Commercial Property News

Land Securities has unveiled plans for the £90 million expansion of Livingston town centre. In an outline planning application submitted to West Lothian Council, the proposals detail a mixed-use development to extend the retail space and create a new heart for the town.

As part of the plans, Almondvale Shopping Centre will be extended with a third phase that will include an additional 25,000 sq ft of leisure space and 350,000 sq ft of new retail space. The plans also provide new central spaces, streetscape improvements and enhanced parking facilities. During the construction phase, 306 jobs will be created and, once complete, there will be an additional 1,614 jobs in the retail, leisure and catering sectors.

Middlesbrough based architects, DKS, has recently submitted a planning application for an office development at Stokesley Business Park for its client the Terry Dickens Industrial Estates. DKS was appointed by Terry Dickens Industrial Estates in March this year to design and project manage the construction of a two-storey office building on a 0.5 acre site which DKS acquired recently from Hambleton District Council.

The site is adjacent to DKS Architects own proposed new office building which is due for completion in March 2006. The floor plan of the two storey building has been designed to allow for maximum flexibility of occupation, and will be constructed using traditional external materials in keeping with the local surroundings.

Specialist office developer, Business Homes, announces the launch of a further two office schemes in Scotland. Business Homes @ Halbeath Interchange in Dunfermline and Satellite Park @ Macmerry, East Lothian will both follow the pioneering approach of offering all accommodation on flexible tenureship with a choice of leasehold or freehold investment opportunities; something which has already proved hugely successful at two of Business Homes? existing schemes in Glasgow.

Totalling over 5,109 sq m (55,000 sq ft) of accommodation, both schemes will provide high-quality and well-specified buildings in an environment where businesses can grow. Buildings will range from 116 - 558 sq m (1250 ? 6000 sq ft); all of which are self contained and benefit from having ample allocated parking, state-of-the-art security, free connection to broadband, therefore providing a complete package to occupiers.

Work is due to start on site at Business Homes @ Halbeath in June with 7 buildings to be built in one phase, 3 of which have already been reserved. A further 9 buildings are planned for Satellite Park @ Macmerry which have also attracted strong interest. Both schemes are expected to be complete by winter 2005.

A £1.3 million project to build a 51 bed newbuild expansion of a nursing home in
Salford is nearing completion. Stevens Scanlan, Manchester, was responsible for
the design and project management of the scheme.

Stevens Scanlan carried out the work for Unity Homes Ltd, of Salford. Bluebell Court the third phase of The Willows Nursing Home at Higher Broughton. They acted for Unity Homes in the planning and construction of the first two phases that took place last year.

Tony Mancini, partner with Stevens Scanlan's building surveying and architecture
division, says that the contract for the third phase involved preparing initial
feasibility studies, building design, obtaining both planning permission and
Building Regulations approval, procurement, and administration of the scheme
throughout the building programme.

New research commissioned by property consultants, NAI Fuller Peiser, and the Freight Transport Association shows that three months after the Road Transport Directive came into force, transport and logistics companies significantly underestimated the impact it would have on their current and future property requirements.

In February, both organisations carried out a joint preliminary survey to assess attitudes towards, and possible consequences of, the RTD before it became law. When the survey was repeated in June to gauge the actual effect of the directive to date, 25% more companies than originally forecast said that they were likely to relocate as a result of the RTD, and 20% more than forecast felt that the RTD was forcing distribution centres closer to urban areas.