25 June 2016 – by Shekha Vyas Edinburgh’s office pipelineAberdeen Asset Management is on the hunt for a new 80,000 sq ft Edinburgh headquarters. The fund manager has been streamlining its UK portfolio and in the past six months has disposed of £1.7bn of assets, including 61 Southwark Street, SE1,
National home sales in Canada fell in May after setting an all-time monthly record the previous month with a decline of 2.8% recorded, the latest index data shows. The figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) also show that the national average price has increased by 13.2% year on
Keyland Developments Ltd, the property trading area of a larger company trading as Kelda Group, is the sister company of Yorkshire Water. The company has recently completed almost £1 million of site sales that will enable the conversion and redevelopment of residential accommodation to be brought forward. Keyland Developments sites
The McAvoy Group has been appointed to work on the LHC Modular Buildings Framework. The work that has been scheduled is thought to have a combined value of more than £1 billion. The LHC is known as one of the UK’s longest-established public sector procurement specialists. McAvoy has managed to
The jury awarded its innovative modular manholes for electrical and telecommunications ducting, made of 100% recycled plastic The delivery ceremony took place at the Dubai World Trade Center, headquarters of BIG 5, in which more than 2,500 companies from 60 countries participated. Spanish manufacturer Hidrostank has won the award for
25 June 2016 – by Shekha Vyas Edinburgh’s office pipelineAberdeen Asset Management is on the hunt for a new 80,000 sq ft Edinburgh headquarters. The fund manager has been streamlining its UK portfolio and in the past six months has disposed of £1.7bn of assets, including 61 Southwark Street, SE1, and 1 Welbeck Street, W1. It fell out of the FTSE 100 index of the UK’s largest companies this year and posted a fall in profits from £185.4m to £98.8m in the six months to the end of March 2016. Aberdeen currently occupies almost 90,000 sq ft in Edinburgh in 40 Princes Street and 60 Morrison Street. The firm has appointed Ryden to explore options for a move. It has an upcoming lease expiry on Princes Street in 2018 and the lease on Morrison Street expires in 2021. Aberdeen said: “We are looking at options, given that lease renewals and break clauses are coming up in a few years’ time. We may not even move.” All the content from this weekís magazine, including this article, is available in the new app. The company is most likely to take space at one of three developments in the city centre, as supply for grade-A office space stands at just 100,000 sq ft. Tiger Development’s Haymarket will deliver 340,000 sq ft, Hermes and Parlison Properties’ Capital Square will provide 122,600 sq ft, and Artisan’s New Waverley 160,000 sq ft over the next three years. Aberdeen employs around 800 staff in Edinburgh, where its global equity, structured products and multi-asset teams are based. Its investment trust, secretarial, compliance, digital marketing and governance teams also work in the city. Source link
National home sales in Canada fell in May after setting an all-time monthly record the previous month with a decline of 2.8% recorded, the latest index data shows. The figures from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) also show that the national average price has increased by 13.2% year on year but when Greater Toronto and Greater Vancouver are excluded this drops to 9.1%. Sales activity dropped in about 70% of all markets, led by those in British Columbia and Ontario where the number of homes listed for sale has fallen to multi-year or all-time lows. ‘National sales activity is still strong, even after coming off the record levels of the past couple of months. But, there are housing markets where sales continue to reflect a cautious mood among homebuyers and uncertainty about the local economy,’ said CREA president Cliff Iverson. According to CREA’s chief economist Gregory many of the housing markets in BC and Ontario that led the monthly decline in national sales are also places where months of inventory have fallen to all-time lows. ‘This suggests a lack of supply may be starting to rein in sales amid a continuation of strong housing demand,’ he explained. While nine of the 11 markets tracked by the index posted year on year price gains in May, price growth among housing markets continues to vary widely. Greater Vancouver recorded the biggest rise at 29.7% then the Fraser Valley at 31.7%. Next was Greater Toronto where prices rose by 15% year on year, while in Victoria they rose 13.9% and in Vancouver Island by 9.5%. By contrast, prices fell by 3.9% in Calgary and by 2.3% in Saskatoon. There were smaller year on year prices rises in other locations. In Regine they increased by 3.4%, in Ottawa by 1.3% and in Greater Montreal by 1.9%. Home prices in Greater Moncton recorded their tenth consecutive year on year gain, up 8.2%. The index report also points out that the national average price continues to be pulled upward by sales activity in Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto, which remain two of Canada’s tightest, most active and expensive housing markets. The actual, not seasonally adjusted, national average price for homes sold in May 2016 was $509,460, up 13.2% year on year. However, if these two housing markets are excluded from calculations, the average price is a more modest $375,532 and the year on year gain is trimmed to 9.1%. But the report explains that even then, this reflects a tug of war between strong average price gains in housing markets around the GTA and in British Columbia versus flat or declining average prices elsewhere in Canada. Indeed, the average price for Canada net of sales in British Columbia and Ontario in May 2016 was down 0.7% year on year to $310,007.The index also shows that the number of newly listed homes fell by 3.2% month on month and new supply was down in about two thirds of all local markets, led by the Fraser Valley, Victoria, Edmonton, Montreal and Quebec City. The national sales to new listings ratio edged up to 64.8%, the ratio’s tightest reading since October 2009. A sales to new listings ratio between 40% and 60% is generally consistent with balanced housing market conditions, with readings below and above this range indicating buyers’ and sellers’ markets respectively. The ratio was above 60% in about half of all local housing markets in May, virtually all of which are located in British Columbia, in addition to housing markets in and around Toronto and across Southwestern Ontario. The number of months of inventory is another important measure of the balance between housing supply and demand. It represents the number of months it would take to completely liquidate current inventories at the current rate of sales activity. There were 4.7 months of inventory on a national basis at the end of May 2016, which is unchanged from April’s reading and the lowest level in more than six years. Months of inventory have been trending lower since early 2015, reflecting increasingly tighter housing markets in BC and Ontario. Source link
