Last week it was announced that the International real estate development company, HB Reavis, has acquired Elizabeth House. The site is located on London’s South Bank known as One Waterloo. The 945,000 sq. ft. development on this site has been given planning permission. This acquisition is the fourth development for
AEW UK REIT owns a portfolio of diverse portfolio of 31 commercial properties in different regions around the UK. The company has announced that they have acquired a number of industrial assets in Basildon in Essex, and Runcorn in Cheshire. These acquisitions are thought to have been obtained for around
Servest Group is a company that employs more than 20,000 people over 7,000 sites in order to leading facilities management services. The company works all around the UK and focuses on offering a transparent, innovative and partnership focused approach to the services that they provide. The company offers bespoke and
Kent Safety Solutions is a company that has been working since 2014 to deliver more safety management, training, environment and quality services. The company offers a range of management systems which include health and safety, IS09001 and ISO14001 as well as providing guidance and advice on the latest regulations in
Lambert Smith Hampton has revealed that that they have been appointed to work on a 71,000 sq. ft. project. The site is a warehouse located in Oldbury and it will be the responsibility of Lambert Smith Hampton to bring the site to market. The course of action has been announced
Small companies are being put off from house building because of the number of delays and rising costs. But small companies avoiding this sector means that the attempts to meet the housing demand in Britain is being slowed. Research has been carried out by NHBC Foundation which suggests that some
SEGRO has announced three new lettings in Greenford. These lettings are at Metropolitan Park and the tenants are thought to be two supercar businesses and one of the UK’s oldest wine merchants. All of the companies have opted for ten year leases. Belgravia Supercar Rentals, is one of the new
Two new The Counter® Custom Burgers are being opened after their previous success. The LA restaurant brand offers a unique experience, with customers able to build their own burgers. The company has announced that they will be opening two new stores in the UK, and they have plans to expand
Adlington, the specialist luxury retirement and independent living developers, has made three new appointments in order to carry on its support of new talent. The company claims to be dedicated to supporting talent within the construction industry and has appointed two new graduates to their company as well as a
The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) is a mandatory regulatory system that makes it possible to compare the properties of different products. All manufacturers and distributors that supply building products to European Economic Area fall under CPR and its requirements. CPR regulations for ‘reaction to fire requirements’ now also extend to
Last week it was announced that the International real estate development company, HB Reavis, has acquired Elizabeth House. The site is located on London’s South Bank known as One Waterloo. The 945,000 sq. ft. development on this site has been given planning permission. This acquisition is the fourth development for the London portfolio of HB Reavis. The project is an office-led development and is situated on York Road and next to Waterloo Stations. This high-profile development has been ear-marked for regeneration for over ten years. Elizabeth House is a 1960s office building that is looking dated and in need or refurbishment. It is thought that planning permission has been granted for two new buildings to be constructed. There is the possibility that this permission will lead to wider regeneration in the surrounding area. Elizabeth house, though dated, is located in a strategically import and well-connected section of the South Bank, so wide regeneration plans will be positive. The proposed new development will be made up if a 29 story building to the north of the site that will hold offices and residential units and a 10 storey building that s located in the south of the site that will provide office and retail space. The proposed development scheme will create a 945,000 sq. ft. of developed space which will include 753,000 sq. ft. of commercial floor space and 142 homes. There will also be public space that will amounts to 192,000 sq. ft. For HB Reavis, Elizabeth house is a great property to have in their portfolio, especially since it has been considered for development for more than a decade. This successful acquisition follows the launch of the company’s flagship project, Varso Place in Warsaw. Varso Place is a 1.5 million sq. ft. mixed use development scheme that will be Europe’s tallest high rise building when it is completed in 2020
AEW UK REIT owns a portfolio of diverse portfolio of 31 commercial properties in different regions around the UK. The company has announced that they have acquired a number of industrial assets in Basildon in Essex, and Runcorn in Cheshire. These acquisitions are thought to have been obtained for around £2.6 million. The Basildon asset is a 33,000 sq. ft. single-let industrial use building that is situated on the already established Pipps Hill Industrial Estate. This site is located close to the A127 and is around five miles away from Junction 29 of the M25. The purchase price of this asset was £2 million because of the attractive net yield of 9.3% for the site as well as a reversionary yield of 8.8%. The asset has a low capita value of £64 per sq. ft. and the industrial building will be let to Merson Signs Ltd on a new 10-year lease for a passing rent of £6 per sq. ft. The second asset is the Runcorn asset has had an initial yield of 7.8%. This Runcorn asset marks the completion of AEW’s acquisition of the whole Sarus Court industrial estate. The company already owned five of the six units on the industrial estate, which provides modern units that are finished to a high specification and are between 11,000 and 17,000 sq. ft. These industrial units have been let to several light-industrial occupiers through a weighted average unexpired lease, or WAULT, from more than 4 years. The new acquisition is currently let to Dimension Data until 2020 and it is thought that the unit offers a great deal of reversionary potential. The passing rent for this property is £4.50 per sq. ft. Sarus Court is a part of the Manor Park industrial estate located to the west of Runcorn and five kilometers away from the Mersey Gateway Project due to finish in autumn this year.
