, MAG has an imaginative plan for Airport City to generate non-aviation income at Manchester. The long term lan aims to create an integrated business destination and transport hub, helped by improvements such as the new Metrolink to the city centre. The 15-20 year plan will transform 230 acres surrounding the airport into a mixed use development catering for a wide range of occupiers. At the moment the airport has offices of 27,356 sq.metres and 84,608 sq.metres of warehouses as well as hotels with 1,442 bedrooms.

This substantial business supports 20,000 directly employed and a further 42,000 jobs in the North West, numbers which are set to grow. The latest expansion is for an 18,580 sq.metres transit shed at the World Freight Terminal in a three storey freight handling unit with office space. MAG has not neglected its other airports and is expanding bournemouth, where it has a new letting to Jet Engineering Technical Support, and East Midlands where construction has started on a £22 million 4 star Radisson Blue Hotel in partnership with Azure Property Group.

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North West Commercial Property in brief

A £30 million scheme to transform former brownfield sites in Haydock has started with a new business development site, Empress Park and an industrial zone at Boston Park which will pave the way for over 2,000 jobs. Morley Estates will undertake the mixed use scheme which has received £4 million from the European Regional Development Fund.

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Spinningfields Again

If any deal personified the strength of the city centre, then it is likely to be DWF Solicitors taking 7,710 sq.metres (82,995 sq.ft.) through Canning O’Neill in 1 Scott Place, Spinningfields. The law firm has taken the assignment from Guardian Media Group (GMG) while it, as part of the package of incentives, took DWF’s existing lease on the smaller Centurion House, Deansgate. GMC were advised by GVA Grimley. Conrad O’Neill commented: “We looked at a number of buildings (bothexisting and pre let opportunities) in some detail but 1 Scott Place clearly stood out as the favoured location due to a prestigious address and location, large floor plates and sufficient space to accommodate the firm’s forecast growth.” He added that the rent was “at a sensible market level, meaning that occupation costs are controlled.” He had taken the long view that “the availability of large chunks of Grade A space with large floor plates in good locations is drying up and if DWF did not move now, they would be faced with little option but to go down the pre let route, which means having to wait 2-3 years for the space to be ready and having to pay a much higher rent.”

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Light at the end of the tunnel

It may be hard going, but the market is returning to health as confidence oozes back into the system and developers start building again. Prime rents in Manchester city centre are stable at £306.66 a sq.metre (£28.50 a sq.ft.) but are likely to rise next year as the diminishing stock of Grade A space cuts in. Jones Lang LaSalle’s Andrew Gardiner commented: ”During the third quarter, occupiers in the city centre continued to concentrate on high end Grade A space, using lease events to exploit market conditions and upgrade their space. They are following two strategies of either moving into better accommodation at the same rent or similar accommodation at lower cost.” In fact the current period of recession has allowed companies to upgrade their space at reasonable cost in most parts of the country which will become less feasible as the vacancy rate falls.

In the case of Manchester this is 10.8%. In Gardiner’s view that will mean incentives will be cut in 2011 because of a lack of new development. This view has been reinforced by the figures for third quarter lettings of 65,747 sq.metres (707,719 sq.ft.), close to half of which was to the Co-operative Group.

The outcome for 2010 will be around 28% higher than in 2009, a reasonable result in a year of a recovering economy. What is certain is that Manchester remains high on the agenda of European and international companies seeking space in northern England. An example of this status is that it has moved up to 12th place in the European Cities Monitor compiled by Cushman & Wakefield in the Best Cities to Locate a Business. Andrew Timms of Edwards & Co said: “We have been doing well compared with other regional cities and it will clearly be a good year for the city centre office market.” He suggested that Grade B space was “something of a bun fight” because landlords need to improve the quality of their stock in the next year. His firm is currently involved in a number of substantial lettings which should be completed soon.

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Popular Spring Gardens

One property that has benefited from the increase in lettings is 19 Spring Gardens where there have been four recent lettings taking the occupancy rate to around three quarters. These add up to 975 sq.metres (10,500 sq.ft.) at close to the asking rent of £236.72 a sq.metre (22 a sq.ft.).

Claire MacDonald of King Sturge, joint letting agent with p3, said: “Building upon our recent success we expect shortly to announce additional lettings in the property. The proactive approach of the agency teams and especially that of the landlord Magnus has been a major factor in the lettings.”

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Active Media

Two sectors which have become active in taking new space in the region are ICT and the media. According to David Laws of Matthews & Goodman that is because: “They sense that there is an opportunity through the improvement of the economy and are gearing themselves up. We have three potential tenants all looking for space on the Crewe Business Park, for example.” In his view that is because these industries are going through “a sharp upward curve in technical change and growth.” Elsewhere in Manchester the strength of traditional sectors such as finance and law have helped city centre lettings, “which is relatively robust.” Laws is optimistic because the arguments about taking new space (such as an election, spending review etc) “are behind us and companies are in better shape after cutting costs in the recession.”

