The Brunel Place project will be delivered in partnership with Slough Borough Council and will lead a wider regeneration of the town by the local authority. The 350,000 sq ft scheme will include three office buildings, located next to a new Crossrail station, which will open in 2018. Show Fullscreen Brunel Place U I Slough Borough Council terrace The design includes a number of roof terraces The council’s overall redevelopment of Slough town centre will deliver more than 1,000 homes, transport infrastructure, a civic centre, and new hotel and retail space. U+I was formed in May 2014, following a merger between Development Securities and Cathedral Group. The company has a £4bn portfolio of mixed-use development projects and a £200m investment portfolio. This week it was appointed as the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority’s development partner for the £300m regeneration of 8 Albert Embankment. The investor-developer will now start working on plans for the site and begin the consultation process. Commenting on the appointment, U+I chief executive Richard Upton said: “Just weeks after being selected by Camden Council for a new public-private partnership project at Cockpit Yard, we are delighted to have been appointed to redevelop 8 Albert Embankment and to have the opportunity to work with the LFB and Lambeth again. “U+I has extensive experience of PPP, and our approach is anchored by a commitment to community consultation and a respect for the provenance of every site.” Brunel Place U I Slough Borough Council street Brunel Place is part of a wider regeneration of Slough town centre Other major schemes under development by U+I include the multi-phased, £250m Old Vinyl Factory regeneration, which features 650 homes and 750,000 sq ft of commercial space. Hub and Bridge Ventures are jointly developing the latest phase of the Old Vinyl Factory scheme, known as the Material store, which is being built by Interserve.   Source link

Savills and Cushman & Wakefield, on behalf of the Blackrock UK Property Fund, have let further office space at the 180,000 sq ft (16,722 sq m) Capitol Building in Bracknell to Snow Software Limited. Snow Software has agreed to move from the lower ground floor to the second floor to occupy 13,000 sq ft (1,207 sq m) and will pay an annual rent of £325,000, equating to circa £25 per sq ft (£269 per sq m). Olivia Wood, associate director in the South East office agency team at Savills, comments: “This deal is a testament to the fact that Capitol is able to deliver a working environment attuned to modern businesses and demonstrates why Snow Software has chosen to remain, rather than relocate.” Andy Joeres from Snow Software, adds: “Our company has grown faster than expected over the past 12 months and working with BlackRock, we were able to deliver a solution for our rapidly expanding business.” A total of 21,500 sq ft (1,997 sq m) remains available at a guide price of £25 per sq ft (£269 per sq m).   Source link

JD Sports, represented by international real estate advisor Savills, has secured 375-381 Oxford Street for a major new store west of Oxford Circus.  The retailer has agreed a new 10-year lease for the 23,000 sq ft (2,137 sq m) property, which is owned by Norges Bank Investment Management and sits within West One Shopping Centre.  It will pay an annual rent of £3.1 million. In 2014, Savills also acquired a 34,500 sq ft (3,205 sq m) store east of Oxford Circus for JD Sports at 201-203 Oxford Street.  The new deal means the retailer, which exited a smaller second unit on the street earlier this year due to the future redevelopment of the building, now has a major store on both east and west Oxford Street.   Sam Foyle, Oxford Street specialist at Savills, comments: “This property is ideally positioned to complement our client’s existing store on east Oxford Street and ensure JD Sports can maximise the benefits of future footfall increases linked to Crossrail and other infrastructure improvements.” The landlord represented by Nash Bond. Source link

A study released by international real estate advisor Savills and the British Council for Offices (BCO)  has revealed that almost half (46%) of office workers think that the office has a positive affect on their mental health, while 40% think it has a positive impact on their physical health. Clear correlation is shown between those who say they have less control over the set-up and design of their working environment and those who report negative physical and mental health scores.  The report, What Workers Want, polled 1,132 office workers across the UK asking employees what factors they look for in a workplace, and how much they believe that their current environment satisfies those requirements. Those who work in a private office, as opposed to open plan, are more likely to say it has a positive impact on their mental health (50% opposed to 45%)  and women are more likely to respond positively than men (48% to 45%). Click here to see the impact your workplace has on your mental health The survey also asked about physical health, with 40% of respondents saying the office also has a positive affect on their physical state with 30% saying it has a negative impact Click here to see the impact your workplace has on your physical health What Workers Wants highlights the strong correlation between having control over one’s working environment and mental and physical health: workers who said they had little or no control over their environment are far more likely to say the environment has a detrimental impact on both their mental and physical wellbeing. Click here to see the correlatrion between workers control over thier environment and thier mental and physical health Savills also compared respondents’ satisfaction with the light and temperature in their office with their views on how the office impacts their mental and physical health. It could perhaps be anticipated that those who said they were dissatisfied with their office temperature also reported that the office had a negative impact on their physical health, but the same was also true for their mental health. 72% of those who said they were ‘very satisfied’ with the temperature of their office also said that the office had a positive impact on their mental health, with only 9% reporting a negative impact. In comparison, of those who said they were ‘not at all satisfied’ with the office temperature, 56% said the office had a negative impact on their mental health, with 24% reporting a positive impact. Steve Lang, director,  Savills research and author of the report, says:  “Just as ‘wellness’ has become a bigger issue in wider society, it has also become a hot topic in the office with occupiers taking steps to improve things such as natural daylight in the office in recognition that this impacts mental health. We, however, haven’t heard much about the apparent role that temperature plays in mental health. Given the potential knock on effects this needs to be looked at in more detail when designing the office. Office temperature wars are a perennial issue, but advances in technology will help: more nuanced monitoring of heat levels, climate control office chairs and integrated fans are already on the agenda and are likely to be permanent features of the office of the future.” Jeremy Bates, head of Savills Worldwide Occupier Services, adds: “That two thirds of employees think that the office has a neutral or positive impact on their mental and physical health is very encouraging. But there is work to do to support the remaining third who say it has a negative impact. The fact that those who say they have more control are more likely to report better physical and mental health demonstrates the value of giving employees decision-making powers over simple aspects of the workplace; thereby empowering them. On the whole, however it’s a positive picture for the office.”  Source link