A real estate investment trust specialising in the South East and London office and industrial markets has shed two of its assets to allow it “to invest in future growth opportunities”. McKay Securities says both sales, with a combined value of £3.73m, were completed before its financial year ended on 31 March. In a statement the... Read More
LondonMetric Property PLC has sold the 170,000 sq ft Travis Perkins distribution facility in Brackmills, Northamptonshire to CBRE Global Investors for £14.4 million. The facility was acquired in November 2013 for £9 million, with four months remaining on the lease. The lease was subsequently re-geared to a ten year term, at a yield on... Read More
Brookfield Property Partners and joint venture partner Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) have today announced the 100 per cent completion of the take-over of Canary Wharf Group, through the acquisition of Songbird Estates and the share capital of Canary Wharf Group not owned by Songbird. The partnership originally launched the bid to... Read More
Britain’s biggest trade supplier of tools and building materials has confirmed it is leasing a second warehouse on a West Midlands logistics park — taking its occupation to more than three-quarters-of-a-million square feet. Screwfix — which describes itself as a “multi-channel supplier of trade tools, plumbing and electrical... Read More
A redundant Liverpool office block is being converted into a discount EasyHotel, the super-cheap hotel chain founded by Easyjet tycoon Stelios Haji-Ioannou. Confirmation of the £3m scheme to transform 47 Castle Street in the centre of the city came on the same day that an unnamed organisation — thought to be a Government department... Read More
With the first phase of its Rotherham town centre retail park nearing completion, Gregory Projects has been given permission to add an extra 9,400 sq ft — with almost half the space pre-let. The initial 40,000 sq ft of the scheme, next to the town’s Great Eastern Way and Broad Street junction, will be completed by early summer with... Read More
Property adviser Bilfinger GVA has completed the sale of Birmingham City University's North Campus to Perry Beeches Academy Trust. The two buildings in Perry Barr, totalling 112,000 sq ft, are to be refurbished and remodelled in time for the 2016/17 academic year. The sale is part of the university’s relocation from the Perry Barr site... Read More
Many high street fashion retailers are currently seeking premises with double height fronts or flexible layouts as a means of creating a spacious, airy design sought after by consumers. However, a new study by Emily Fisher of property agent Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) indicates that there are many design factors which influence... Read More
Opus North — the Palmer Capital funded Yorkshire-based property developer — is on course to fulfill its own prediction that 2015 will be a record breaking year after receiving the green light on the latest of its multi-million pound schemes. So far this year it has clocked up an £85m development pipeline. With developments already... Read More
Shopping centre redevelopments continue to be hugely popular amongst UK commercial property investors and development groups, with many now choosing to look further afield for potential properties to acquire. This has been the case for Aberdeen based Drum Property Group, which has acquired and submitted plans for the redevelopment of the... Read More
For more than six years the US Federal Reserve has kept interest rates down to stimulate spending but this era has to come to a close, warns entrepreneur Jorge Newbery, and lifting the lid will hit commercial real estate values. Writing in the Huffington Post, the founder and CEO of American Homeowner Preservation LLC, cites the recent... Read More
As the consumer climate continues to improve, sports retailers in particular are noting a considerable uptick in sales due to customers spending more on gym equipment and sportswear. This, along with an international expansion programme, has allowed high street retailer JD Sports to post an encouraging 22 per cent rise in full year... Read More
As Sainsbury’s continues to fall further behind main rival Tesco in terms of sales, executives face the challenge of more effectively utilising selling space. Along with cutting back on new large format openings in order to focus on the expansion of its convenience network, the brand is now planning to convert existing supermarket space to... Read More
Ten Portman Square — British Land’s iconic West End office block built as part of the investment company’s 2010 Development Programme — is now fully let. Weston Homes, a home counties residential developer, has taken a new lease on the building’s final 1,548 sq ft ground floor office space. “The signing of Weston Homes... Read More
Plymouth planners have approved changes to the masterplan for the mixed-use redevelopment of Millbay, one of the South of England's largest regeneration projects. The masterplan covers the regeneration of the Victorian docks, built by celebrated engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It includes the provision of business/retail space,... Read More
According to research by Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH), more than 11m sq ft of office space has been earmarked for alternative use since the relaxation of planning rules nearly two years ago. LSH’s Office Market Report for 2015 reveals that an area equivalent to all the office space in the town of Reading has been converted for... Read More
Within weeks of announcing a threefold increase in its 2014 turnover a North-East construction company has landed three new contracts in less than a month. The senior management team at Howard Russell — Joe Prouse, Barry Wilkinson, David Varty, Craig Muldoon and Ian Goss. The £2m worth of commercial projects — for Bon Coeur Fine... Read More
After announcing that Manchester was high on its acquisitions hit list, investment manager Kames Capital has paid £17m for one of the city’s iconic office buildings. The sale comes less than 24 hours after property investor, Boultbee Brooks, snapped up a business district block for more than £6m. Kames — whose Edinburgh and... Read More
While many retail chains are choosing to focus on widespread expansion, others are choosing to examine their property portfolios in order to determine whether or not stores are remaining profitable – especially as numerous high street and shopping centre lease agreements nationwide are due to run out later this year. At WestQuay... Read More
After rising continuously for 31 months the rate at which commercial schemes are being built in the UK has reached a 2015 high, claims a new survey. Almost 15 per cent of developers reported an increase in commercial activity during March, a half-point rise on the February figure. “This indicated a marked rate of expansion that was... Read More
LandAid is supporting a stereotype-busting campaign which encourages companies to offer employment opportunities to young people. The property industry charity, which recently announced a record breaking year of grant awards, is backing the initiative from Circle which lobbies firms to compete against each other to hire unemployed... Read More
Birmingham based property group Real Estate Investors (REI) has announced the sale of 770-772 Bristol Road South in Northfield to an undisclosed private investor. The property comprises of 6,751 sq ft of retail space, with residential accommodation above, and sold for £1.425 million earlier this week. REI originally acquired the... Read More
