Commercial Property News

City Park, Glasgow's award-winning business complex has been acquired by a leading specialist real estate fund management boutique.

Rock City Park Jersey Unit Trust, a fund created by Rock Capital Group, has invested over £63 million purchasing the prestigious office development from joint venture partners Elphinstone and Earthquake Property Partners and funders Irish Nationwide. The headline purchase price reflects an initial yield of 6.50%.

City Park, one of Scotland's most adventurous property regeneration initiatives, has transformed the Grade B listed Art Deco building, which re-opened in September 2002.

More than 3000 people now work in the 300,000 sq.ft. office development which has won four prestigious property awards. Tenants include Dell Corporation Ltd, Aggreko, Scottish Gas, Halcrow, Carl Bro, NCH Scotland, Glasgow Housing Association, Homebuy Group plc, Scottish Enterprise and SAGA 105.2 fm.

Elphinstone had the vision to create the largest office space in the UK outside London and rejuvenated both the building and the surrounding community. The refurbished property has 67,000 sq.ft. of office floor plates and facilities include a 24-hour gym, shop, breakout areas and conference facilities.

Rob Silvester, Property Director at Rock Capital Group, commented: "We are delighted to have acquired this award-winning building and feel confident that the development provides excellent opportunity for growth."

Ken Ross, Chairman and Chief Executive of Elphinstone said: "We are pleased that the building has gone to a major UK player. Creating City Park has given us an immense amount of satisfaction. To get to this point we had to address many technical and design issues and we had to create something special within a listed building.

"This was a high risk development, but with the right vision, a strong innovative team and a long-term view we were confident that the concept of City Park, a business village in the city, would catch on. We can see today that it did."

The investment sale was handled by Michael Walton, Director of Investment DTZ Scotland, acting for the vendor and DTZ London, acting for the purchaser.

Transport, property and regeneration company Sutton Harbour Holdings PLC posted increased profits and revenue in the first half and said it remains "very confident" for the company's future.
The company's first-half pretax profits rose to 2.0 mln stg from 1.96 mln in the year-ago period, with turnover growing to 16.628 mln stg from 14.007 mln a year ago.

Sutton also increased its interim dividend by 7 pct to 1.5 pence.

"Provided the airline industry remains free from external difficulties, the outlook for the rest of the year continues to be good particularly for our regeneration activities," chairman Ellen Winser said.

Profit from Sutton's transport sector fell by a huge margin, while profit from regenation sector picked up, in line with its July expectation of a "more modest performance" from the transport sector but a "stronger performance" from the regeneration sector.

Transport sector profits fell to 601,000 stg compared with 1.657 mln stg in the year-ago period, with Air Southwest results being hit by high fuel prices in the period and the after-effects of the security alert on Aug 10. Revenue from the sector rose slightly to 11.769 mln stg from 10.828 mln.

Sutton's regeneration sector saw a rise in profit to 1.747 mln stg from 404,000 stg in the year-ago period. Revenue in the sector rose to 2.023 mln stg from 495,000 a year ago. Sutton Harbour Hldgs-Interim Results RNS Number:5636M Sutton Harbour Holdings PLC 23 November 2023

British Land have announced plans for a refinancing of its Meadowhall shopping centre which is securitised through Meadowhall CMR Finance. Meadowhall will be refinanced by a new simplified securitisation issued by Meadowhall Finance, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Land.

The proposed refinancing, which unlocks value for both British Land and existing bondholders, is expected to amount to £1,015m. The new financing is expected to have a weighted average interest rate of approximately 4.9%.

The refinancing follows on from the success of, and positive investor reception to, the similar exercises carried out in March 2005 on British Land's £2.1bn Broadgate securitisation and in February 2006 on British Land's £750m BL Superstores securitisation.

Lanarkshire companies and workers involved in the construction trades are being offered a better chance to secure work on some of the most prestigious developments in the area.

The Construction Lanarkshire initiative, launched earlier this year by Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen, is hosting an open event on Friday 24th November in Rutherglen Town Hall

The 'Tender for Trade' event will enable local companies and sole traders to gather information on maximising their chances of benefiting from contract opportunities related to some highly valuable public sector projects, such as Ravenscraig and the Clyde Gateway. Those involved in all sectors of the construction industry from design services to groundworks, materials supply to maintenance activities and everything in between are welcome to attend.

Organised by Construction Lanarkshire, a partnership between Scottish Enterprise and North and South Lanarkshire Councils, the event is geared towards ensuring local companies and local people get their fair share of the opportunities from major public sector-funded construction projects in the coming years.

It's estimated that construction projects will bring opportunities worth around £5 billion to Lanarkshire in the next 20 years.

Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire Chief Executive Liz Connolly, said: "Opportunities in construction are growing across the country and Lanarkshire has some very high profile building projects on the horizon, projects which will have a significant impact on our landscape.

"By investing in training people for the jobs available and supporting companies in their efforts to win contracts on these projects, more of the benefit will be felt locally. The Construction Lanarkshire initiative is also about improving Lanarkshire's share of the work in order to strengthen our contribution to the wider regional and national economy.

"I am confident this 'Tender to Trade' event will be a highly effective support route for scores of local companies and contractors to secure work for the future."

Exhibitors at the event include high profile organisations such as Bovis Lend Lease, Scottish Building, eProcurement Scotland, Ravenscraig Ltd and Clyde Gateway.

Tender for Trade takes place on Friday 24th November from 9.30am to 4pm, at Rutherglen Town Hall. For further information please call Murray Bainbridge at Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire on 01698 742188.

Hochtief AG has secured a public-private partnership contract worth around £220m to build and operate two schools in the city of Salford, England.

Construction is due to commence this month and is scheduled to be completed by Sept 2008, the German construction group said.

