NEWSFLASH 5th May 2015
Come and meet us at Clerkenwell Design
Week - 19th - 21st May - This year the BCFA
shall be exhibiting in
the Design Factory
in the Farmiloe Building on the first floor. To
register for CDW: www.clerkenwelldesignweek.com
BCFA will be heading up the UK Pavilion at the 25th Anniversary Index
Show 18-21 May in Dubai. If you are visiting come and see us on Stand
4D34 www.indexexhibition.com
ISG has been awarded a £10m project to build a retail and leisure park in Yate, south Gloucestershire. The Yate Riverside retail
and leisure scheme will be anchored by a six-screen Cineworld multiplex cinema and will also have three retail units, including a
two-storey Next, plus seven restaurants and cafes. ISG negotiated the scheme with client Crestbridge, for which the contractor
recently delivered 40,000 sq ft of new retail units at Yate Shopping Centre. Yate Riverside will be built on land next to an overflow
car park in Yate town centre. ISG will construct the shell and core infrastructure for each of the units before handing over to the
tenants for fit-out from autumn 2015. The cinema is due for completion in early 2016.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have gained planning to build a vast UK headquarters complex in Chelmsford. The International Bible
Students Association, which manages the Christian group’s literature, gained planning to redevelop a derelict farm near Galleywood
with a 1.2m sq ft scheme. The £150m complex will provide homes for 1,200 people spread across 16 five-storey blocks, a large
printing plant, offices, auditorium, health and fitness centre, water treatment plant and on-site parking for 1,040 vehicles. The IBSA
is now set to begin groundwork at the 82-acre Temple Farm site and start construction by 2016.
Union Hanover Securities has been given ‘minded to grant’ planning permission for a £35m Urban Villa boutique hotel by the
Union Canal Basin in Edinburgh. The 180-room hotel on Freer Street is a boutique hotel concept in which suites include a kitchen
and living room. Work is expected to commence by October with designs from New York-based Grzywinski + Pons in conjunction
with Michael Laird Architects. Union Hanover’s first Urban Villa in West London was launched in January. The 100-suite Urban Villa
GWQ is already trading well ahead of the group’s expectations. Union Hanover is also set to bring the concept to a site in Aberdeen.
At the same planning meeting the City of Edinburgh Council also granted outline planning consent for a mixed-use scheme
containing residential, leisure and offices in which the Urban Villa will sit. The £120m scheme is being led by Amco Developments
and includes 78 apartments, retail and leisure and 155,000 sq ft of commercial office space.
One of the world’s biggest hotel groups, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, could be put up for sale or have its properties
spun out into a separate business after it revealed it had instructed advisors to explore “strategic alternatives”. Starwood has
asked Lazard to assist with the review which it indicated would be wide ranging. The business, which owns the St Regis, Sheraton
and W hotel brands and has a market cap of about $14bn, is likely to attract the attention of larger rivals Hilton Worldwide and
InterContinental Hotels Group as well as private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds if it were put up for sale. Shares in
InterContinental Hotels Group jumped more than 3% yesterday after Starwood’s announcement was made. Another option would
be for Starwood to spin out the properties it owns into a real estate investment trust (REIT). Starwood has previously stated that it
wanted move away from owning property but has been slow to sell hotels. It has also come in for criticism because of its slow
growth. Last week, it also revealed that group revenue had slipped 2.9% to $1.4bn in the first quarter.