Keyland Developments Ltd, the property trading area of a larger company trading as Kelda Group, is the sister company of Yorkshire Water. The company has recently completed almost £1 million of site sales that will enable the conversion and redevelopment of residential accommodation to be brought forward. Keyland Developments sites include Holme Barn, Hartshead Moor Top, Baildon Reservoir and Thornton Filter House. All of these sites have recently been sold with planning permission in place that will allow for the regeneration of the sites in order to create more residential space. Holme Barn is situated off Woodhead Road in Holme within the Peak District National Park was sold to a private developer for £170,000. The property consists of a single natural stone barn which will then be sensitively converted in to a new holiday let. This site will benefit the area by giving the site a purpose, allowing for regeneration and securing a long-term future for the currently derelict building. Hartshead Moor Top, another site that has been sold by Keyland Developments is located adjacent to the Hartshead Reservoir. Planning consent that is already in place for this site is for the creation of four new homes. The Local housebuilder, Barnes Homes has purchased the site for £275,000 in order to develop four residential properties fronting Halifax Road. A local buyer has purchased Keyland’s Baildon site located within an already residential area one mile from Baildon Town Centre for £320,000. The site is currently brownfield land that is owned by Yorkshire water and the planning that was in place at the time of the sale is for the construction of two properties that will accessible from West Lane. It is great that the sites that have been sold by Keyland will offer great opportunities for developers and individuals in order to regenerate a series of disused buildings as well as vacant land for residential use.
The McAvoy Group has been appointed to work on the LHC Modular Buildings Framework. The work that has been scheduled is thought to have a combined value of more than £1 billion. The LHC is known as one of the UK’s longest-established public sector procurement specialists. McAvoy has managed to secure this position by winning the tender for 15 lots and achieving the highest score for education buildings as well as factory processes and for BIM, out of all of the companies that submitted bids to be a part of the LHC framework. McAvoy also managed to top in the workstream WS1 for permanent and interim education and healthcare buildings. The high finishing result by the company, and their selection for the LHC Modular Buildings Framework means that more public sector clients will be able to award contracts directly to the company. The McAvoy Group is one of the UK’s leading offsite construction specialists. The Group has already managed to secure their first scheme following their success on the LHC framework. This project is an interim classroom project that has been carried out on behalf of Cardiff Council. The building will accommodate 60 children at Court Special School and will be used for three years in order to help to meet the rising demand for school places. The LHC frameworks have been setup in order to give public sector building clients the benefit of a faster and more efficient procurement operation as well as the best value pricing, instant access to project data and the reassurance of higher quality, guaranteed service levels and a faster project commencement time period. It was vital for McAvoy from their appointment that they develop virtual models of their clients’ buildings in order to facilitate a more informed decision making process while also working to enhance the engagement of their stakeholders.
The jury awarded its innovative modular manholes for electrical and telecommunications ducting, made of 100% recycled plastic The delivery ceremony took place at the Dubai World Trade Center, headquarters of BIG 5, in which more than 2,500 companies from 60 countries participated. Spanish manufacturer Hidrostank has won the award for the most sustainable product of the year at the 10th edition of the GAIA Awards, The Big 5 award for green built environment solutions. The BIG 5 DUBAI, which took place from 26th to 29th of November, is the main construction and civil engineering fair in the Middle East. The jury, composed by panel of industry experts chaired by Anwaar Al Shimmari, director of the Department of Design of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development of the United Arab Emirates, wanted to recognize HIDROSTANK innovative modular manholes for electrical and telecommunications ducting, made of 100% recycled plastic, from over 100 competing products. The GAIA Awards, open not only to exhibitors but also to all operators whose products are distributed within the MENA Region, have become a reference for the industry due to their recognition of equipment and construction products that are committed to moving towards a increasingly sustainable environment. Receiving the award, Hidrostank’s commercial director, Juan Gazpio Irujo, said: “20 years ago we bet on a much more sustainable world. Our challenge was to change the mindset of traditional contractors with a eco friendly alternative to concrete manholes. So we are really proud of being recognised today by such an important jury.” “More and more administrations are considering sustainable procurement to improve the efficiency of public procurement and use the power of the public market to promote important environmental and social benefits at the local, regional and global levels”, says Juan Gazpio, Commercial Director, in the photo . “Today it is not enough to be competitive. Sustainability is in the DNA of our clients and we have known how to integrate this variable into our productive model”. The activity of HIDROSTANK is especially focused to emerging countries (LATAM, MENA…) where these modular manholes make it possible to speed the execution of their numerous projects up in a much more sustainable way. The Expansion of the Panama Canal is perhaps one of its main international references. The spanish company supplied to the winning consortium Grupo Unidos por el Canal (GUPC), led by SACYR, its modular manholes in the urbanization works. HIDROSTANK Access chambers enable the contractors to significantly reduce the execution of the works and fulfil the arranged deadlines at the beginning of the project. The high resistance of the HIDROSTANK cable pit make it a real alternative to traditional concrete systems. “Not only are they ecofriendly, but also their modularity makes transport easier, a simple and quick installation on site, without the need for heavy machinery, and a reduction in manpower,” says Alberto Ayesa, company manager. ” This will lead to significant savings and a much more sustainable construction.”