Servest Group is a company that employs more than 20,000 people over 7,000 sites in order to leading facilities management services. The company works all around the UK and focuses on offering a transparent, innovative and partnership focused approach to the services that they provide. The company offers bespoke and specialist services that are value for money to customers in the retail, leisure, public, commercial, construction, transport and logistics industries. Servest is based in London, Leeds, Manchester, Solihull and Edinburgh but have a corporate office in Bury St Edmunds. The company is a member of the British Institute of Facilities Management as well as The Building Futures Group and the British Institute of Cleaning Science to name a few. These institutions allow Servest to take an active role in the facilities management community. It has been announced that Servest has had their contract with the popular high street retail brand Primark extended. The facilities management provider has been working with Primark for the past 13 years and it is a credit to Servest’s good work that the contract has been extended. Servest works to provide the cleaning services for Primark stores all across the UK. After a successful tender by the company, they have been able to keep hold of this lucrative contract. Servest had to put in a competitive tender to the contract which will see them working with Primark for another three years. The role of Servest in the Primark stores will be to supply daily cleaning for the 165 stores located all around the UK. It is also thought that all of the janitorial functions, washroom consumables and window cleaning duties will be provided by the company across all sites. It is positive that the company has been able to keep the contract, and Primark will be assured of the standard of work provided by the company that has worked with them for more than a decade.
Kent Safety Solutions is a company that has been working since 2014 to deliver more safety management, training, environment and quality services. The company offers a range of management systems which include health and safety, IS09001 and ISO14001 as well as providing guidance and advice on the latest regulations in this area which include CDM 2015. The leader in safety management and training have suggested that most employers do not recognise the importance of mental health as part of their health and safety policies. Employers have been warned by Kent Safety Solutions to take in to consideration the impact of mental health in their health and safety procedures. It is thought that mental health is not covered in the same way, despite a significant number of working days being lost because of stress or other mental health related problems. Statistics that have come from the Health and Safety Executive suggests that there were approximately 12 million working days lost because of stress, depression and anxiety over the course of 2015/16. It is a legal requirement that organisations have health and safety procedures in place, although it is thought that employers mainly focus on the safety aspect of implementing these policies and while carrying out risk assessments. Although safety controls are quite straightforward to implement, mental health is more difficult to take in to consideration while carrying out risk assessment because of the possible difficulties of pre-existing health conditions as well as less evident risks and the potential for longer term consequences. In particular, stress is left out of the health and safety process. This is concerning with situations in many different industries where there are a number of credit-crunch roles not being filled and one person taking on an increase workload for a long period of time. This happens to be the case in the construction industry, and improving the health and safety to include mental health more thoroughly, the number of cases of work-related stress leading to absence could be reduced.
