Category Archives: Commercial Property

Commercial Property, News

£1 million refit for Caldicot warehouse site: Knight Frank

A major warehouse unit at Severnbridge Industrial Estate in Caldicot is undergoing a £1 million refurbishment and will be ready for letting by Quarter 4, 2020.

The 68,425 sq ft detached high-bay warehouse / industrial unit is in a prominent position at the entrance to the estate and the letting agents believe it will attract a wide range of potential occupiers from South Wales and South West England.

Property agents Knight Frank and Jenkins Best have been appointed as joint letting agents by asset manager FI Real Estate Management, which manages more than 10m sq ft of commercial property.

Neil Francis, head of the Logistics & Industrial team of Knight Frank in Cardiff, said: “With its excellent facilities and location we are confident it will appeal not only to local occupiers but also those from the South West who can take advantage of the toll-free motorway network.”

Henry Best of Jenkins Best added: “Unit 4 has high-bay entrances, internal eaves heights of up to 10 metres, and two storey offices so will appeal to a broad range of potential occupiers. At a quoting rental of £4.25 per sq ft we are offering a good quality product at significantly lower than the new build rents being quoted.”

 

Commercial Property, News, North of England, Property

High-Profile Commercial Property Wins Boost Landwood Group

Landwood Group’s Commercial Asset Management division in Manchester has bucked the trend of a Covid-19 downturn with a raft of high profile new instructions.

The new business wins stretch across the team’s full range of property management disciplines, including service charge work, rent reviews, lease renewals and facilities management.

Highlights include a new instruction with Landwood appointed by Cervidae to manage its One Didsbury Point development. The 60,000 sq. ft, four storey, Grade A office development sits on Princess Parkway, one of the main arterial routes into Manchester, with close links to Manchester Airport, M56 and M60.

At present, it is occupied by Optegra, Carrier Travel, Bouygues and IBI Group.

Landwood Group’s Commercial Asset Management team, led by Director Anna Main, will deliver a full facilities and property management service to the building.

At the same time, a North West-based high net worth individual has instructed Landwood to manage his portfolio of six property assets across the UK, with a total footprint of 150,000 sq. ft.

In London, the Cashlong Group has instructed Landwood to carry out rent reviews and lease renewals on its properties.

Anna Main says: “At this time more than ever, businesses are looking for hands on property management services, from experienced, director-led teams. It’s been particularly pleasing that even in a period of unprecedented uncertainty, demand remains high.

“Like every business, we’ve had to pivot and think what we can offer over and above our usual service. The focus is on minimising risk and maximising revenues in the short term, before we assess what the ‘new normal’ looks like later in the year.

“The Landwood Group goes further for our clients and that’s why our client base of high-net worths, property trusts and property owners appreciate a higher level of service.”

Landwood Group’s Manchester-based Commercial Asset Management team enjoyed a strong start to the year before the disruption caused by Coronavirus, with a number of new instructions from clients including Grant Thornton, FRP and Nikal.

Commercial Property, Environment, News

Regional experts advise on another acquisition for RSK Group

Accountancy and legal experts from two North East leading businesses have helped RSK Group acquire Wigan based Ground Heat Installations Limited.

Ground Heat Installations is one of the UK’s largest providers of ground source heat pumps. It employs 15 staff and has worked on projects including Clifford Lamb Court, the first of its kind in Europe, Albion Towers and three further projects for Salix Homes.

Ground Heat’s knowledge and expertise in renewable energy heat pumps will complement RSK’s existing technical and drilling services.

RSK Group is the UK’s leading integrated environmental, engineering, and technical services consultancy.

Alan Ryder Chief Executive at RSK said “We believe that ground source heat will play a vital role in our drive to net-zero emissions and help bring an end to fuel poverty,”

He added. “We are delighted to welcome Ground Heat’s incredibly talented team on board. Although Covid-19 has taken over recent news, we must continue to focus on the impacts of climate change and ensure that organisations and communities are supported as we move towards a greener future.”

Dave Thompson, Ground Heat managing director, added: “Delivering heat to both domestic and commercial properties is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and will undergo transformative change as we move to a low-carbon future.

“Ground source heating is an important part of the solution, so I am excited to be joining RSK, a business that shares our values to drive development in this sector.”

The vendors were advised by Steve Plaskitt and Graham Brown at MHA Tait Walker Corporate Finance and by Nigel Williams and Sean Jackson at Endeavour. The two professional services firms had previously teamed up alongside RSK Group following on from the sale of Geocore Site Investigations Limited to them in August last year.”

Steve Plaskitt, Corporate Finance Partner at MHA Tait Walker said “It was great to see a small innovative renewable energy company become part of a larger group which will allow it to provide its UK leading services throughout more of the country. It was also good to work alongside Endeavour again on our second deal together for RSK Group.’

Nigel Williams, Partner at Endeavour Partnership said: “We already knew how the RSK team work and we regularly work with MHA Tait Walker so this transaction was a genuine team effort. We were delighted to get this deal completed for our clients in these challenging times.”

