NEWSFLASH 30th March 2015
Starwood Capital and Trinity Investment have submitted plans for a major refurbishment of the Royal Exchange in Manchester
city centre. The two companies have formed joint venture Trinistar Manchester for the project, which involves upgrading and
remodelling the grade II listed building. Located on St. Ann’s Square, the building comprises a national theatre, 100,000 sq ft of
retail units and 120,000 sq ft of office space. It is home to occupiers including Molton Brown, Starbucks and M&E engineers, Hoare
Lea. The application includes proposals to remodel the office space, reception area and to create a new roof garden. Further plans
in the coming months include upgrading the retail units around the building and the Royal Exchange theatre. Starwood bought the
building from Prudential in April last year and has appointed a project team which includes Manchester property consultants
Canning O’Neill, Tushingham & Moore and MMX Retail. Architect Corstaphine & Wright, interior designer Space Invader and project
manager 2110 Consult have also been appointed to design a scheme aimed at attracting new occupiers while complementing the
building’s historic surroundings.
Luton’s inner ring road was completed in September, more than 40 years after work first started on the scheme to bypass the
centre of the Bedfordshire town. To add to the town’s improved connections, earlier this month new roundabouts were
completed, which connect to new dual carriageways to the south of the town and give commuters a straight run between junction
10a and Luton airport. These improvements may yet prove a catalyst for some of Luton’s stalled development sites - or at least that
is the hope of Luton council. There are some early signs of progress, with the council appointing Henry Boot Developments as its
development partner at Butterfield Technology Park, which is close to the new ring road. There are also plans for a mixed-use
development at Power Court, to the east of the town centre.
Carillion has bagged a £91m contract to build the first phase of Helical Bar’s Bart’s Square scheme in the City of London.
Construction on the former Bart’s Hospital site will begin in the summer and is due to be completed by summer 2017. Phase one
will feature residential, office and mixed-use facilities across the 0.93 ha site. Planning permission for the site was granted back in
November 2012, with work originally expected to begin in late 2014.
Chorley Council is to consider plans from Euxton Lane Developments for a Digital Health Park on a 26-acre site at Strawberry
Fields, which could create 700 jobs. Businesses ranging from individual start-ups to high-tech global companies would develop the
digital products and services needed in the health sector as it shifts to a more technologically-advanced way of working. There are
also plans for a care home for elderly residents, light industrial units and up to 125 new homes on the site.
Enabling work on the 4.9m sq ft Wood Wharf scheme next to
London’s Canary Wharf Estate will start in a matter of months
thanks to a £200m government loan. Under the terms of the
deal, the Canary Wharf Group will use the loan to fund
infrastructure needed to unlock the new phase of Canary
Wharf – formerly called Wood Wharf – to the east of the
present estate. The development will deliver 3,500 homes,
including 607 affordable homes, as well as 2.8m sq ft of offices,
shops and leisure facilities in 30 new buildings. Proposals have
already got planning permission, so work will be able to start
within months. Basic enabling works will include relocation and
upgrading of utilities for the site. Completion of the first phase
of the plans will coincide with the arrival of Crossrail in 2018.
Masterplan details:
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3,610 homes (2.5m sq ft)
1.9m sq ft of commercial offices
420,000 sq ft of retail and leisure
Two hotels
8.9 acres of interconnected public spaces
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Landmark London department store Liberty is exploring plans to create “the coolest restaurant in London” on top of its existing
rooftop, says the retailer’s head of visual identity Liz Silvester. Silvester has confirmed that the retailer has been in discussion with
five architectural practices about possible designs. It has also been seeking a restaurant operator to run the operation. The company
has been working on plans for six to eight months and is expecting detailed pitches from the architects imminently, says Silvester.
The store benefits from an existing turret staircase that runs from the rear of the store directly to the roof, with an adjacent lift, so
the restaurant could be open outside store opening hours.
Whitbread has bought four sites which are expected to add more than 600 bedrooms to the leisure operator’s Premier Inn
portfolio. The acquisitions bring the total Premier Inn development pipeline in the UK & Ireland to around 13,500 bedrooms. They
are:
 Penrith, Cumbria: New 60-bedroom Premier Inn, leasehold.