Hochtief said the project will be managed by Salford School Solutions Ltd, a newly established joint venture it owns 50-50 with NIBC Project Investments.

Once the school buildings have been completed, Salford School Solutions will be responsible for managing the facilities for a 25-year period.

Robert Tchenguiz has agreed deals to acquire 183 pubs for a total of £150m from Enterprise Inns, Scottish & Newcastle and the Globe Pub Company. The deals are being made through Retail & Licensed Properties Ltd, a newly-formed company established by R20, Tchenguiz's investment vehicle.

The acquisitions include Enterprise's entire presence of 137 pubs in Scotland, as well as 46 pubs from S&N; and a subsidiary of Globe Pub Company. They take R20's leased and tenanted portfolio to over 550 pubs, including R20-owned Globe, established in 2004.

All acquired pubs will be managed and supplied by S&N;, which already supplies Globe. Tchenguiz said, "This acquisition expands our investment in the leased and tenanted pub sector and strengthens the successful partnership between S&N; and R20."

Peter Bromley has joined Allsop as a partner in the Residential Development team.

Peter Bromley was previously with King Sturge for 3 years where he was Head of Development Consultancy at their Canary Wharf office. Peter's responsibilities covered the City, Docklands and Greenwich, and also encompassed Essex, Kent and Suffolk.

Peter will be based in Knightsbridge within the Residential Development team. He will also work closely with the City office to develop Allsop's presence in the City, City fringe and East London.

Alan Collett, Partner at Allsop, commented "We are delighted that Peter has decided to join Allsop. He has a wealth of knowledge regarding City developments and we feel that his appointment will greatly strengthen our offering in this area".

Thomas and Adamson, one of the UK's leading firms of construction and property consultants, is delighted to announce their latest high profile projects this autumn including Inacity Tower, which will be Europe's highest residential building.

Thomas and Adamson is a UK wide Practice with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, London and Kiev. Jack Lyall, Partner at the firm, commented: "We are delighted to be appointed on Inacity Tower in the Piccadilly area of Manchester. The 60-storey tower complex incorporates a 220 room four-star hotel and 430 apartments, making it the highest residential building in Europe."

The firm's work covers residential, commercial, retail and leisure projects, for clients including Tesco, Modus, British Land, Prudential, Halladale, Dunedin and Kenmore. Established in 1935 in Edinburgh, Thomas and Adamson offers a wide range of services including Quantity Surveying, M&E; Services Surveying, Building Surveying, Project Management and Planning Supervision.

Other projects underway are; Alexander Court, creating 236 apartments and a leisure complex; a major residential, retail and hotel development at Great Ancoats Street; Phase 3 of the Grand Arcade Shopping Centre in Wigan as well as several Tesco stores.

The Practice has 120 staff. Jack Lyall commented, "Our firm has been in business for over 70 years and our understanding and knowledge has seen the firm continually develop and adapt alongside industry trends. Expansion plans encompass all our UK offices, including exciting opportunities for us here in Manchester in the coming year."

GVA Grimley has brokered a deal which sees Dunedin Canmore Housing Association leasing a 13,550 sq ft industrial unit at 34 Dryden Road, Bilston Glen, Loanhead. The unit will be occupied by Dunedin's property maintenance division to service Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. The initial rental equates to approximately £5.15 per sq ft.

Commenting on the deal, Malcolm Pearson, associate at GVA Grimley, said: ?Our remit was to purchase an industrial unit within close distance of the A720 ? not an easy task without an open chequebook.

"The property at Bilston Glen met the client's requirements but was only available to lease. Fortunately however, we managed to negotiate a compromise with the owner and Dunedin Canmore now has an option to purchase within the initial lease term."

Danny Grant, property operations manager for Dunedin Canmore added: "To allow our various trades easy access to the east, south and west of Edinburgh, we really needed to be located centrally on the Edinburgh South Orbital. However, nothing in the area could be acquired at a reasonable price. This property, with the option to purchase, is the ideal solution."

D M Hall acted for the landlord.

In one of the largest industrial property transactions in the North West in recent years, Beva Investments Limited has bought Magnum at Walker Industrial Park comprising 470,352 ft² from Bilsdale Properties Ltd for £10.5m.

The building, which formed part of the Walker family's original steel stockholding warehouse, built in the 1970's/1980's, has recently been extensively refurbished, including complete re-cladding of external elevations.

The key features of the building are:- minimum clear headrooms of 25 ft up to 30 ft; potential to incorporate substantial dock level loading provision; floor loadings of up to 50 KN/m²; office accommodation of up to 32,430 ft²; ability to accommodate both industrial and warehouse users.

The development which will be renamed, Beva @ Walker Park, lies immediately adjoining Junction 5 of the M65 network which in turn provides rapid access to the regional motorway network. Beva Group will offer the building on a freehold or leasehold basis, either as a whole, or sub-divided into units from 80,000 ft² and upwards.

King Sturge and Taylor Weaver acted for Bilsdale Properties on the sale and have been retained by Beva Group as joint marketing agents for the new scheme.

Private clients of BTWShiells have successfully completed on the purchase of the Forge Shopping Centre in Glasgow for just under £138m representing an initial yield of 4.85% and an equivalent yield of 6%.

The Forge is situated just outside Scotland's largest city providing a fully enclosed retail environment with approximately 450,000 sq ft of retail accommodation. The centre is anchored by one of Asda's largest stores in Scotland together with a Dunnes Stores and a 7 screen Cineworld Cinema.

Primark have recently opened a 20,285 sq ft store and other multiple retailers within the centre include H&M; Hennes, River Island, Bon Marche, New Look and WH Smiths.

The scheme was sold by The Grosvenor Shopping Centre Fund who were represented by CBRE in London.