Commercial Property, Logistics, News, Property

What next for logistics property in the UK?

With the Covid-19 pandemic forcing many companies to increase stock levels and reshape supply chains, as well as driving an ever-greater reliance on on-line shopping, leading property consultancy, Gent Visick believes there are interesting times ahead for the logistics sector and big shed market.

Andrew Gent, a director at Gent Visick, said: “Imagine it being Christmas every week? This has been the situation which the supermarkets and on-line retailers have faced since the onset of the Covid-19 lockdown. The level of demand for certain products had simply overwhelmed their existing supply chains.

“The advantage of Christmas is that it is a single fixed date for which retailers can build their stock levels and gear up their distribution operations, the lockdown exposed the weaknesses inherent in supply chains which have been designed to maximise efficiencies and cut costs.

“Many retailers have taken additional short-term warehouse space to increase their stockholding and have re-geared to find alternate suppliers and with China now back on-line the situation is easing, although it has taken some unusual steps to get there.

“The temporary relaxation of the competition rules in the food retail sector has seen some pooling of resources, warehousing, vehicles and staff to enable the retailers to once more fill the shelves and avoid further panic buying.

“The Government have announced that, subject to observing the new social distancing guidelines, all shops can re-open on the 15th of June. However, will there be a mass return to the high street, or will people’s concerns continue to drive the expansion of the on-line retail sector?

“Food retailers have already noted a return to the “weekly shop” with customers seeking to limit their exposure and it is still difficult to secure an on-line shopping slot. For hundreds of alternate goods on-line shopping has become a way of life. Whilst the high street re-opens, it may be some time before the public have the confidence to return in numbers. With those that can still working from home, the convenience of home delivery may continue to outweigh the perceived risk of going out.

“The response to date has been a flurry of short-term large warehouse acquisitions and increased demand for smaller space, suitable for additional home delivery hubs. There has also been a race for open storage land close to the main ports as the flow of containers returns to pre-Covid levels but with retail outlets closed there is somewhat of a logjam at the moment.”

Andrew continued: “Looking to the mid-term, should demand for on-line shopping continue at the current rate, there will be further demand for some 14 million square feet of additional warehousing space across the country. With limited standing stock and existing pressure on the supply of employment land, this should help to maintain current rental and capital values.

“With supply chains adapting to carry more stock, manufactures looking to re-shore elements of production and diversifying production to avoid being too reliant upon a single market, we would again expect to see demand for additional warehouse space as we move on from the lockdown.

“However, all this does rather depend on the overall economic position and household confidence to maintain sales and demand for goods. With several large companies already announcing significant numbers of redundancies and a number of smaller companies, particularly in the hotel and leisure sector failing, the level of unemployment will grow. Inevitably this will impact upon consumer confidence which will lead to reduced demand for goods and services.

“That said, the changing shifts in supply chains, evolving patterns of consumer shopping, a nervousness to return to the high street allied to home working and the convenience of home delivery, will create future demand for additional stockholding warehouses and home delivery hubs. All of this certainly bodes well for the logistics sector and Yorkshire is ideally placed to capitalise geographically.”

Commercial Property, News, Wales News

The GS Verde Group takes new office space in Pembroke Dock.

The GS Verde Group has opened a new office within a listed building in Pembroke Dock to accommodate the growth of its corporate and commercial teams and the development of its sector specialist energy team.

The latest office for the Group will be within the Grade II listed Guardhouse on the Royal Dockyard area of Pembroke Dock, currently owned by the Port of Milford Haven.

The Port of Milford Haven is the UK’s top energy port and Wales busiest port handling around 20% of Britain’s seabourne trade in oil and gas. The port is also widely recognised in the industry as the energy capital of the UK.

The Port, and its cluster of energy-related businesses along the Waterway, is a key driver of economic activity in West Wales, attracting inward investment and supporting over 4,000 jobs.

GS Verde Group consists of corporate law firm Greenaway Scott, corporate finance firm Verde Corporate Finance and patent attorney business Alchemie IP and is unique in Wales as a multidiscipline corporate advisory business.

The Group has a number of existing clients in Pembrokeshire and within West Wales generally and the move to the Royal Dockyard will enable it to continue its work with key clients within the area including medical technology business Magstim which is a leading supplier of transcranial magnetic stimulators, and ocean energy company Bombora Wave Power whilst also providing its specialist advisory service on site within the Pembroke Dock office.

The Group has made four new appointments to the Pembroke Dock office to support the continued growth, including appointments within the corporate, commercial and real estate teams.

The development in Pembroke Dock follows the announcement by GS Verde Group of a significant six-figure investment by HSBC at the end of 2019 to support the growth of its teams and offices within Cardiff, Bristol and Pembroke Dock.

Leanne Thomas, head of the West Wales team within GS Verde Group said:

“I am delighted with the new location, and the office itself is very interesting with the combination of its historic background and its modern refurbishment.

“I am sure there is a significant level of work within the West Wales region and our teams at Greenaway Scott and Verde Corporate Finance are excited to be on site and in situ ready to make progress in 2020.”