 Banbury, Oxfordshire: Conversion of former Holiday Inn, acquired as a going concern, to be converted into a 128-bedroom
Premier Inn.
 Sandown, Isle of Wight: New 104-bedroom Premier Inn to be built on the site of the former Carlton Hotel, acquired as a
going concern, freehold.
 Wembley Park, London: new 312-bedroom Premier Inn, leasehold.
Premier Inn currently has 59,000 bedrooms in the UK & Ireland and is targeting 75,000 UK & Ireland bedrooms by 2018.
Premier Inn, the UK’s largest hotel chain, has secured a further eight new sites in a week as it continues to deliver on its national
expansion programme. The deals, which are a mixture of office-to-hotel conversions, developer turnkey and new build schemes,
will create 340,000 sq ft of new hotel and restaurant space and add a total of 774-bedrooms to Premier Inn’s portfolio. The new
sites are in locations across the country from Bromley to Beverley. Three new hotels are being added within London and the M25 –
a key growth market for the business. The eight development deals achieved are:
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Beverley – 79-bedroom Premier Inn as part of the Flemingate regeneration scheme.
Bromley – a 130-bedroom Premier Inn at Westmoreland Road, part of the Bromley South Central regeneration scheme.
Catterick – a 60-bedroom Premier Inn and Brewers Fayre at Catterick Garrison (Princes Gate).
City of London – a 183-bedroom office-to-hotel conversion in EC3, just minutes from Monument underground station.
Eastbourne – a 65-bedroom conversion of the art deco former Co-Op building at Terminus Road.
Longbridge – a 75-bedroom hotel and Beefeater Grill as part of the £1bn regeneration of Longbridge town centre.
Redditch – a 62-bedroom hotel and Beefeater Grill adjacent to the Abbey Retail Park.
Sutton – a 120-bedroom Premier Inn at the Sutton Superbowl site on St Nicholas Way.
Qatari-owned Park House on Oxford Street has finally secured its second office tenant more than two years after launch – a
luxury gym. High-end gym group Equinox is understood to be close to finalising a deal for the 28,000 sq ft second floor of the
building, along with a retail unit on the ground floor. The New York-based leisure group will seek to knock through from the doubleheight retail unit to create a private entrance to its new elite club.
Bulldog Hotel Group is planning to double its collection of UK inns following a multi-million-pound investment from the Business
Growth Fund. The £2.5bn fund backed by Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered, has agreed to put £4.5m into the
Lincolnshire-based hotel company to help finance expansion in return for a minority stake. Bulldog currently operates seven hotels
across Yorkshire, Leicester, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire and County Durham. The company will use the capital
injection to acquire a further seven interests over the next four years. The BGF fundraising forms part of a wider package of finance
totalling £20m, which will be used to fund expansion. Bulldog specialises in turning around inns that operate at the premium end of
the market. By revamping menus, introducing an on-site pub, and turning unused space into accommodation, it targets tourists as
well as local and business trade. Bulldog has capitalised on the growth of the UK dining-out market, which has doubled in size over
the past 12 years. According to research by market intelligence firm Allegra Foodservice, the £42.2bn industry will be worth an
estimated £52bn by 2017. The company substantially improves profitability at each new site, BGF claimed. Annual sales at the
Boston-based business topped £10m last year. Bulldog founder and managing director Kevin Charity is looking to acquire more
properties in UK market towns. The properties typically cost between £1m and £3m, and have 21 to 40 bedrooms.
Bam Construction will take the plunge to transform Graves leisure centre in Sheffield under a £16m contract with Sheffield City
Council. Its Leeds office will build a 25m swimming pool, fitness and medical facilities to complement the existing tennis centre.
BAM is finishing off a major new leisure centre in nearby Huddersfield – and an estimated 80% of the supply chain by project value
will come across to the Sheffield scheme. The Graves Leisure Centre project broke ground last week, with completion scheduled for
summer 2016.
German budget hotel chain Motel One reported positive numbers for full year 2014, with revenue rising to €256 million, up
almost 25% from the previous year. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization grew by 13% to €82 million, and
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the chain-wide portfolio increased by eight properties and 2,529 keys. The company’s development pipeline includes 22 hotels
and7,000 keys.
