Low disposable income and the rising cost of living has pushed consumers to the brink in recent years, with figures from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation revealing that around 3 in 5 families lived in poverty for at least one year during the recession. However, the latest statistics from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Nielsen’s shop... Read More
Returns from investments in Scottish commercial property continued to improve in Q4 of 2013. Total returns in the market increased to 3.3 per cent over the period, compared with 2.3 per cent in Q3, according to the latest figures contained in the Scotland Property Quarterly report from CBRE. Total returns came in at 7.3 per cent for... Read More
Coffee shop chains have become major features of high streets, shopping centres and motorway service stations in the UK, with brands such as Costa Coffee and Starbucks continually raising profits even while other retail businesses failed during the recession. Yet the boom in sales has extended beyond the traditional powerhouses of the sector,... Read More
As the North-East economy continues to strengthen, the region’s industrial and distribution companies are edging ever closer to a property crisis, one chartered surveyor has warned. The demand for so-called big sheds across the region is so high, says Keith Stewart, a director at Naylors Chartered Surveyors, that there will be a... Read More
Dubai has hinted that its post-crisis real estate strategy will include more focused attempts to attract industrial and commercial investors while keeping a tighter rein on the rental market. According to a department of finance report — The Global Financial Crisis: Lessons Learned — the Dubai government will focus its property... Read More
Fund managers Schroder has still not said what it intends to do with a south-west London film and television studio it acquired in a £35m off-market deal from property investment company Helical Bar. Originally built in the 1970s as British Telecom warehouse, the Silverthorne Road property was converted to a broadcasting centre by a... Read More
Commercial property in London continues to be in high demand and residential property prices are hitting record levels. It should come as no surprise, therefore, to learn of the sale of a former underground station to an overseas buyer with plans to convert it into luxury flats. The station in question is Brompton Road which has been... Read More
Beijing-based Reignwood Properties has been named as the company behind the £92m acquisition of a City of London office block. Although contracts were exchanged last month the identity of the owner of the Corn Exchange at 55 Mark Lane has only just been made public. Reignwood has bought the office building from CS Euroreal, Credit Suisse... Read More
The issue of business rates has proven controversial in recent months, with bodies such as the British Retail Consortium (BRC) repeatedly pushing for the government to find a solution which works best for small businesses. However, while the government has promised to look into the matter, experts were concerned that their solution would be... Read More
For many years, numerous British firms have chosen to locate an aspect or even their entire manufacturing operations overseas as a means of reducing costs. This, for the most part, is due to employment laws in countries such as China and India allowing companies to pay workers less per hour than in the UK, making productivity more... Read More
London attracted more commercial real estate investment last year than any other European city, according to a new survey. Investment in the capital rose every quarter in 2013 — with the fourth quarter up a staggering 73 per cent on the previous three months. During the year as a whole London attracted 23 per cent of the European... Read More
The Gherkin is a landmark on the London skyline and one of the most significant commercial developments in the City. Now the architect behind the building, Ken Shuttleworth, has set his sights on rejuvenating Britain’s ailing high streets. Mr Shuttleworth joins a flurry of experts, including Mary Portas and Bill Grimsey, in... Read More
Celebrities including Kate Moss, Peaches Geldof and Georgia May Jagger are giving their support to a campaign to save a historic London pub facing closure due to a residential property development. The George Tavern in Stepney has a history spanning 600 years and is a popular live music venue. It has staged gigs and events featuring... Read More
The floodwaters which devastated homes and businesses over the Christmas and New Year period may be beginning to abate, but that does not mean that affected areas of the south of England can put the experience behind them immediately. Instead, it ushers in one of the most extensive clean-ups the UK has ever seen with insurers believing that... Read More
Intu has glossed over a fall in both shops and shoppers at its 16 retail sites last year by announcing an £11m extension to its prestige Gateshead complex. It will spend another £20m upgrading its Potteries site. Britain’s biggest shopping centre owner, intu is blaming a series of tenant failures last year for a one per cent fall... Read More
An area of Birmingham city centre is set to undergo a huge redevelopment programme thanks to HS2. The regeneration will accompany the construction of the high speed rail station at Curzon Street and will include 600,000 square metres of business space. The ambitious proposals are outlined in the city council’s Birmingham Curzon HS2... Read More
Bradford’s new Westfield Shopping Centre promises to be one of the most exciting projects to hit the city in several years, with a number of retailers expressing an interest in taking up commercial space in the £260 million development. The site, located in the key Broadway area of the city centre, is expected to create widespread... Read More
Despite renewed buoyancy in Ireland’s real estate market the commercial property vacancy rate continued to rise throughout last year. By December there were nearly 30,000 empty shops, factories and offices across the country. In the first survey of its kind, GeoDirectory claims that by the end of December the vacancy rate for... Read More
Consumer confidence has skyrocketed in the past year or so, with High Street retailers and leisure firms reporting consistent increases in sales and footfall since the end of the recession. However, numerous financial experts have voiced the opinion that true recovery within consumer driven sectors will not be possible until the rate of real... Read More
A number of multinational companies are choosing to establish offices in Perth. As a result, the Australian city is experiencing a wave of new construction in the CBD and suburban centres. There are both development opportunities and challenges as older buildings compete with new offices for tenants. The Property Council of Australia... Read More
The Canadian-based Maplewood International Real Estate Investment Trust has confirmed it is buying four head office buildings in The Netherlands for a total of €55m. All four properties — with a total foorspace of 254,552sq ft — are occupied by single tenants and used as global or European headquarters. There acquisition is in... Read More
Stand in any railway or bus station first thing in the morning and you’ll see swarms of commuters clutching cups of coffee to kick-start their day. But a new study suggests caffeine might do more than bring you round or sharpen your mind — it may help your memory, too. Researchers at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University examined... Read More