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Restaurant rivals Prezzo and Casual Dining Group are vying to gobble up the Spanish-themed chain La Tasca. Casual Dining Group
is the company behind the Café Rouge and Bella Italia brands. Formerly known as Tragus, it was rebranded having been forced to
sell off Strada as part of a painful financial restructuring, and is now on the acquisition trail. Prezzo, meanwhile, was controversially
taken private by TPG in a £300m deal. It is understood to be on the prowl for further deals. La Tasca’s owners, Icelandic bank
Kaupthing and German lender Commerzbank, are understood to have hired advisers at BDO to launch an auction within weeks. The
pair took control of the business in a debt-for-equity swap in 2013, after soaring liabilities and an addiction to discounting –
including “all you can eat” offers – forced the company to undertake a company voluntary arrangement. The restaurant operator
was previously owned by Robert Tchenguiz, who took the restaurant private after a bidding war with Tragus. The tapas and paella
chain has been turned around under chief executive Simon Wilkinson, who replaced its largely frozen food with fresh produce and
started working directly with Spanish suppliers to create more a more authentic taste. La Tasca reported a doubling of earnings for
2014 to £4m as the popularity of its 41 outlets has risen. The company, which already employs around 1,000 people, has a target of
opening 10 new eateries a year and is looking at expanding into the Middle East. Its sale follows intense interest in the restaurant
space from private-equity players who are looking to capitalise on improving consumer confidence and the booming casual dining
trend. Italian chains Ask and Zizzi were sold to Bridgepoint last year, while auctions are under way for other high-street names
including Yo! Sushi, Las Iguanas and Ed’s Easy Diners.
Scunthorpe United have been given planning approval to build their new 12,000-seater stadium. A winning contractor for the
£18m job will be chosen next month with completion of the scheme due by July 2016. The stadium will be part of the larger
Lincolnshire Lakes development.
Drum Property Group has submitted plans for a new 90,000 sq ft 210-bedroom hotel in the North Dee area of Aberdeen, as the
city's regeneration continues. Being adjacent to the railway and bus stations, Union Square Shopping Centre and the harbour, the
hotel will be ideally located to take advantage of the demand for hotel rooms in Aberdeen. If approved, Drum’s property would be
the latest addition to an Aberdeen hotel market which for years had suffered from a shortage of rooms at peak times. Several new
hotels have been built in recent years and there are others either being built or in the pipeline. Current developments include the
new Holiday Inn Express at Aberdeen International Airport, due to open next week, and Crowne Plaza, which is expected to open on
September 1.
Construction is due to start in the next few months on the new Southampton Harbour Hotel and Spa at Ocean Village. This luxury
development will include 86 bedrooms with 12 luxury duplex apartments, as well as a health spa, gymnasium, swimming pool and a
roof top restaurant run by a celebrity chef. The developers, the Nicholas James Group, own the Harbour Hotel Group, which also
operates luxury hotels in Sidmouth, Christchurch, St Ives and Salcombe. In addition to the hotel, three new residential towers will be
constructed across the main western car park, comprising of 82 high-end residential apartments and 4 retail units. The new hotel
and residential development is due to be completed and ready to open in June 2017.
Manchester's iconic London Road Fire Station, which has been the subject of a long-running battle between owner Britannia
Hotels and Manchester City Council, has been put up for sale. Britannia Hotels bought the building in 1993 and has planning
consent for the conversion and extension of the property to form an upscale 227-bedroom hotel, but campaign group Friends of
London Road Fire Station (FLRS) have also called for it to be used as a community space.
Enjoy Pubs has acquired Parity Bars in a £2.4m debt and equity deal, which was backed by TFG Capital. Parity operates 18 bars,
including student and sports establishments as well as restaurants and employs around 500 staff.
Whitbread, which operates 13 Premier inn sites in Edinburgh, is planning to add to the five Premier inn and hub by Premier Inn
sites which are already in the pipeline. The group is actively seeking new Edinburgh sites to complete its expansion strategy,
whether freehold or leasehold, developer-led or self-build and for both Premier Inn formats. Whitbread's most recent investment in
the city includes the £17m, 127-bedroom Premier Inn in the former HMRC building on York Place, and the £11.4m, 150-bedroom
hub by Premier Inn in the city’s financial centre. The company will also be opening a Premier Inn and a hub by Premier Inn as part of
the New Waverley major regeneration project. Following its latest openings in Melton Mowbray, Southend on Sea, Brentford and
Clacton, Whitbread will open its 700th Premier Inn site in June.
