After opening its first hotel in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter four years ago a pioneering hotel company has confirmed it is looking for a second site in the city. Bloc Hotels — which constructs its guest rooms off site before installing them in its hotels — is already in the process of adding another 31 apartment-rooms to the... Read More
Despite warnings that Liverpool’s office market is stuck in a “vicious circle” of a Grade A shortage and headline rents so low they are failing to attract development, a new report is claiming that by 2020 the city will be a “jobs hotspot” for the digital and creative industry. Earlier this month property agency Colliers... Read More
Ikea could soon be embarking on a search for high street property throughout the UK if a small format store experiment proves successful. The Swedish furniture chain is scheduled to open its first “order and collection” point in Norwich this autumn. It will allow consumers to pick up larger furniture items they ordered previously... Read More
The McCabe family’s Scarborough Group has announced that The Gym Group has now opened to the public at the company's £30 million commercial development at Station Quarter in Newport, South Wales. The Gym Group has signed a 15-year lease on the 15,000 sq ft unit. The development features a high-quality public plaza, designed to... Read More
Benson Elliot has expanded its retail portfolio with the acquisition of the Vicarage Field Shopping Centre in Barking, from Northern Ireland-based JV Lagmar. The £35 million off-market purchase represents a net yield of 8.5 per cent. Vicarage Field is situated on a 5.2 acre site directly opposite Barking Station, which provides... Read More
Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate Plc (KWE) has announced the successful launch and pricing of a seven year, £300 million debut senior unsecured bond. The Bond has an annual fixed coupon of 3.95 per cent which is expected to fall to around 3.45 per cent when the company enters into swap arrangements to convert a portion of the... Read More
The Serpentine Pavilion 2015, designed by Spanish architects selgascano, opens to the public today on the lawn of the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens. Serpentine Pavilion 2015 designed by selgascano. Photograph © Iwan Baan This year, Serpentine Galleries celebrates the 15th anniversary of the world-renowned Pavilion... Read More
Derwent London has completed the first five lettings at its recently completed Tottenham Court Walk development which is the first major step in the transformation of Tottenham Court Road. The developer has confirmed that retailers Hotel Chocolat, Planet Organic, DF Mexico, Leon and T2 will take up space within the development, many of... Read More
The Gorcott Trust and the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) have secured £1.8 million of infrastructure funding for the Redditch Eastern Gateway development from Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). With the funding in place, development partner Stoford can press ahead with the planning, infrastructure design and... Read More
It has emerged today that Ladbrokes has entered into merger talks with the Gala-owned Coral Group, which, should it go ahead, would create the largest bookmaker currently operating in the UK. Although the talks would not affect Gala’s 132 bingo halls, the resulting business would control almost 4,000 outlets in the UK – 2,100 of... Read More
Legal & General Property (LGP) has paid more than £135m for a portfolio of six Home Counties office blocks. Collectively known as ‘Compass’ the package covers 452,233 sq ft of Grade A space. Previously owned by a private family office client the properties — in the London satellite towns of Weybridge, Maidenhead, Slough,... Read More
The Crown Estate has today announced another record breaking year with the value of its portfolio hitting an all-time high. The business reports very strong results across the portfolio, with asset management and place-making underpinning the performance in the development, office and retail categories. The Crown Estate’s... Read More
According to Colliers International, investment in UK retail property is on the increase, with more than £5bn of acquisitions by overseas investors forecast to take place by the end of the year, despite 'stubbornly high vacancy rates'. Colliers Midsummer Retail Report, said that in 2014 there was £4.6bn of overseas investment into UK... Read More
Schroder UK Real Estate Fund (SREF) has today announced the off-market purchase of a portfolio of assets in Hammersmith from the Matterhorn Palos Partnership for £153 million. The acquisition comprises the 340,000 sq ft Kings Mall Shopping Centre, the 1,000 space Kings Mall Car Park and the adjoining self-contained office building,... Read More
Development manager Argent, acting on behalf of Hermes Investment Management, has submitted three detailed planning applications to Birmingham City Council which are set to transform the city centre. Phase one will see the creation of two new buildings, which combined will introduce more than 350,000 sq ft of speculative office space... Read More
Leading regional shopping centre owner and operator intu claims that the excessive level of Business Rates deters retailers from expanding and curtails investment by owners of retail property. In response to the Chancellor’s Business Rates review, intu says the multiplier applied to a property’s rateable value is now at an extreme... Read More
A major survey — said to be the biggest of its kind since the start of the 2008 global recession — claims that Scotland’s commercial property market is “stuck in recovery mode”. According to the Scottish Property Federation (SPF), which notes that the country’s housing market returned to pre-recession levels last year, the... Read More
According to the latest research by commercial property services firm CBRE, the amount of space under offer in the Central London office market is at its highest level since November 2000. At the end of May a total of 4.5 million sq ft of office space was under offer in Central London, marking a 25 per cent increase since the end of... Read More
The first plans for a 24-acre Salford brownfield site have been unveiled by joint-developer Scarborough Group International. Scarborough plans to build 750,000 sq ft of commercial space and hundreds of homes as part of the Middlewood Locks scheme. Middlewood Locks — centred around three large basins of the Manchester Bolton and... Read More
LaSalle Investment Management has agreed a ten-year lease on behalf of Flight Centre UK Limited, for 4,180 sq ft of office space at Lyndon House in Birmingham. The national travel consultant has taken the entire eleventh floor at the newly refurbished property situated in the heart of Edgbaston, approximately one mile from Birmingham city... Read More
Commercial Estates Group (CEG) is drawing up proposals for what would become Bristol’s largest ever office scheme. The £100 million development would see the creation of an eight storey tower and basement designed around a double height atrium, measuring around 200,000 sq ft. The building will be known as Aspire, and CEG claims that... Read More
A combination of diminishing supply, robust occupier demand and a strong investment market has led to a growing appetite for speculative distribution warehouse development in Northampton. And its arrival will ensure the town retains its ‘Mecca status’ in the sector says Prop-Search Director Ian Harman (pictured below). The... Read More