The North West Commercial Property Register

Wednesday, 1 September 2010

SEGRO scores at Heywood

The largest industrial deal in the North West this year (SEGRO selling a 46,450 sq.metres (500,000 sq.ft.) unit at Heywood Distribution Park) underlines the resilience of the sector in the face of the recession. It has been purchased by Fowler Welch Coolchain, a consumer goods supply chain organisation who already occupy a unit at Heywood (a fifth of the size). SEGRO’s David Bridges said: “The sale of the Hub emphasises Heywood’s status as the number one destination for businesses in the North West.” Stuart Murray of Savills emphasised that the deal signalled a change in the strength of the industrial market in the North West.

This is commensurate with the recent economic information. Putting flesh on the bones of the recovery, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) said “occupier demand for large units made a strong recovery during the first half year with a 67% increase to 947,580 sq.metres (10.2 million sq.ft.) compared with the previous half year.” Richard Evans of JLL commented: “We expect that occupier demand will level out in the second six months as concerns surrounding the UK economy growth prospects continue. Nevertheless, total 2010 industrial and logistics take up for large units could increase by 60%.”

The main driver for the improvement is from retailers and there is also a rise in development, mainly through design and build coming at a time when there is a growing shortage of large units, heralding a rise in rents. The better market will be music to the ears of those companies with a large portfolio of industrial and business parks such as Northern Trust and London and Cambridge Properties (L&C). L&C has a longterm policy of upgrading its estates and has now appointed Mason Owen and Altus Edwin Hill to market its refurbished properties at the Pimbo Industrial Estate, Skelmersdale. The improvement has been extensive, including a new roof, cladding and electrically operated shutters to office windows on Unit 8 plus a new ground floor office layout and better lighting. Margaret Hopkins of L&C said: “These units offer a high standard of business accommodation for production or warehousing in a well established area of Skelmersdale.”

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Big Commercial Property Projects Planned for the Wirral

Far from being overwhelmed by the scale of Peel’s proposed Wirral Waters £4.5 billion project, the local council planning committee has embraced the far sighted plan and given it the green light. This was no overnight decision but has evolved over four years as the local planners and Peel have gone through “partnership working.”

The attractions for Wirral are that the mixed use scheme will bring substantial regeneration benefits through sustainability and each of the planned areas (education, culture, residential and so on) function as a composite whole. Another attraction for local councillors and the planners is the way the scheme is centred around water. There is also the positive factor of the creation of 20,000 jobs, just as job creation has been the case with Peel’s schemes in Salford Quays and MediaCity. Lindsey Ashworth, Peel’s Development Director, commented: “We are absolutely delighted that the Wirral Planning Committee has reached this decisive decision, it is what the public wanted and what the area is crying out for.”The plan was supported by all four local MPs who sent letters in support. Peel is now hoping that the huge local support means that the Government will not decide on a public inquiry. It will market the project internationally, including at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

As if this project and MediaCity were not sufficient new developments to keep Peel busy, it is to develop a new 31,586 sq.metres (340,000 sq.ft.) business park, Astley Business Park, in Wigan, close to the A580 East Lancs Road. Andrew Aherne of Lambert Smith Hampton said: “Astley Business Park is one of the few sites in Wigan which is immediately available for development.”Wearing its other hat of Peel Ports, the company has bought the former site of the Bridgewater Paper Company in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire from Ernst & Young, the Administrators. The site has an existing berth on the Manchester Ship Canal and has excellent rail and road connections to the motorways. Peel Ports’ Stephen Carr said: “This acquisition fits in well with our strategy of continuing to develop the Port of Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal as a key logistical hub in the UK.”

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North West Commercial Property Market Outperforms UK Economy

Until the law firm Halliwells collapsed, the Manchester office market was on course for a general improvement. Momentarily, perhaps, the arrival of 17,007 sq.metres (183,000 sq.ft.) of Grade A space on the market has brought some caution. The continued success of Media City and planning permission for the massive Wirral Waters scheme has provided underlying comfort to the market, particularly as there are a number of large deals in the offing.

The rapid improvement in London will also spread to the North West, which does have its own broadly based market that is benefiting from the better economy. This is illustrated in a survey by Markit which said that while private sector output and new business at the start of the third quarter had slowed, “the region continues to outperform the wider UK economy.” In fact the improvement has been proceeding for 16 months. Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of the North West Development Agency (NWDA) said: “It’s very pleasing to see the region continuing to outperform the UK economy.” Mike Hawkins of WHR points to the success of MediaCity “where more than 50% of the space is pre let to a broad range of occupiers, some of which are not in the media business. This is a big chunk of space that is as much as the whole of Salford Quays and Spinningfields and represents a long-term vision for the region.”

Another important influence on the market in Manchester is provided by the new Co-operative Group’s £100 million, 30,193 sq.metres (325,000 sq.ft.) headquarters where construction by BAM has now started. It illustrates the presence of large national groups and will act as a landmark for the city. The Co-op and Manchester City Council now plan a competition to find a design team for the public realm element of the master plan for the 20 acre site around Corporation Street and Miller Street.Lynda Shillaw of the Co-op said: “We want the area to enjoy an international reputation for having raised the bar for environmentally sustainable commercial development.”

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