Leading and award-winning build-to-rent provider Placefirst has reported record property portfolio growth, demonstrating continued commitment to expansion plans. The regeneration specialist has doubled its portfolio since January 2021 and has hit an important milestone of 1500 homes. Placefirst is on track to reach a projected milestone of 6500 homes by
The development will see the construction of three high specification industrial/logistics units of 25,000, 42,000 and 50,000 sq ft. Glencar, a leading UK construction company that was recently ranked amongst Europe’s fastest growing businesses, has today announced that it has been appointed by leading multinational real estate and property management
The impact of inflation across the construction supply chain fuelled by energy increases has led one of the UK’s largest buying groups to call for “realism” in pricing negotiations. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is forecasting an inflation peak of 9% this year which is driving material costs up
Panattoni, the largest logistics real estate developer in Europe, has fully let its 1.7 million sq ft logistics park in Northampton after signing lease agreements for the last two units with iForce and Hotel Chocolat. iForce, the UK’s fastest growing e-fulfilment, carriage management and returns recovery provider, has signed a
With 500 entries in all categories worldwide, MHM Group has won a bronze award for its carbon reduction projects at the Green World Awards and will receive the award at a ceremony in Westminster in November. MHM is a leading supplier of a range of sustainable equipment, including solar hybrid
Panattoni, the largest industrial real estate developer in Europe, has acquired a 22-acre site in an established industrial location in West Sussex for a last-mile logistics development. The site, called Panattoni Park Burgess Hill, is located at Burgess Hill, fronting the A2300 dual carriageway and providing fast access to the
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
Leading and award-winning build-to-rent provider Placefirst has reported record property portfolio growth, demonstrating continued commitment to expansion plans. The regeneration specialist has doubled its portfolio since January 2021 and has hit an important milestone of 1500 homes. Placefirst is on track to reach a projected milestone of 6500 homes by 2026. This milestone follows a year of major development success in 2021, bolstering Placefirst’s reputation as a front runner in the build-to-rent industry with a proven track record of creating quality homes designed specifically for long-term renters. One key project has been the launch of ‘Elevate’, an £8m apartment scheme in Manchester. Elevate has brought back into use a former Jobcentre by repurposing the building and adding a new top floor to give it a new lease of life. The scheme is now in its final stages and delivers 53 modern apartments. Elevate will complete in spring 2022 and has attracted huge interest, hitting a pre let figure of 75% this week. In addition to Elevate, both Placefirst’s Skye Edge and Scholars View developments are also due to complete in spring 2022. And the final phase of Placefirst’s iconic award-winning Welsh Streets development in Liverpool, which began in 2016, will be submitted for planning in the autumn. To support the growth plans, Placefirst is continuing to develop its pipeline across the UK. Standout schemes include Esh Winning, which received planning approval at the end of last year. The brownfield site will be transformed into a neighbourhood of 89 new homes, and will be the largest delivery of bungalows in a generation. Work is set to start on site this year. In Bolton, Placefirst is working on an exciting scheme in collaboration with Bolton Council. The project is set to deliver over 150 rental homes in the town centre as part of a significant regeneration project. A £65m residential scheme in Wolverhampton for 366 new homes and commercial space as part of a major regeneration project in the heart of the city’s historic Canalside Quarter, also received full planning approval in the final quarter of 2021. Placefirst is committed to creating thriving neighbourhoods with a strong sense of place, operating an end-to-end service which includes a dedicated resident services manager and community engagement initiatives. The last two years have seen the landscape of the private rental market change as people look to move to areas that offer a sense of place, and provision to stay long-term. Placefirst’s homes are designed to provide everything you could want for modern living with pets allowed, private and communal garden areas, strong sustainability credentials and quality guaranteed by delivering homes that are designed specifically for rent. David Mawson, chief executive at Placefirst comments: “We are delighted to have doubled our portfolio in the past year. The 1500 homes milestone is an incredible achievement for the business, extends our track record as a specialist in the single family housing market, and is a culmination of the hard work that is put into each of our developments. We provide an end-to-end service; designing, letting and managing every neighbourhood and always keep high quality and our residents at the forefront of our values. “The impact of our developments has been fantastic; we have a track record of delivering high-spec homes to our communities through placemaking and innovative regeneration. We are excited about future projects and look forward to continuing our success.”