Sankaty Advisors (part of Bain Capital) and Canyon Capital Advisors are putting United Kingdom hotel chain QHotels on the
market, despite having only bought it a year ago. The private equity funds’ partners put up an estimated price for the 27-property
chain of £650 million, adding they bought the chain’s debt of £370 million from Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency, a
government-mandated seller of distressed loans. In November 2014, they bolted onto the QHotels platform six De Vere Hotels and
De Vere Luxury Lodges bought for £160 million.
There are 898 hotels totalling 142,604 rooms Under Contract in Europe, according to the February 2015 STR Global Construction
Pipeline Report. This represents a 5.8-percent year-over-year decrease in rooms Under Contract compared with February 2014 and
a 5.3-percent decrease in rooms under construction. The Under Contract data includes projects in the In Construction, Final
Planning and Planning stages but does not include projects in the Unconfirmed stage. Among the Chain Scale segments, the Upscale
segment accounted for the largest portion of rooms in Under Contract (25.1 percent) with 35,740 rooms. Two other segments each
accounted for more than 15.0 percent of rooms in Under Contract: the Upper Midscale segment (21.1 percent with 30,155 rooms)
and the Unaffiliated segment (16.6 percent with 23,694 rooms). The Upscale segment also made up the largest portion of rooms
under construction (32.4 percent with 18,731 rooms) followed by the Upper Upscale segment (20.3 percent with 11,763 rooms) and
the Upper Midscale segment (17.3 percent with 10,037 rooms).
Indian-based Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, a Bharat Hotels enterprise, plans to convert a former school building next to London's
Tower Bridge into a five-star hotel, which will open in March next year. The former St Olave's Grammar School is currently
undergoing restoration to be converted into a five star 70-bedroom boutique hotel. It will be the group's first hotel outside India.
The group bought the Grade-listed building three years ago. The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group is India's largest and the fastest
growing privately owned Hotel Company.
Formerly a prison, the Liverpool building is being transformed to become Bridewell Hotel, the first hotel by staycentral.com - a
new Liverpool-based hotel chain. A quadrangle of former cells will soon be transformed into 85 modern rooms complete with hispec en suite bathrooms and LED Smart TVs. The developers, Stay Central, began work on the new hotel project 18 months ago and
the venue will open this Spring. (If you have been involved in this project please let us know and send details & images to
sam@thebcfa.com)
The legendary Arnold Palmer is to build his first golf course in the Home of Golf in a partnership with the world renowned Castle
Stuart Golf Links in the Scottish Highlands. The Arnold Palmer Group has confirmed it is joining forces with Castle Stuart’s
managing partner Mark Parsinen and his team to collaborate on a spectacular new 18-hole links course on the Moray Firth near
Inverness. The new venture will complement the existing course at Castle Stuart, built by Parsinen and Gil Hanse and which has
achieved worldwide acclaim since opening in 2009. Plans for the venue’s second iconic course will be submitted within two months
and it is envisaged work will get underway early next year, ahead of the return of the Scottish Open to Castle Stuart for the fourth
time in six years. It is planned to have the new links open for use by 2019.
intu Lakeside has signed a 25-year agreement for lease with the UK’s largest independent hotel brand, Travelodge, for a brand
new, 74-room hotel. The five-storey Travelodge hotel is to be built on land at one end of Alexandra Lake, which will be overlooked
by its first floor Bar Cafe. The ground floor will be let separately by intu, and could accommodate a family-friendly restaurant of
7,850 sq ft, including a mezzanine.
An application to add a rooftop extension and terrace to the proposed Bill Shankly-themed aparthotel in Liverpool city centre has
been given the go-ahead by planners. Building work began in February to convert Millennium House, the former council offices in
the centre of Liverpool into the Shankly Hotel. When finished the Shankly Hotel will 61 bedrooms, serviced apartments and office
space, as well as a banqueting suite, dining facilities and outdoor space. The existing gym and leisure facility in the building will be
retained and will be moved to the ground and first floor. The hotel’s developers, Signature Living, also plan to locate a training
school on the site which will support people wishing to go into the leisure and hospitality industries. The Shankly Hotel is expected
to open in August 2015.
