Shop Norwich:

In February we reported on a development in the hotly contested shopping mall wars in Norwich.  Chapelfield Shopping Centre has been attracting many of the new retailers coming into the City, at the expense of the other shopping destinations and our report on Valentine’s Day related to the recent signing by Boux Avenue, the lingerie retailer.  The pressure has continued and the Castle Mall, which was once Norwich’s premier shopping destination has been sold, primarily due, we understand, to underperformance for the owner.

Capital and Regional have disposed of the shopping centre for £77.3 million to refocus its Mall Fund towards its primarily London based assets.  The new owners are Infrared European Active Real Estate Fund, who are making their third acquisition in shopping centres since returning to the sector last year.  The Galleries in Bristol and St john’s in Liverpool were acquired during last year.   Chris Huxtable, Director at InfraRed said “we plan to add considerable value to the centres through additional investment”.

The Castle Shopping Mall occupies an iconic location in the City, being built directly underneath Norwich’s 12^th Century Norman castle.  With 33,000 m² of lettable space and 80 units and an 8 screen multiplex cinema InfraRed has an ideal opportunity to take advantage of Norwich’s 10^th place UK ranking in retail market

It will be interesting to see if capital investment will help return it to its former position as the City’s premier shopping destination.

Planning to Fail - Failing to Plan?:

In March this year we posted on the new National Planning Policy Framework and the likely impact it would have on the process for new development in the UK.

The Department for Communities and Local Government issued their Impact Assessment yesterday, which at 79 pages is longer by a margin than the Framework document itself.  Amongst much else, the Impact Assessment contains some fascinating insight into the projected costs of the consolidation of the planning processes proposed in the NPPF and by whom these are to be borne!  Read the full document here:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/2172846.pdf

Three months on and the jury is still out.  Lining up in one corner of the green field is the “pro development” lobby and, currently, they would appear to be reassured by the legislation, in that there is a presumption in favour of sustainable development.  In essence, if a proposed development is well located, with good public transport links and connection to the town center, is of a high quality design and the construction materials can be proven to be sustainable then all should bode well.

In the opposite corner are those who, let’s not say they are “anti development” but are most concerned for the future of our green and pleasant land and they too are feeling encouraged.  Leading the charge are Friends of the Earth and the National Trust who, with many others have heard the Government state that the green belt is sacrosanct and that the natural heritage of the nation needs to be defended for future generations.

So, peace and love abounds with both sides feeling satisfied that their concerns have been listened to and addressed, at least in part.  However, as the expression goes, “something’s got to give”.

I think we can look forward to the detail of applications that come under opposition fire being thrashed out in the courts of the land, over many hours and at much cost.  The much heralded, new and slimmed down, planning framework may be about to get a lot fatter as each challenge is mounted. 

Anyone for a Judicial Review?

Dilapidations – Time to Act:

In April we posted on the subject of dilapidations and the importance to the tenant of making sure the obligations contained within the lease are adhered to.  See our original posting here:

http://propertyforum.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/d-is-for.html

A new report from Tuffin Ferraby Taylor suggests that there has been a rise in the number of tenants who are ignoring their requirement to repair and refurbish under the lease and who are therefore running into difficulty with their landlords.

This has led to a significant rise in the number of claims being lodged by landlords against tenants who have not maintained the property in a satisfactory condition, leaving the landlord with additional costs to return it to a lettable condition.  TFT suggest that claims as high as £2 million can be pursued against errant tenant companies.  Each claim and case is, of course, different and individual and it will be interesting to see how The Dilapidations Protocol, revised for January 2012 will perform in this time of heightened activity.

Read TFT’s report into dilapidations liabilities here, on their specialist website: http://www.dilapidations.uk.com/tft/be_aware_of_your_dilapidations_liability

Take Stock of the situation

The commercial property sector is to come under further pressure during 2012 in the light of the current economic climate and the uncertain times ahead for the Euro Zone.  Both rental and capital values started to show sign of weakening during the Q4 last year and are expected to continue to decline during 2012 as the continuing uncertainty over the future of the British recovery continues.  Tough market conditions in the retail sector have led to have affected high streets across the country.  Even the usually resilient London market is starting to show significant stress with rental levels and capital values starting to decline as the number of potential transactions slows.

However, all is not lost!  With the decline in value for the landlord comes the increase in opportunity for the tenant.  Now is the ideal time to undertake a comprehensive review of all your lease and occupancy arrangements.

·                     Are you able to exercise any lease breaks?

·                     Are any leases up for rent review?

·                     Are you holding over?

·                     Have your business needs changed?

·                     Is your occupancy at the optimum?

·                     Could you place any non essential requirements in better value accommodation?

·                     Is there an opportunity to outsource activities?

Every cloud has a silver lining, see what lies behind this one for your business.

Innovation@jaltd.co.uk

A modular hotel for Western Avenue

Capita Symonds announces that planning permission has been granted for a new hotel on Western Avenue.  The 6 storey 4 star hotel building will have 160 rooms and a bar, restaurant, gym and conference facilities.  Also included in the scheme is an HQ office building and a data centre.