The development will see the construction of three high specification industrial/logistics units of 25,000, 42,000 and 50,000 sq ft. Glencar, a leading UK construction company that was recently ranked amongst Europe’s fastest growing businesses, has today announced that it has been appointed by leading multinational real estate and property management company Frasers Property to develop three speculative new industrial units of 25,000, 42,000 and 50,000 sq ft at Blythe Valley Park in Solihull. The development being marketed as Connexion II sits in a prominent location close to the main entrance to Blythe Valley Park and only 2 minutes from J4 of the M42. Blythe Valley Park is the premier business park in the West Midlands region, accommodating a wide range of occupiers in prime office, R&D, industrial and logistics space. All three units will be developed to a high-quality sustainable specification, targeting BREEAM Excellent accreditation and an EPC Rating of A. The development is due for completion by the end of 2022. Speaking about the appointment Pete Goodman, Glencar Managing Director Midlands and North said: “Blythe Valley Park is widely considered to be the premier business park in the West Midlands and a thriving business community. Glencar are extremely proud and pleased to have been appointed by Frasers Property to construct this important next phase of development on the park within the heart of the Midlands growth engine. This new campus of high specification industrial units will provide occupiers with much needed new space and an exceptional place to work, with units benefiting from a cutting-edge design and sustainable specification set with 122 acres of beautiful parkland. This is the first instruction Glencar has received from Frasers Property and we look forward to working closely together, forging a strong partnership and seeing the units rise from the ground as construction progresses.” Blythe Valley Park is a 663,000 sq ft mixed use business park located in Solihull, near Birmingham offering versatile office and high-quality industrial space set in 122 acres of beautiful parkland. Strategically situated at the hub of the UK’s motorway system, Blythe Valley Park offers the very best access on a national and local scale. The park is a thriving business community of over 25 businesses employing more than 3,500 people with wellbeing at its heart. For further information visit: https://connexionsolihull.co.uk/.
The impact of inflation across the construction supply chain fuelled by energy increases has led one of the UK’s largest buying groups to call for “realism” in pricing negotiations. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is forecasting an inflation peak of 9% this year which is driving material costs up along the length of the construction supply chain. Whilst able to accept reasonable cost pressure, National Buying Group (NBG) is increasingly concerned that price changes must be justified and be proportionate with transparent detail to support any changes. Nick Oates, Managing Director at National Buying Group says the market is difficult for everyone: “We understand this is a very challenging market and that is being reflected in our negotiations. However, there is a real danger that if prices increase too much, we will impact demand from the end consumer, which could ultimately kill the market. We need to spread the inflationary impact across the supply chain.” For the merchant, passing price increases on to the end user is increasingly more challenging, because they must also factor in the greatly increased cost of delivery onto any product price changes, says Nick. “Merchants are arguably the most vulnerable portion of the supply chain to this ‘double squeeze’ from both material and fuel pricing. In effect, merchants must find an extra circa 5% on top of the increase in material prices to cover the cost of delivery.” Nick says suppliers to the merchant sector can help in two ways – by looking at their stock levels and asking for “realistic” price increases. “We’re asking Suppliers to be reasonable about when they ask for price increases. If a Supplier is sitting on many months of stock, there is no need to ask for a price increase today. “Secondly, prices need to be more dynamic and reactive to commodity price changes. When commodity prices come down, Suppliers need to react as quickly as when they go up. That is only fair.” He concluded: “NBG and its Partners have always prided themselves on building strong relationships with their Suppliers. We understand that suppliers cannot absorb all the increase in cost and a proportion needs to be passed on, but independent merchants are also being impacted and their margins eroded by the cost of delivery, so we must take a longer-term balanced view.” For more information on National Buying Group, including how to join the premier buying group for independent merchants, visit https://www.nationalbuyinggroup.com/.