Lambert Smith Hampton has revealed that that they have been appointed to work on a 71,000 sq. ft. project. The site is a warehouse located in Oldbury and it will be the responsibility of Lambert Smith Hampton to bring the site to market. The course of action has been announced as businesses are struggling with a lack of industrial and logistics units that are available across the West Midlands. This vacant industrial unit sits in a 6.4-acre site that is located at Parsonage Street. The warehouse unit will be available on a leasehold basis for the new tenant. This project has provided Lambert Smith Hampton with an opportunity to acquire a warehouse site. It is not very common to be able to acquire a warehouse unit that sit in a large yard and also accommodates HGV parking. The Oldbury site also has good road links with excellent connections to the motorway network. It is thought that because of the shortage of industrial and warehousing units in the region that have the right amount of yard space for the occupier means businesses struggle or have to relocate outside of the area. However, this new site will provide a boost for the area, as any future tenants will have an ideal base to operate out of. This unit is 1.5 miles away from Junction 1 and 2 of the M5 Motorway. This location means that the unit has good access to the wider motorway network including the M6, M40 and the M42. The 71,000 sq. ft. site is made up of six loading docks that have eaves height of 8.5 meters. The unit also has a 54,666 sq. ft. warehouse and a 14,621 sq. ft. loading tunnel that has a canopy and 1,759 sq. ft. of office space that is spread over two storeys.
Small companies are being put off from house building because of the number of delays and rising costs. But small companies avoiding this sector means that the attempts to meet the housing demand in Britain is being slowed. Research has been carried out by NHBC Foundation which suggests that some smaller builders are having to go through what is described as “deeply frustrating” delays on house building projects. The research uncovered that some builders are waiting more than a year just on local authority planning approval. These types of delays aren’t really sustainable for some small companies, so it could be easier to not venture in to that sector in future. The research has also revealed that almost 80% of small builders were having to contend with a significant increase in the fees that are related to planning over the course of the last two years. The NHBC Foundation has published their data in a report in which the experiences of nearly 500 small companies that are usually involved in the construction of less than 10 homes each year. This report emphasizes that the number of small companies that are involved in house building is still declining. The data showed that 12% of the market share are small companies in 2015. In 2008, the figures stood higher at 28% of the market share. The Government made a pledge earlier this year that there would be radical and lasting reforms to tackle Britain’s housing shortage. These reforms include speeding up the planning system and making it more accessible as well as increasing the level of support for smaller and more innovative companies. The research that has been produced by the NHBC is important for highlighting the problems faced in the production of houses. Although the planning process is necessary to make sure that houses are built in a considerate and safe way, however the increasing cost and complexity of a vital process means that companies are steering clear of the market.
SEGRO has announced three new lettings in Greenford. These lettings are at Metropolitan Park and the tenants are thought to be two supercar businesses and one of the UK’s oldest wine merchants. All of the companies have opted for ten year leases. Belgravia Supercar Rentals, is one of the new tenants at the Metropolitan Park. The business will be renting 5,500 sq. ft. of space that will be used to store their supercars as part of their rental business. The other supercar tenant is R.A.N Supercar Clinic Limited, which is a newly incorporated business that will be renting over 6,000 sq. ft. of space from SEGRO. This company will be using the newly acquired space for detailing and wrapping Supercars with a paint protection film. Charlié Richards is an Artisan Wine and Spirit wholesaler that are renting more than 12,000 sq. ft. in order to store and distribute their products. The three new tenants will join a number of others at Metropolitan Park. This industrial park is one of the most diverse urban warehouses owned by SEGRO as the tenants at the park are from a wide range of industries. Metropolitan Park has good transport links and is also located close to Central London. The industrial Park is situated adjacent to the A40 which allows easy access from the Park to central London and vice versa. There are also excellent public transport links to the warehouses from Greenford underground and overground routes. After this trio of lettings, the Park is nearly fully let. Available for rent at the Metropolitan Park is 2 warehousing units that have a combined total of 24,000 sq. ft. of space. These using are not expected to be available for much longer, with the demand for the urban warehousing space seeing all other space snapped up. The high demand for industrial space illustrates the lack of urban warehousing and logistical space around or near to London.
Two new The Counter® Custom Burgers are being opened after their previous success. The LA restaurant brand offers a unique experience, with customers able to build their own burgers. The company has announced that they will be opening two new stores in the UK, and they have plans to expand even more over the course of the next five years. These franchised owned stores are expected to open in the early summer. The Counter® will be opening in Glasgow and Built®, which is said to be more of a fast and casual version of the restaurant that will open in Ilford, London. The business has plans to invest around £20 million over the next five years in order to expand. The Custom Burger company will be opening more new sites and it is thought that the new ventures will be managed by Daniel Johns. Daniel acquired the franchise rights that have allowed him to open different Built® and The Counter® restaurants across England and Scotland. The Counter® Custom Burgers brings to the market a new approach to creating the perfect burger. The restaurants provide their customers with a menu that acts as a checklist on a clipboard, for the diners to select their burger combination. On the menu is more than a million different combinations meaning there is quite possibly something for everyone. Built® was launched in 2013 in Ls Angeles and offers diners a fast and casual alternative to other The Counter restaurants. Built® offers their consumers a more convenient and quick experience with the addition of being able to watch while their build as you go burger is created. The Counter® was opened 14 years ago in order to alter the way that people think of burgers. Since opening in Los Angeles in 2003, the company has boomed, now having more than 40 locations dotted around the US and the world.
