NEWSFLASH 2nd February 2015
The first Honest Burger outlet opened in Brixton Village in 2011, quickly becoming a success, and there are now nine restaurants
across London. Its “better burgers” have had rave reviews among burger fans and diners are in for a long wait at peak times. The
chain is about to get even bigger. The company has just raised £7m from Active Private Investment, the private equity firm that also
owns stakes in Evans cycle shops and Leon cafes. The plan is to open five new restaurants in the next year.
Tewkesbury Borough Council has announced that it hopes the new £7.5m Tewkesbury leisure centre will be open by July 2016,
with Places for People Leisure set to operate the site. Build work on the Pozzoni Architects-designed leisure centre is set to start
on 9 February and will be carried out by Wilmott Dixon. The new site is due to replace the existing Cascades leisure centre, with staff
to transfer across once it opens. Located next to the council offices on Gloucester Road in Tewkesbury, the new leisure centre will
include a main 25m (82ft) pool, as well as a 20m (66ft) learner/trainer pool. There will also be a range of dry side facilities at the new
site, including an adaptable 60-station gym (suppliers yet to be chosen), sauna and steamrooms, a multi-purpose studio, plus a café
and shop.
Gilbert Ash is understood to be in final talks to deliver a new theatre and heritage centre in Oldham. The £30m project is a
collaboration between the Oldham Coliseum Theatre and the Arts & Heritage Services of Oldham Council. Plans for the Union
Street site were submitted late last year and will involved building a new Coliseum Theatre connected to an existing grade II listed
former library building that will be converted into an arts and cultural centre. The new-build theatre will include 550-seat and a
100-seat performance spaces while the heritage centre will tell the story of Oldham’s past with gallery spaces, archives, public
research rooms, bars, and meeting spaces. The heritage and cultural centre has been designed by Dutch architect Mecanoo with
Curtin the structural engineer and Gardiner Theobald cost consultant. A bid has been made for £4m from the Heritage Lottery
Fund, with a separate bid made to Arts Council England for £5m earlier this year. Both applications are in the second round, with
decisions expected in the spring. The theatre also plans to undertake its own fundraising. If the project is funded and receives
planning permission, construction is expected to start on the new building in 2016.
Contracts have been exchanged and construction work is expected to start on site this summer building the new £41million York
Community Stadium and Leisure Complex scheme. York Community Stadium will be the new home of York City Football Club, the
city’s rugby clubs as well as including leisure, retail, office and community facilities. The 8,000 all-seater stadium will include
hospitality and conferencing facilities plus a new 25m six-lane swimming pool and fitness centre. Completion is scheduled for
autumn 2016.
Pub operator, Cirrus Inns is planning to expand its chain of 14 outlets to 30 over the next two years. The group is particularly
interested in sites within Sussex, the Cotswolds and Home Counties. Cirrus Inns operates a number of well known pubs throughout
the country including the Admiral Codrington in Chlesea and the Punch Bowl in Mayfair. It also runs former Marco Pierre White pub
the Yew Tree Inn in Highclere near Newbury. Cirrus was formed in 2011 to create an estate of high quality pubs with
accommodation across the UK countryside.
Hakkasan Group is planning to open a number of Herringbone and Seasucker restaurants in London over the next few years.
Searsucker is a new American Classic restaurant with locations in Southern California, Texas and soon-to-come Las Vegas, serving
comfort food with a twist.
Hilton Worldwide has announced its first modular hotel with the development of a 201-bedroom property under its economy
Hampton by Hilton brand. Financed and owned by CIMC, a company which constructs buildings using a modular system, the hotel
will be managed by Hilton Worldwide. The bedrooms of the hotel will be manufactured in China before being shipped to the UK,
where they will be assembled during a speedy and cost effective building project. The new Hampton by Hilton – featuring a 24-hour
fitness centre and flexible meeting spaces - will be the first hotel to be developed at Bristol Airport, which is currently being
expanded with an extension to the terminal building. Last year the airport was the ninth busiest passenger airport in the UK, with
6.3 million travellers. The hotel is expected to open in spring 2016. Hampton by Hilton, which is one of 12 brands owned by Hilton
Worldwide, currently has 75 hotels open or under development in Europe.
Tesco-owned restaurant chain Giraffe is to open three more sites this spring. Giraffe will launch at Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet
and Tesco Ipswich Mertlesham Extra in March, followed by a third site on Glasgow's 1 West Regent Street in April. The Cheshire
Oaks restaurant will be the second project Giraffe has undertaken with landlord McArthur Glen, following a recent launch at the
Swindon Designer Outlet. Giraffe operates 60 restaurants around the UK, seven of which are at airports, as well as three
restaurants in the United Arab Emirates.
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Indian restaurant group MW Eat is to open a new restaurant called Masala Grill in the site of what is currently Chutney Mary in
London's Chelsea. Chutney Mary is to close after 25 years in Chelsea on 8 February and relocate to 73 St James's Street London,
SW1, in what was previously Marco Pierre White's Wheeler's of St James's. However the group has retained the Chelsea site by
extending the original lease, and will launch Masala Grill there in late March 2015. Meanwhile, the move of Chutney Mary to St
James's will see the restaurant reinvigorated. It will feature a bar seating 50-60 people where there will be more informal seating
and menus, and a main dining room that seats around 110 people. In addition there will be two private dining rooms on the lower
level to accommodate 32 and 16 people respectively.