Upmarket pub firm, Whiting & Hammond reported figures for the year to 30 September 2014 showing turnover at £10,019,943
up from £9,177,697 in the previous year. The group's pre-tax profit fell to £140,485 down from £280,087 in the year before.
Operating profit stood at £136,828 compared to the like-for-like figure of £280,087 in the previous 12 months. Turnover was
pushed up by 9.2% mainly due to the acquisition and opening of a new pub near Sevenoaks, the King’s Head. The company, which is
headed up by Brian Whiting, is to open two new pub sites this year after extensive refurbishment.
Whitbread has announced results for the financial year to 26 February 2015 which saw 13.7% increase in total sales to £2,608.1m,
up from the previous year's figure of £2,294.3m. Premier Inn total sales growth of 15.3% and like-for-like sales up 9.1%. Costa
total sales growth of 17.9%, system sales up 16.6% and UK like-for-like sales up 6.0%. New 2020 growth milestones are as follows:
• Premier Inn UK rooms are planned to rise from the current figure of 59,138 to 65,000 next year, then rising to 75,000 in 2018 and
85,000 in 2020.
• Costa system sales are set to grow from the current £1.4bn to £1.3bn by next year, then rising from £2.0bn in 2018 to £2.5bn by
2020.
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Private equity firms are showing interest in Las Iguanas, the Latin American casual dining group. Las Iguanas operated 38 sites in
the UK and its owner, Bowmark Capital is reportedly aiming to sell the company for £100m. Bridgepoint Capital (Ask and Zizzi), and
Graphite (Groucho Club backer), ECI (Evans Cycles) and Equistone (Audley Travel), are said to be in the running for the dining chain.
In 2007, Bowmark is understood to have paid around £30m for the restaurant chain which was founded in 1991.
Giggling Squid is to expand its chain of 13 Thai tapas restaurants with 70 new sites across southern England over the next seven
years. Launched in 2009, the family-owned chain is currently in 'advanced legal negotiations' to acquire eight more sites, including
five in the Home Counties, and others in Essex and East Anglia. The company is to invest £200k in refitting its latest acquisition in
Bath, which will offer 200 covers.
The Royal Mint has unveiled plans to develop a visitor centre at its headquarters in south Wales. For the first time in its 1,000
year history, Britain’s oldest manufacturing organisation, and the world’s leading export mint, will officially open a visitor centre for
the general public. Construction of the purpose built visitor centre at The Royal Mint’s home in Llantrisant will begin this spring,
subject to planning permission, and is expected to be completed this year.
Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett has confirmed she would like to run five to eight locations of Café Murano, the brasseriestyle sister group to her flagship London venue Murano. There is currently one Café Murano in London, on St James’s Street: a 75cover brasserie-style operation on the site of what was formerly Pétrus, which opened in autumn 2013. The next 126-cover site is
set to open on Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, in June. The chef also confirmed that a third location was in the pipeline for next
year. Hartnett explained that the idea behind the group was to “roll out a little concept, where we could make money”, and do
something more mid-market, simple, and accessible, than her other ventures.
Gordon Campbell Gray is to spear head the development of a global portfolio of hotels after entering a new business agreement
with Jordanian-based trading company, Audeh Group. An injection of finance will enable CampbellGray Hotels to develop and
operate properties to add to the group’s existing 87-bedroom Le Gray hotel in Beirut. Luxury hotels already lined up for
development include Le Gray in Amman, Jordan; the Phoenicia, Valletta, Malta; and Machrie, Isle of Islay, Scotland. There are also
plans to create a collection of hotels and resorts at a more accessible price point.
Flexible workspace provider Regus has appointed agents to oversee an aggressive expansion programme, in a deal worth more
than £400m. The company has appointed CBRE, JLL, DTZ and Colliers International to find around 400 new locations for office
buildings across the world. The contract will run for five years initially, with a five-year option agreement, but Regus said it was
viewing the deal as a 10-year plan. The deal is the latest push by the company to make its mark in an increasingly overcrowded
sector, with US co-working space operator WeWork pursuing a bullish expansion strategy in the UK and home-grown firm
Workspace rapidly expanding in the last five years. JLL will take responsibility for Regus’s operations in northern Europe, while CBRE
will look after the UK, southern Europe and parts of the Middle East and Africa. DTZ will concentrate on the US and China and
Colliers International has been given responsibility for parts of the Americas, including Canada.