Plans to convert Brierfield Mill in the East Lancashire town of Brierfield into a new hotel and conference facility look set to go
ahead now funding has been approved by Lancashire Enterprise Partnership. A £30 million scheme will see the conversion of the
Grade-listed mill on a 380,000 sq-ft site into new business workspace, a leisure complex, a hotel and conference facility, a marina
and 72 apartments.
King Street Townhouse is a new hotel opening in the centre of Manchester in August 2015. King Street Townhouse will join three
other Manchester hotels in the Eclectic Hotel group. King Street Townhouse will be located in the Upper King Street conservation
area of Manchester city centre. It is a Grade II-listed former bank building, dating back to 1864. It is currently undergoing
redevelopment into a luxurious and intimate townhouse hotel. King Street Townhouse will have 40 bedrooms and suites, Tavern bar
and restaurant, an afternoon tea room, a roof garden plus a rooftop spa pool, treatment rooms and gym. The hotel will also include
conference and event space for around 170 delegates. Eclectic’s existing portfolio includes Great John Street Hotel also in central
Manchester plus Didsbury House and Eleven Didsbury Park both in the south Manchester suburb of Didsbury.
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Detail plans have been granted for £17m 2 hotels/ commercial units alteration at the Beneficial Building & Circus Queensway
Birmingham. The client is Gethar Ventures and agent Glenn Howells Architects.
The Schooner Way Holiday Inn Express Cardiff has submitted detailed plans for additional hotel bedrooms £1.66m. Client is
Hospitality & Capital Group agent is Dexter Moren Architects.
Russian and Indian moguls have completed two lettings at Amancio Ortega’s Devonshire House, which means the trophy Mayfair
office block is now fully let. LetterOne Treasury Services, the investment vehicle for three Russian billionaires, which has been
snapping up student property portfolios this year, has taken 11,500 sq ft on the second floor. Indian-born property mogul PNC
Menon’s Latinem Property Solutions has taken 3,000 sq ft, also on the second floor. Both deals are thought to be on 10-year leases.
Other tenants in the building include serviced-office provider Servcorp, Advent Capital Management, TA Associates and Canyon
Capital Advisors.
Development Securities is poised to make a former art auction house in Victoria its new home, in a move that will present a more
unconventional image for the developer following its acquisition of Cathedral Group. The developer is close to signing a deal to
take the 35,000 sq ft former Phillips auction house in 9 Howick Place in London’s West End. The move follows Dev Secs’ acquisition
of Cathedral Group for £27.4m in May 2014. Cathedral’s previous headquarters was in the converted St Thomas’s Church in London
Bridge, which is now being marketed as a restaurant opportunity. Dev Secs, on the other hand, is housed in more conventional
offices at Portland House in Victoria, which is now earmarked for residential redevelopment as part of Land Securities’ wider
regeneration of the area. Under the deal, Dev Secs will take an assignment of the lease on the ground and first floor of 9 Howick
Place. The developer has already won consent from Westminster council to convert the space into offices and a café for 10 years. 9
Howick Place, owned by a private Russian individual, was a former post office before Phillips secured the space for its auction house.
Phillips’s Russian owners, the Mercury Group, have moved the art dealership into 30 Berkeley Square, which it purchased for £100m
in 2013.
French publishing house Lagardère Group is taking the final office space at Land Securities’ 80 Victoria Street in London’s West
End. The Paris-based media group is taking the remaining 7,400 sq ft on the fourth floor, which will leave the building fully let. The
company will join Schneider Electric, Experian, Smiths Group, and EDF Energy at the Victoria scheme, which is part of the Cardinal
Place development. However, Microsoft, which occupies more than 90,000 sq ft at 80 Victoria Street, is understood to be reviewing
its options after taking new space in Paddington.
Land Securities has agreed a deal with Deloitte to pre-let the entirety of 1 New Street Square in London’s Midtown. Deloitte has
agreed a 20-year lease on the 275,000 sq ft building more than 12 months before it is due to be completed. The deal more than
doubles Deloitte’s presence at New Street Square, adding to the 256,000 sq ft it already occupies at numbers two and three.