Virgin Hotels, the new lifestyle brand from Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, has confirmed that it is searching for a property to
launch in London. The brand launched its first hotel earlier this month with 250 bedrooms in Chicago, USA, and has just confirmed
that its second hotel will launch next year in Nashville with a 240-bedroom property, which will include 15 penthouse residential
units. A third hotel will open in New York in 2017. Branson intends to create a group of 20 hotels, which are “beautiful, comfortable
and fun” and “gentle” on guests’ wallets, by 2025. London is the only city outside the USA to be targeted by the brand for the
development of a Virgin property, alongside Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington DC.
New builds and existing hotel and office conversions are being considered.
Detailed plans have been granted for apartment/hotel & restaurant £ 5.3m for Gethar ventures Ltd , agent is Broadway Malyan.
Former George Henry Lee Building, 51-57 Church Street Liverpool.
Detailed plans have been granted for £17m hotel & restaurant/shop for HS606 Ltd agent is Leach Rhodes Walker. 02 Commercial
Buildings, 11-15 Cross St Manchester.
Detailed plans have been granted for £10m hotel for Apex hotels ltd developer is Ian Springford architects. Marks Hotel 114 Bath
Street Glasgow.
Detailed plans have been granted for £18.62m Motel One, Oswald & Argyle St. Glasgow. Agent is Leach Rhodes Walker.
Detailed plans granted for a hotel £5.4m for Acre 1153 Ltd agent is Exedra Architects. 272-276 Bath Road Hayes.
For a long time, Salford city was deemed to be the poor cousin of Manchester, not least on the real estate front. That was until
MediaCityUK opened its doors as the home of the BBC in 2011. Since then, a swathe of tech and media companies have followed in
the wake of the BBC to the Peel Group’s scheme in Salford Quays, including ITV Granada, which completed its move in 2013.In
terms of offices, the occupier story and the investment story all make sense. Business occupiers no longer view Salford as out-oftown and huge infrastructure projects unite the two cities as one. Developers are on site with three speculative office schemes in
Salford.
 One New Bailey
Located on the banks of the river and just a stone’s throw away from Spinningfields, the 125,000 sq ft building will complete in May
2016. It is being brought forward by a joint venture between the English Cities Fund, Muse Developments, funded by L&G, and the
HCA.
 Embankment
Embankment is located on the banks of the River Irwell, facing Manchester Cathedral. Developer Ask, Tristan Capital and Carillion
are on site with 101 Embankment — a 165,000 sq ft speculative office building, which is due to complete in July 2016 and is being
marketed at rents of £28/sq ft — a significant discount on prime Manchester city centre rents of £32/sq ft. The next phase of the
office scheme is 100 Embankment, which will accommodate 150,000 sq ft of offices and will be marketed on a prelet basis.
 Soapworks
The 210,000 sq ft development at the former Colgate-Palmolive factory in Exchange Quay has reached completion of its second
phase and owner Carlyle Group is on the cusp of officially signing over 56,000 sq ft of space to the Home Office. It is also in
discussions with international occupiers for a further 100,000 sq ft. The first phase of the scheme, the Boilerhouse, is currently
being fitted out for TalkTalk, which will occupy the 20,000 sq ft building as a training facility.
Global energy company Lloyd’s Register has signed a deal for a 100,000 sq ft purpose-built office at Prime Four business park in
Aberdeen for its north-east Scotland operations. Prime Four business park development
The group, which employs more than 9,000 people globally, has taken a 15-year tenancy at the park from September 2017, subject
to planning consent for its building. Its new office complex will have capacity for up to 900 employees and will allow Lloyd’s Register
to consolidate its existing Aberdeen staff and workers from global energy services company Senergy, which Lloyd’s Register acquired
in September 2013. A detailed planning application on behalf of Lloyd’s Register has been submitted to Aberdeen council and will
be considered shortly. The park’s developer, Drum Property Group, plans to start work on the new facility later this year.
Insurance outsourcer Quindell has signed a deal to take 38,000 sq ft of office space in Property Alliance Group’s newly acquired
business park in Manchester. The AIM-listed company has agreed to let the entire Building 3 at the Trident park at a rent believed
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to be in the region of £15.50/sq ft. Manchester-based investor and developer Property Alliance Group acquired the fully vacant
Trident park at a purchase price of £5.25m from Kennedy Wilson earlier this month. The park is located south of the city next to
Manchester Airport, and totals 86,000 sq ft of space.
Professional services company Capita Group is under offer to occupy 28,500 sq ft of office space at Reading Bridge House. The
firm has signed a deal for two-and-a-half floors at the M&G Real Estate-owned building on the northern side of Reading town
centre, in Berkshire.
