Peter Horton has taken over as chairman of property company Hortons’ Estate. He is the fifth generation Horton and the sixth member of the family to become chairman of the Birmingham-based business. A qualified chartered surveyor, he joined the 143-year-old company in 1995 and was elected to the board six years later. Horton’s... Read More
Global property manager, TIAA Henderson Real Estate, has signed its first tenant at its landmark Steward Building in Spitalfields — setting a new record rent for the capital’s E1 district. Cognolink, a primary research provider that connects investors and businesses to critical intelligence, has taken the top three floors of the... Read More
Following last week’s strong results from British Land, the UK’s largest commercial property company Land Securities has reported a doubling of its pre-tax profits in 2014/15 to £2,416.5m. The company also said its total business return to 31 March had risen to 30.7 per cent, on the back of reaching the peak of its London... Read More
Plans unveiled this week by Ipswich Central, a Business Improvement District (BID) established in 2007, aim to safeguard the long-term future of the town centre by ensuring that it has a mixture of property uses. Ipswich Central’s “Vision” places a great deal of emphasis upon progressing from the retail focused model of the high... Read More
Commercial property investment in the UK remained buoyant in the run-up to the General Election. However, according to a new report by Cushman & Wakefield, the levels seen so far will be nothing compared to the activity expected during the summer months, when a “bounce” is expected to boost the market further. The forecast... Read More
Orchard Street Investment Management has successfully acquired 64/76 New Oxford Street in a £36.5 million off market deal, on behalf of St James's Place Wealth Management. Jaro Real Estate purchased the mixed-use West End property in 2011 on behalf of private clients. Since then the office element has undergone an extensive... Read More
Irish property investment company Green REIT has confirmed it has conditionally agreed to buy an office building under construction in Cork city centre for up to €58m (£42m). Half the Albert Quay block has already been pre-let. With an early 2016 completion date, One Albert Quay is being developed by the JCD Group which, under the... Read More
The off-market takeover of a property company has given an investment trust control of a Cambridgeshire retail warehouse park. Highcroft Investments — through its property owning subsidiary, Rodenhurst Estates — paid £8.5m to buy out all six private shareholders of BL (Wisbech) Ltd, and its wholly owned subsidiary Belgrave Land... Read More
Allied London has named the agent who will lead the campaign to attract tenants to its pioneering XYZ Manchester office building. OBI Property’s Will Lewis — who has worked with Allied since 2009 — is now on the hunt for commercial and retail clients for the 190,000sq ft Spinningfields scheme. OBI played a key role in leasing... Read More
Trinity Leeds hit the jackpot in Las Vegas over the weekend, as the Land Securities shopping centre scooped a prestigious industry award. The £400 million retail destination was presented with the 2015 Best-of-the-Best VIVA (Vision, Innovation, Value, Achievement) Design Award in recognition of its outstanding architecture, at the... Read More
Landowners seeking to convert agricultural buildings into residential accommodation under Permitted Development Rights (PDR) are accustomed to having the odds stacked against them - but, according to Bruton Knowles, this could be about to change. Planning consultant Paul Barton (pictured above) from Bruton Knowles Gloucester office... Read More
A specialist Channel Islands real estate investment company has added to its portfolio of landmark buildings with the purchase of a prestige Guernsey office block. Carey House — a 26,814 sq ft complex at Admiral Park — has been acquired by the Channel Islands Property Fund (CIPF) from Bailiwick Investments for £16.75m. The... Read More
Australia’s low interest rates will continue to lead property investors to choose commercial real estate says the Financial Review. The forecast comes despite the speedy rise in bond yields over the past month and a large amount of offshore equity entering the market. In the past, once bond yields have started to rise, commercial... Read More
As Tesco continues to suffer from the fallout created by the supermarket price war and the write down in value of its UK property values, Chief Executive Dave Lewis has to make a series of increasingly tough decisions to return group finances to the black. This week, the group has announced that its remaining six Homeplus stores will be... Read More
Residential property prices have increased to such a degree in Auckland that the commercial property market has become an attractive alternative for small investors in New Zealand. Recent sales results reported from commercial real estate agency Knight Frank include a ground floor office in Penrose (selling price $830,000) and a... Read More
SL Green Realty’s plans to build a 63-storey office tower across the street from Grand Central Terminal is moving towards final approval, along with the rezoning of the Venderbilt Corridor, due to what has been referred to as an “unprecedented deal” agreed with New York City officials. According to the terms of the deal the... Read More
The owners of The Shard have confirmed that specialist recruitment and consulting services company Robert Half, is to take 20,200 sq ft of office space on Level 10 of the London Bridge Quarter skyscraper. The global company, which has a presence in over 330 locations worldwide, will move into its new office space in October, bringing... Read More
Following its recent purchases in Shoreditch and Farringdon the National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society has paid £21.6m for a third office building — this time in London’s Fitzrovia district. Acquired through the society’s subsidiary, NFU Mutual, the Old Fire Station in Maple Street was bought from Aberdeen Asset... Read More
The developer behind Staffordshire’s first industrial and warehouse park funded through an £82.2m Government growth deal has confirmed the project is on course for an October opening. Work on the flagship Liberty Park scheme at Lichfield started in March when Staffordshire County Council carried out initial infrastructure work.... Read More
UBCUK has announced that it is set to double its workspace accommodation by taking on a newly refurbished property at Ancells Business Park in Hampshire. The serviced office provider already operates the successful Sentinel House business centre on the Fleet site and claims that it is taking on the additional building due to consistently... Read More
The Prince of Wales’ opinions on contemporary architecture are well known, and have even given rise to the annual Carbuncle Cup which is awarded to the UK’s ugliest new building. However the so called “black spider letters” unveiled this week, after 10 years of legal campaigning by the Guardian, have caused many to question the... Read More
The agents appointed to market the latest scheme by award winning regeneration company Urban Splash are anticipating high demand from businesses looking for space in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Urban Splash began work on the redevelopment of Stubbs Mill in April and expects the 30,000 sq ft office scheme to be ready for occupancy... Read More