Adlington, the specialist luxury retirement and independent living developers, has made three new appointments in order to carry on its support of new talent. The company claims to be dedicated to supporting talent within the construction industry and has appointed two new graduates to their company as well as a more experienced Development Engineer. These new appointments will be working to contribute to Adlington’s seven new developments that have been planned for the North West and Salford. It is thought that these new projects will take place over the coming year. It is thought that there are 182,000 construction jobs across a number of different sectors that will need filling by 2018. In order to pay their part, Adlington is recruiting people from the millennial workforce in order to increase their team and continue to develop those who may be at the start of their career. Adlington work to encourage new talent in the industry and because of this, the graduates Glynn Fort and Laurence Chipperton have been selected to join the company as Junior Architectural Technologist and Land Buyer. Glynn started his career as an apprentice bricklayer, before continuing his career and training and graduating from the University of Central Lancashire with a degree in Architectural Technology. Laurence on the other hand is a post graduate in Planning and Development from Nottingham and has joined Adlington after being a Graduate Surveyor at Harrow Estates. The other appointment to the team at Adlington is Hunter Lyden. Hunter is joining the company from a Senior Structural Engineer at Arup. In his new role, Hunter will be the Development Engineer and it is thought that this position will include managing the technical aspects of the company’s future developments like land and building structures. Hunter has nearly 10 years’ experience in managing the structural design of both commercial and residential buildings.
The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) is a mandatory regulatory system that makes it possible to compare the properties of different products. All manufacturers and distributors that supply building products to European Economic Area fall under CPR and its requirements. CPR regulations for ‘reaction to fire requirements’ now also extend to cabling products. Each EU member state has to define the minimum fire class required for the different applications, which means requirements can differ significantly throughout Europe. Several organizations have published recommendations of their own. In some cases, these are significantly higher than the legal minimum requirement. A one-year transition period ends on July 1, 2017 and from then on cables installed permanently in construction works must meet European Standard EN 50575:2014. All cabling products must be tested and labeled to indicate their fire behavior. Manufacturers must have their cables tested and certified by a Notified Body accredited by the EC. This includes pre-assembled cabling links intended to remain in the building permanently. Mandatory compliance The aim is to unify products’ fire protection levels to better protect people in buildings from the effects of a fire in an emergency. Only products which have been awarded European Classification under the new standard can be sold in the EU. Contractors and installers, consultants, architects, building owners, specifiers and other parties need to include the new regulations in their tender books and specifications. Fire behavior of cables: classification Main criterion: Flame propagation and heat release (EN 60332-1, EN 50399) Additional criteria: Smoke production (EN 50399, EN 61034-2), corrosivity (EN 50267-2-3) and flaming droplets (EN 50399) EN 13501-6 defines the combinations in which the above test criteria may occur. The harmonized standard EN 50575 ultimately defines how the CPR is to be implemented for cabling and specifies the new fire protection classes. Declaration of Performance Once cables have been assessed and approved according to these systems, manufacturers may draw up a Declaration of Performance (DoP) indicating CPR compliance. This mandatory document is made publicly available. The DoP has to contain a unique reference number and cable type description, its Euroclass and s/a/d classifications according to EN 50575 and the ID number of the Notified Body responsible for testing. This information and the CE mark need to be visible on the drum or box containing the cable. It is also permitted, although not mandatory, to include CPR information on the cable sheath. Cables currently in stock that were produced before these regulations came into force may still be sold. There is no change to products with existing part numbers. It is advisable to ask suppliers whether their entire range meets European and international regulations for safety, fire and health. When it doubt, do not hesitate to consult an expert.