The Qatari owners of Park House are close to securing another tenant at the scheme in London’s West End. TPG Capital is under
offer to take the whole of the 27,117 sq ft fifth floor in the mixed-use scheme on Oxford Street. The private equity firm is part of
the group of investors that owns DTZ. Its current offices are located in St James’s at Stirling Square, 5-7 Carlton Gardens. The deal
would be a fillip for the 310,000 sq ft scheme, which is managed by Real Estate Management (REM), as so far Elliot Advisors, a
hedge fund, is its only office tenant. However, last month high-end gym group Equinox entered negotiations for a deal for the
28,000 sq ft second floor of the building, along with a retail unit on the ground floor.
Titan Investors is set to imminently begin work on its 132,000 sq ft speculative Aberdeen office
scheme after agreeing a deal with contractor Sir Robert McAlpine for the construction process.
The investor, which has this week released new images of the Silver Fin scheme (pictured), plans
to finish the building at the start of 2017. The site fronts Union Street, Aberdeen’s main
shopping thoroughfare, and will feature a new Scottish granite façade. The project is being
delivered by Titan Investors on behalf of British Airways Pension Fund.
A prestigious office building in St James’s Square, previously earmarked for residential conversion, is being bought by a Citi
Private Bank fund in a landmark moment for the West End market. The fund, managed by Threadneedle Investments, is under
offer to buy the 70,000 sq ft 20-21 St James’s Square for an office refurbishment at a price believed to be above the asking of
£120m. The deal will be seen as a sign the pendulum is swinging away from residential and back to office development in London’s
West End. The grade I-listed building was originally quietly touted by vendor Pembroke Real Estate as a luxury residential
development opportunity in October last year. But amid a crackdown on office-to-residential conversions by Westminster Council
and growing concerns of an over-supply of luxury housing in London, it was then formally marketed as an office refurbishment at
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the beginning of 2015. Office capital values have also started catching up with those of residential properties as the West End office
market faces a shortage of space and rising rents. Across the square, Green Property has broken the UK office record rent achieving
£185/ sq ft on the top floor of 8 St James’s Square. Pembroke bought the former headquarters of drinks company Grand
Metropolitan for around £80m in 2005.
Cardiff Council has resolved to grant planning consent for phase two of Rightacres’ 1m sq ft Central Square development in
Cardiff, including the new BBC Wales HQ. The proposed new 150,000 sq ft headquarters building will be the centrepiece of the
scheme in front of Cardiff station. Work could now start later this year and will include a further office building of around 100,000
sq ft with basement car parking and retail units available to let on the ground floor. It follows the development of One Central
Square, which is scheduled for completion in December 2015. Law firm Blake Morgan is due to relocate there from Park Place in
Cardiff in January 2016. Phase two of Central Square is expected to be ready by 2017 and subject to final legal commitments work
could start later this year. Contractors are expected to be confirmed shortly.
Town Centre Securities has appointed Shepherd to deliver preconstruction works at a £30m office redevelopment for Leeds City
Council. Shepherd will provide preconstruction services at Merrion House in Leeds city centre ahead of a full refurbishment and
extension of the building. The complete redevelopment project is worth £30m. Leeds City Council agreed a 25-year lease for
170,000 sq ft of space in the extended Merrion House with owners Town Centre Securities in October 2013. The completed building
will become the main site for all of the council’s services, saving it around £15m.