US investment bank Goldman Sachs has gone out to the market for the construction of its proposed European headquarters
quarters in London, despite opposition to the scheme. The client issued a prequalification questionnaire for the development,
which is estimated to have a construction value of around £350m. Goldman Sachs received planning approval for the scheme in
March 2014. Plans include the building of a 800,000 sq ft office complex near Holborn Viaduct in central London, and the
redevelopment of the neighbouring 13-storey Fleet Building and Plumtree Court on Shoe Lane. The project team includes architecht
Kohn Pederson Fox Associates, cost consultants EC Harris and structural engineer WSP. Goldman Sachs is looking to appoint a
contractor by mid-October this year, with construction to begin on site in January 2016. Demolition has nearly completed on site.
Despite this, Goldman Sachs has yet to make a final decision on whether it will build the HQ.
Wates is set to start work next month on developer British Land’s 4 Kingdom Street office scheme in west London. Wates will
build the 145,000 sq ft office project over part of the existing deck of the Crossrail station box next to the Westway in Paddington.
The project is expected to cost around £70m to build and at 10 storeys high is the smaller of two office blocks planned in the
Paddington Central development area. British Land will use the job to pilot the Government’s Soft Landings methodology to ensure
a building’s design and construction delivers a fully operational building that performs to client expectations. The other project,
known as 5 Kingdom Street, will involve a landmark curved facade building around 210,000 sq ft and is expected to cost £110m.
Detailed plans have been granted for £10m office building for Westmoreland Developments agent is Scott Brownrigg. St James
Place, 1 Tetbury Road Cirencester.
Galliford Try has been appointed to four extra care housing contracts. Its Partnerships business will deliver a £36m retirement
village for the Extra Care Charitable Trust on the former MG Rover plant in Longbridge, near Birmingham. The development will
have 260 apartments for the over-55s and a village centre including a village hall, bar, restaurant, IT suite, salon and shop. Galliford
Try has also reached financial close on an £18m scheme to build a 135-bed extra care facility for Wythenshawe Community Housing
Group. The project comprises two sites, connected by a glass-enclosed pedestrian walkway, and will provide facilities for residents
including a salon, cafeteria, winter garden and roof terrace. The contractor has also been appointed to deliver two contracts for One
Housing Group, for Protheroe House and Pretoria Road developments in north London, worth £9m each. The Protheroe House
scheme will create a 50-bed extra care facility in Haringey, including a large communal garden, roof terrace, hobby room and wellbeing centre as part of the development. The Pretoria Road project will build of 44 one-bed and eight two-bed properties in
Hackney, eight of which are designed to be dementia friendly.
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust has partnered with Laing O’Rourke for a new cancer hospital on the Royal
Liverpool University Hospital site. The £118m Transforming Cancer Care project will develop a new cancer hospital in the centre of
Liverpool and redevelop the existing Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Wirral. Laing O’Rourke will provide construction and technical
expertise to develop the outline business case for the new hospital. It will also work with staff from the Clatterbridge Cancer
Centre, patient representatives and architect BDP to begin the detailed design process. Plans for a new cancer hospital in the centre
of Liverpool were approved in December 2014 by the joint health scrutiny committee for Cheshire and Merseyside. Work on the
new hospital is planned to begin in 2016, subject to the approval of an outline business case in summer 2015 and a full business
case in 2016. The redesign of the Wirral site would begin in 2018/19. It will be funded by NHS and government sources, with some
money also planned to come from a public fundraising appeal.
Wessex Care is to invest £12m in the revamp of its Salisbury-based chain of five care homes over the next five years, with the
creation of 150 jobs. Phase one of the modernisation scheme is due to start in April at Kimberley House (pictured). The family-run
business, which specialises in small-scale care homes with fewer than 30 beds, is hoping the new project will make the company “fitfor-purpose” for the next 20 to 30 years.
UKTI Alerts
China – Art works sought for sale on TV shopping channels in China.
A Chinese import/export company wants to introduce British art works to TV shopping channels in China.
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This full online edition with links is available at: http://www.businessopportunities.ukti.gov.uk/uktihome/item/853560.html
The first two hotels for InterContinental Hotels Group’s new luxury brand for Chinese consumers will be in Nanchang and
Yangjiang, with the operator hoping to eventually to take it to key cities around the world. Hualuxe Hotels and Resorts was
originally introduced in 2012, with IHG claiming it is the world’s first international luxury hotel brand specifically designed for
Chinese consumers. Its first hotels will include the Hualuxe Nanchang High Tech Zone, a 281-room property located in one of the
tallest buildings in the capital of Jiangxi Provice, in Southeast China. Meanwhile, Hualuxe Yangjiang City Centre will be located in
the heart of the coastal city of Yangjiang, with 282 deluxe rooms. According to IHG, it will be the city’s first hotel to be operated as
part of an international brand family. The operator said it has already signed 24 Hualuxe hotels into the pipeline in 20 cities across
China including Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu. They will all open over the next three to five years. Beyond that, IHG plans to
introduce the brand into key international destinations such as London and New York, to meet the specific requirements of the
Chinese travellers.
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