Panattoni, the largest logistics real estate developer in Europe, has fully let its 1.7 million sq ft logistics park in Northampton after signing lease agreements for the last two units with iForce and Hotel Chocolat. iForce, the UK’s fastest growing e-fulfilment, carriage management and returns recovery provider, has signed a 10-year lease for a 376,915 sq ft facility at at Panattoni Park Northampton and Hotel Chocolat, the premium British chocolatier and cacao grower, has signed a 10-year lease for a 429,107 sq ft facility. These two lettings follow that to 4PX Express, the global logistics company, which signed a 15-year lease for a 250,000 sq ft facility in November last year, and the success of the first phase of 625,000 sq ft, which was pre-let to Eddie Stobart Logistics, owned by Culina Group. All three buildings in the second phase were speculatively developed to a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ and an EPC ‘A’ rating. Northampton sits in the ‘logistics golden triangle’, long regarded as the UK’s most strategically important location for distribution. Located at junction 16 of the M1, Panattoni Park Northampton is only 20 miles from the M6 and A14. Oliver Bertram, Development Director at Panattoni, said: “Letting over 1 million sq ft to three different companies in just five months reflects the importance of Northampton as a logistics location and the attraction of the park to occupiers. “We are experiencing high occupier demand for immediately available logistics space, which justifies our commitment to a major speculative development programme in the UK”. Paul Thirkell, managing director of iForce, said: “iForce is absolutely delighted to have secured a new facility at Panattoni Park Northampton, which will help to facilitate the significant growth the business is experiencing. The location is of strategic importance within our network and located next to three other Culina Group warehouses, creating significant synergies across the group companies”. Letting agents for Panattoni were Savills and Burbage Realty. iForce was advised by Roebuck and Hotel Chocolat was advised by Bidwells. Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Home of Construction Industry News
With 500 entries in all categories worldwide, MHM Group has won a bronze award for its carbon reduction projects at the Green World Awards and will receive the award at a ceremony in Westminster in November. MHM is a leading supplier of a range of sustainable equipment, including solar hybrid generators and lighting towers while setting ambitious targets to cut emissions and be carbon neutral by 2030. It has established its MHM Eco initiative to contribute to sustainable construction and hire sectors. The Green World Awards are organized by The Green Organisation, an international, independent, non-political and non-profit environment group that began in 1994, dedicated to recognising, rewarding and promoting environmental best practice around the world. MHM Group continues to increase its sustainable products, with more than 30% of its sales and rehire equipment being solar (engine free) or hybrid-powered, as part of a comprehensive approach to a greener future. Commenting on the award, MHM Group Managing Director Mat Llewellyn said: “We are thrilled to see our carbon reducing, sustainable solutions receive recognition. It’s so important for the construction and hire sectors to make strides in environmental innovation and look at how it can reduce its carbon footprint for the long term. “This award reassures us that our efforts have not gone unnoticed, and we will continue to offer solutions and equipment to the hire and construction sectors which will eliminate harmful carbon emissions. We will ensure that both our new equipment for sale and our hire fleet becomes yet more sustainable and demonstrate to the industry the ever-growing efforts we are making in eco-leadership.” The success of MHM has also been recognised by the Hire Awards of Excellence, where products and staff members have been shortlisted. In total, the MHM Group has been shortlisted in three different categories including Industry Supplier of the Year, Tool & Equipment Hire Company of the Year (Turnover under £10m), Workshop Manager of the Year. Also, at the European Rental Awards where the Street Lite, a completely self-powered solar only, engine free lighting tower, has been chosen as a finalist in the Rental Product of the Year category. Workshop Manager of the Year nominee, Steven Jones, said: “I’d like to thank MHM for nominating me for the Hire Awards of Excellence. I am grateful to have such a supportive team, and this is indeed an exciting time for MHM. It’s great to see the business receive recognition for its eco-friendly efforts and to be a part of a business that wants to change the industry for the better.” Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Home of Construction Industry News
Panattoni, the largest industrial real estate developer in Europe, has acquired a 22-acre site in an established industrial location in West Sussex for a last-mile logistics development. The site, called Panattoni Park Burgess Hill, is located at Burgess Hill, fronting the A2300 dual carriageway and providing fast access to the A23/M23, Crawley, Brighton and the south coast markets. It is already home to DPD and Roche. Panattoni is intending to speculatively develop the rest of the site with facilities from 7,466 sq ft to 141,460 sq ft, although it is in discussions with a number of occupiers already showing interest in bespoke units. Panattoni expects to start construction in the fourth quarter of this year with the intention of delivering units to a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ and an EPC rating of ‘A’ in the middle of 2023. It will take advantage of the site’s outline planning consent to build the units quickly, offering opportunities for both B2 and B8 occupiers. Panattoni’s vast experience of buy, build and let was recently demonstrated at the former Benthalls site in Farnborough, which it bought, built and let in just 11 months. Tony Watkins, Development Director at Panattoni, said: “This well-located site provides us with the opportunity to meet the high occupier demand for logistics space in the Crawley, Brighton and south coast markets, where the supply of available space is very low. We will be offering a wide range of unit sizes to occupiers in an area where there is a critical lack of stock to serve such a big market of consumers”. Letting agents are DTRE, Lambert Smith Hampton and SHW. Panattoni was founded in the USA in 1986 and has grown to become the world’s largest privately-owned industrial developer. Panattoni has served over 2,500 customers worldwide and developed more than 525 million sq ft of logistics space. In the United Kingdom, Panattoni has positioned itself as the largest speculative developer, committing to speculatively develop over 3 million sq ft annually. Building, Design and Construction Magazine | The Home of Construction Industry News