The Department of Agriculture & Rural Development (DARD) has unveiled plans to relocate 700 jobs from Belfast to a new £20m
headquarters in Ballykelly by 2020. The 700 DARD posts are due to be relocated to the new site, at the former Shackleton army
barracks, over the next five years. The jobs will be decentralised in two stages, with approximately 350 staff taking up position in
Ballykelly in 2017 and the remainder moving by 2020. The department has submitted a planning application to the Causeway Coast
and Glens Borough Council.
Rolls-Royce has submitted plans to Derby City Council to create a modern aerospace campus, including a visitor centre, at its site
in Sinfin. The new aerospace campus would comprise of research and development, office, supporting staff facilities including
catering, convenience shop, laundrette, a gym and sports pitch, and pavilion. The transformation of the Sinfin site, where RollsRoyce has been based for more than a century, has been billed as a long-term project with current completion scheduled for 2022.
Wates has been chosen to rebuild the Old Marylebone Town Hall in a development part-funded by Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer.
Wates Construction will be the main contractor for the refurbishment of Old Marylebone Town Hall, whose backers London
Business School have received part-funding through a £25m donation from Mr Ofer, who is principal of Quantum Pacific Group. The
123,400 sq ft development will expand London Business School’s teaching facilities. Wates will partly demolish and restructure the
former Westminster Council House and annexe buildings, while building new auditoriums with AV and IT facilities, a new threestorey building with six lecture theatres, 35 seminar rooms, a library, offices and faculty spaces, and a student lounge. London
Business School acquired the building from Westminster City Council in 2013. Designed by Sheppard Robson, the project will
include the conservation of the building’s early 20th century period features.
Willmott Dixon has landed a £26m contract for an academic ‘hub’ building for the University of Kent in Canterbury. The new
four-storey scheme will be home to the Kent Business School and the School of Mathematics, Statistics & Actuarial Science across an
8,000m2 complex. Willmott Dixon’s Kent based local team will start shortly on site with work scheduled for completion by the end
of 2016. Also on the scheme are project manager BNP Paribas Real Estate, architect Penoyre and Prasad, M&E provider Max
Fordham, structural engineer Price & Myers plus Betteridge & Milsom as QS.
The North East London NHS Foundation Trust has selected Willmott Dixon to deliver a £25m programme of community
healthcare hub facilities. Its first project for the £12m Waltham Forest Central Hub, a new facility for community recovery teams
and community clinics covering respiratory, diabetes and podiatry services. It will be completed by mid-2017. Two further projects
will see a Children’s Hub built at Redbridge and a new Service Hub at Thurrock to accommodate GPs, practice nurses, community
health clinics and a base for community health and social care teams. NELFT provides an extensive range of integrated community
and mental health services for people living in the London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Redbridge and Waltham
Forest and community health services in south west Essex across Brentwood, Basildon and Thurrock.
A ceremony has been held to mark the start of work on Shrewsbury’s new £8m care home. The 90-room residential and nursing
home is being built on the site of the former TA centre, on Sundorne Road, by Shropshire’s largest independent care provider, the
not-for-profit Coverage Care Services. It is expected to be in full operation before the end of 2016.
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Jumeirah Group has revealed its new 430-key property, part of the Madinat Jumeirah expansion, will be called Jumeirah Al
Naseem. The hotel, scheduled to open in 2016 will feature three swimming pools, private beach access, and two banqueting
rooms, which will complement the existing conference and events facilities at Madinat Jumeirah.
InterContinental Hotels Group has signed a management agreement with Diamond Developers to launch the second Hotel Indigo
in the UAE. Hotel Indigo The Sustainable City will comprise 170 rooms and is set to open in the first half of 2017. Facilities at the
hotel will include an all-day dining restaurant, a pool bar, a health club, and meeting rooms.
Minor Hotel Group (MHG) has said it will enter Oman with two Anantara properties in Salalah and Muscat. The Thai operator
will makes its Oman debut with an Anantara property in Jabal Akhdar by the end of 2015 and a second will follow in Salalah in
quarter two of 2016.
