Towards the beginning of the supermarket price war, when the Big Four were still consistently increasing market share and were less threatened by discounters, Tesco chose to invest in a minority stake in coffee shop chain Harris + Hoole. While this appeared to be a good investment at the time, bosses have announced that six outlets... Read More
Stanhope — the developer behind some of London’s most iconic regeneration and construction projects — has confirmed it is just weeks away from naming a contractor for the £400m redevelopment of the BBC Television Centre. The final two contenders for the contract to redevelop the complex are multinational property and... Read More
Silverstone — better known as the home of the British Grand Prix — is proving a different sort winner for dozens of cutting edge engineering and technology firms. The area’s high-energy economy is also benefiting residents, with a recent Halifax Building Society survey claiming South Northamptonshire was the best place in the... Read More
Two neglected Liverpool Grade II listed buildings are being brought back to life by separate multi-million regeneration projects. More than £18m is being spent to transform the city’s historic Royal Insurance Building (pictured) into a hotel and a £16m project is underway to refurbish the Watson Building, the only surviving part of... Read More
Campaigners in a Cornish town appear to have failed in their bid to prevent the opening of a Costa Coffee branch in a vacant shop. Independent traders in Launceston hoped to emulate the success of Totnes, which won its fight to keep out Costa two years ago. However, they suffered a blow to their campaign when Cornwall Council... Read More
The Crown Estate has formed a £345m partnership with a Chinese state-backed property group to buy one of the UK’s biggest retail parks. The acquisition of the Fosse Retail Park in Leicestershire is the largest acquisition in the company’s near 1,000-year history and gives Gingko Tree — an investment arm of China’s foreign... Read More
CBRE Global Investors has acquired Birmingham’s Great Western Arcade and Ten Colmore Row from Aviva Investors. The deal, the price of which reflects an initial net yield of 7.4 per cent, closed at £15.1 million and offers CBRE Global Investors the chance to offer Grade II listed space within the arcade to a number of national and... Read More
In what is thought to be the biggest ever Scottish office deal, a Scandinavian oil services company has leased all three first phase buildings at Aberdeen International Business Park (AIBP). Under the contract, Oslo-based subsea engineering services giant Aker Solutions will take 335,000sq ft across the trio of interlinked buildings at... Read More
Guests staying at The Shard’s Shangri-La Hotel can now enjoy a dip in Western Europe’s highest swimming pool. The 34 ft infinity “skypool” joins the fully equipped gym on Level 52 of the mixed-use tower, offering bathers unparalleled views of London’s skyline. The pool is the latest project from fashionable interior... Read More
The high street was one of the big casualties of the financial crisis with town centres nationwide recording steep increases in vacancy rates. Fortunately, this trend appears to be reversing thanks to the ongoing economic recovery, with July’s shop vacancy rate recording its best performance since records began according to the British... Read More
As the supermarket price war rages on, the biggest brands in the country are turning to online and convenience stores as a means of winning customers from rivals. However, Morrisons has now added a new dimension to the competition by announcing it will now open a percentage of its stores for longer hours in order to add greater flexibility... Read More
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has confirmed it is establishing its high-performance and luxury vehicle operation at a Warwickshire site which once housed a Peugeot car plant. The Prologis owned site at Ryton is not far from JLR’s existing Coventry manufacturing base. Spending at least £20m installing specialist equipment and creating a... Read More
A North-East development trust is seeking funding to transform empty space at one of the region’s oldest railway stations into a start-up business hub. Morpeth station was created by architect Benjamin Green — who with his father, John, was responsible for the design of Newcastle’s Theatre Royal and Grey’s Monument and Penshaw... Read More
Wanda Group, the Chinese conglomerate also known as Dalian Wanda Group, has successfully outbid several other parties interested in a prime site in Beverly Hills. The company plans to build a mixed-use $1.2 billion project on the site, according to published media reports. The site, which is located at 9900 Wilshire Blvd., is situated... Read More
Less than two years after it went into administration a West Yorkshire-based clothing retailer has unveiled multi-million pound expansion plans — making it one of the fastest growing companies on the high street. On the brink of bankruptcy — and with the majority of its 390 outlets facing closure — Bonmarche was acquired in... Read More
Calgary had a total return of 11.1 percent for the year ending June 30, according to the REALpac/IPD Canada Quarterly Property Index. This figure was high enough to make it the best in Canada. Edmonton, at 10.8 percent, and Toronto, at 10.1 percent, both posted good rates of were also leaders in urban areas. The average return across the... Read More
Investment in the West Midlands food and drinks sector remains strong with official data from Grant Thornton showing deals activity across the UK doubling in the second quarter. Within the West Midlands, soft drinks and wholesale and distribution proved to be the strongest performing subsectors, as each accounted for 17 per cent of the... Read More
The Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund (GMPVF) — a sub-fund of the largest local authority pension fund in the UK — has retained commercial property specialists GVA to manage its investments. The seven year extension, awarded to GVA after a round of competitive tendering, gives the locally-based consultancy control over the... Read More
The Singapore-based property group United Overseas Land (UOL) has made its first European investment with the acquisition of a landmark London hotel site. It paid £97m for Gerald Ronson’s Heron Plaza development in the City. The property tycoon was granted planning permission in 2011 to build a 43-storey Four Seasons hotel and... Read More
The US Senate has agreed to extend a government-backed insurance scheme to compensate commercial property owners in the event of a terrorist attack. First introduced in 2002, the scheme was devised to calm the insurance markets after the 11 September World Trade Centre attacks which ultimately cost the industry £40bn (£23.5bn). Under... Read More
Wirral Waters is poised to become one of the largest redevelopment projects in the North West, with a number of schemes already underway. The latest addition to be granted planning approval by Wirral Council is the Tower Wharf building, which will add a total of 48,000 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation to the site. Due to be... Read More
As demand for office space spreads from London to the regions, local authorities have channelled funds and energy into examining increased possibilities for new developments. This has seen work begin on the demolition of Walsall’s Albion Tannery this week, creating space for the construction of the £400 million Gigaport project. The... Read More