So far so good, but the twist is that the building will be built using off-site modular construction technology.  Designed by architects ESA, part of the Capita Symonds Group, the designers have invested 5 years into the project.  Working closely with a modular construction company the company have developed a flexible solution that allows for the production process to be standardised not the design. 

The scheme which is situated on a site opposite Park Royal tube station will provide an interesting contrast to existing modular built hotels in the London region.  ESA promotes that the hotel will have a unique façade and other high quality design features and we certainly hope the new hotel will help promote the cause of off site modular construction.

It is understood that work will begin on site later in the year.

Picture of the proposed hotel design from Capita Symonds website www.capitasymonds.co.uk

Olympic Gold!!

Our friends at MoveHut (www.movehut.co.uk) have an interesting insight on the impact the London Olympics is having on commercial lettings.  Jodee Redmond blogs:

“With the anticipated influx of visitors expected during the upcoming Olympic Games in London, space is at a premium. Landlords, including commercial property ones, are getting creative to help meet the demand for space. Temporary tenants are not being especially picky at present, and landlords are prepared to rent out all available space during the Games.

The city of London is expecting 11 million fans, athletes and sponsors to arrive in what is already Europe’s second-most crowded city next month. The huge increase in population means there is an increased demand for temporary shops to carry clothing, souvenirs and other items, as well as storage facilities. Media outlets require good vantage points for television cameras, which means landlords have the opportunity to make some money from what had previously been nothing more than dead space.

The Games will run from 27 July – 12 August. Homeowners who have space to rent have already anticipated the increased demand for space by increasing their asking price by up to six times the normal rate. Commercial landlords are also increasing the rates of their asking prices.

In Beijing and Athens, events were either held in outlying areas or neighbourhoods were demolished to create venues specifically for the Games. Most of the sites where events will be held during the London Summer Olympics are in built-up areas.

A former limestone quarry near the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, southeast England is being offered for hire to contractors looking for temporary staff accommodation during the Games. The site is located close to a high-speed rail link, which means that anyone staying there can travel to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford in a very reasonable 30 minutes.

Empty shops are in high demand in anticipation of the Games, and ones which are situated close to popular shopping areas like Oxford Street and Covent Garden do not last long. Retailers are arranging to rent these spaces to open temporary shops to sell items like high-end clothing during the Games. Depending on the size of the space and its location, landlords are charging anywhere from a few hundred to £20,000 to rent a store which may be open anywhere from one day to two weeks.

The closer an available building is to the Olympic Park, the more a landlord will be able to charge for rent during the Games. Rather than thinking about what the space is currently used for, now is the time for commercial property owners to be creative about what they can offer a prospective tenant and how much occupying the space would be worth during the 2012 Summer Olympics.”

Not sure about that 11 million figure, but we know a lot of people are coming and the opportunities for property owners in the east of London are significant.

Anyone fancy taking August off!!

See the original blog here: http://bit.ly/MXgL6T

Social Media - Are You LinkedIn?

Social Media will continue to be big news in 2012.  As more people get to grips with their online presence and more businesses realise the potential for a new string to their marketing bow the battle for dominance in the social media marketplace will heighten.

There are over 200 social media platforms in existence and their individual customer bases are hard fought and hard won.  Many business professionals use LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) to profile themselves, their experience and expertise as well as that of their businesses.  LinkedIn is sometimes referred to as the “FaceBook for business” which is a point of view, not necessarily one I would subscribe to, but it certainly has similar aims and allows users to have a similar experience.  With over 10 million users, (I don't know how many property professionals are on!) it is certainly worth considering your usage of this medium.

Many come to LinkedIn from a fairly low start point in terms of familiarity with social media, and “tweaking” the application and your profile can make all the difference to your experience.  Here are my top 5 tips for improving your profile:

  

1. Profile picture: no matter how camera shy you may be, having your picture on your profile does make all the difference!  It should be appropriate to what you do and should also reflect who you are and, who you are now.  A 20 year old photo of you might look good and be your personal favourite, but isn’t going to hit the spot when someone meets you face to face!
2. Connection strategy: A tough one! Some people take the view that more is better, some becoming a LION (LinkedIn Open Networker) connecting with as many people as possible (some have 1,000s of connections) with a view that, at some point in the future there may be a useful contact in there somewhere.  Bit of a needle in a haystack approach.  Others prefer to make solid contacts with people they have met, already know have been recommended to or by and build a smaller base of known connections.  It comes down to personal preference, but leveraging your connection base is a key LinkedIn functionality.
3. Testimonials: A key descriptor of your worth to potential clients is the strength of testimonials on your profile.  You can ask for these, either specifically or reciprocally, and the way you approach this is dependant upon your relationship with the individual.
4. Headline: Your headline is the first thing that a potential client, contact or referrer will see.  LinkedIn will automatically default to your last job title, which might be fine, but does that say what you would want to say about yourself?  A concise strapline describing your skills and attributes would be far better.
5. Public Profile: LinkedIn sets an automatic name for your public profile, usually a less than helpful one!  Using your Profile Edit section you can replace this with one that more accurately reflects your name.  I reset mine to http://uk.linkedin.com/in/paulwyoungman

Feel free to get in touch for further thoughts and advice on this or any of our other Bog topics.