Carlson Rezidor further strengthens its presence in Turkey by announcing two new Park Inn by Radisson properties in Istanbul:
The Park Inn by Radisson Hotel & Residence 98 guest room Istanbul Odayeri and the Park Inn by Radisson 80 guest room Istanbul
Atasehir will welcome the first guests in early 2016. The signings bring the group’s portfolio in Greater Istanbul to 10 hotels with
almost 1,900 rooms. In Turkey, Carlson Rezidor now operates and develops 17 hotels with 3,300 rooms.
Swissôtel Hotels & Resorts last week announced that it has entered into an agreement with Turkish developer Garanti Koza to
manage Swissôtel KozaPark Istanbul, a new property being developed in the city's fast-growing Esenyurt district. Expected to
open in 2019, the project will grow Swissôtel's footprint in one of Europe's leading travel markets while also strengthening FRHI's
presence in Istanbul; a dynamic city that includes the renovated Swissôtel The Bosphorus, newly opened Raffles Istanbul and the
upcoming Fairmont Quasar, Istanbul, which is currently in development and expected to open in late 2016. Swissôtel KozaPark
Istanbul will feature 160 guestrooms, as well as access to generous meeting space, including a spacious ballroom. In addition to an
indoor and outdoor rooftop pool, a notable leisure offering will be the hotel's extensive spa facility. The project will also introduce
the first branded Swissôtel Residences in Istanbul, offering 450 contemporary one-, two- and three-bedroom luxury residences.
Hilton Worldwide has announced the signing of a management agreement with Syncept Investment Group Co., Ltd for Embassy
by Hilton Bo’ao, marking the entry of its Embassy by Hilton brand in China. It will also be the first Embassy by Hilton to be signed in
Asia Pacific. Located in Hainan province, China, at Binhai Avenue in the north of Bo’ao, the 300-room hotel is scheduled to open in
2019 and will compete in the upper-upscale, five-star segment catering to domestic and international travelers to Bo’ao, one of
Hainan’s most popular MICE and leisure destinations.
After a competitive tender procedure, NH Hotel Group's project 'nhow Amsterdam RAI' has been chosen as the winning hotel
concept by The City of Amsterdam and Amsterdam RAI. The new building will be the largest hotel in Benelux and will be located
at the Amsterdam RAI complex, one of the largest exhibition and conference centers in the Netherlands. NH Hotel Group expands to
eleven hotels in Amsterdam and will add an icon of 299 feet & 25 floors to the Amsterdam skyline. nhow Amsterdam RAI is the
answer to a long desired wish of Amsterdam RAI to have a hotel on their own grounds. The hotel, operated under a lease contract
by NH Hotel Group, will have 650 rooms, which makes it the largest hotel in Benelux. nhow Amsterdam RAI will be the second
nhow hotel in The Netherlands after the recently opened nhow Rotterdam last year. Also nhow is currently in Milan (Italy) and
Berlin (Germany) and is expected to be in 12 additional destinations by 2018. The development of the nhow brand is one of the 24
initiatives included in NH Hotel Group’s strategic five-year plan.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc has announced the signing of The 300 guest room Westin Manila Sonata Place and
The Residences at The Westin Manila Sonata Place, a new build property owned by Robinsons Land Corporation that marks the
Westin brand’s first mixed-use development in Southeast Asia. The Westin Manila Sonata Place and The Residences at The Westin
Manila Sonata Place is expected to open in 2019, joining two other Philippines-based hotels in the Starwood pipeline—The Westin
Manila Bayshore and Sheraton Manila Hotel, scheduled to open in 2018 and 2017.
The Rezidor Hotel Group announces a strong first quarter 2015 related to project signings: the group added 10 hotels with 2,300
rooms to the pipeline, and arrived in two new countries, Armenia and Togo. In the course of the first quarter, 3 hotels with 330
rooms were opened, bringing the total portfolio to 337 hotels with almost 76,000 rooms in operation and 97 hotels with 20,500
rooms under development in 75 countries across EMEA. The group continues to hold the largest development pipeline on the
African continent and to be the leading international hotel operator in Russia/CIS & Baltics.
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