HSBC has announced plans to establish the head office of its new UK ring-fenced bank in at the Arena Central development in
Birmingham. Arena Central is in a prime location in Birmingham. The bank said it is in advanced negotiations to take a 250-year
lease on a new 210,000 sq ft office at the Miller Developments scheme. HSBC will move around 1,000 staff members from London
to work at the new banking arm being set up to serve HSBC UK’s personal and business customers. The move has been prompted
by regulations forcing all major banks in the UK to separate their high street and investment banking operations. Construction work
on the building is expected to start by June 2015 with the move taking place before the ring-fencing deadline of 1 January 2019.
HSBC began in the West Midlands when the first branch of the Birmingham and Midland Bank opened in 1836.
Balfour Beatty has been awarded an £80m contract to construct the National Automotive Innovation Centre in Coventry for the
University of Warwick. Work starts this spring on the 340,000 sq ft development on the existing main campus of the University of
Warwick site. It will involve building a four-storey ‘L’ shaped building, with Balfour’s engineering services arm delivering significant
mechanical and electrical installation works. The NAIC is being built to bring a fresh national focus for expertise in automotive
research and will bring together under one roof over 1,000 technologists, academics, designers, students and engineers. The total
investment in NAIC and the initial technologies it will house by will be £150m. The NAIC is being funded through a collaboration
between Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Motors European Technical Centre, WMG and the Government’s UK Research Partnership
Investment Fund.
Muse Developments and South Tyneside Council have chosen Bowmer and Kirkland to build “The Word” – South Shields’ new
library and digital media centre. Construction of the £7m library is the first phase of the wider redevelopment of South Shields
town centre as part of the £100m “365 Master Plan”. Construction of the three storey library building near Ferry Street on the
Riverside will start imminently and will also see improvements made to the adjoining Market Place. Work is due for completion by
late 2016.
Institute of Food Research (IFR) is to submit plans to open a 150,000 sq ft food and health research centre in Norwich by 2017,
with the creation of 300 science jobs.
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Morgan Sindall has reached financial close on the £110m North-west private finance batch of the Priority School Building
Programme. The contractor and its investment partner Equitix reached financial close on the batch of 12 schools, which will have a
capital value of £110m. It is the third PF2 batch of schools to close after Galliford Try reached close on the £160m North-east batch
and Interserve achieved financial close on the £135m Hertfordshire, Luton and Reading batch, both earlier this month. Morgan
Sindall will rebuild five secondary schools and seven primary schools in Birkenhead, Blackpool, Chester, Manchester, Runcorn,
Stockport and Wigan. The contractor will be responsible for the design and construction of the schools, with Integral UK providing
facilities management services for the 25-year lifecycle maintenance period. The 12 schools are due to be completed and handed
over between April 2016 and September 2017.
Plans have been lodged to convert the derelict Springfield Brewery in Wolverhampton into a major university technical college
for construction. Associated Architects in conjunction with Bouygues-owned Thomas Vale Construction have drawn up detailed
designs for the West Midlands Construction UTC project after winning a design competition. The University of Wolverhampton is
sponsoring the new UTC along with the Construction Industry Training Board and also plans to relocate its own School of
Architecture and the Built Environment there. An agreement to buy the 12-acre plot, which has been vacant since 1991 when the
Mitchells and Butler brewery closed, has been reached and will be finalised once planning permission has been granted. The
existing grade two-listed building will undergo sympathetic repair and refurbishment while a new three-storey college building is
also developed at the historic site. The project is due to open in 2016 and will then offer 600 construction students places.
Scottish contractor Barr has bagged the contract for a new building complex at University of Edinburgh’s Easter Bush Campus in
Roslin, Midlothian. The Atkins-designed scheme will provide veterinary students and university staff with specialist research
facilities, as well as teaching laboratories, offices and an exhibition space.
Bowmer & Kirkland is understood to be close to signing a £90m contract to deliver much of Northampton University’s planned
Waterside campus. It is the first major award for the campus site, which will be built on 55-acre site at Nunn Mills Road in the
town’s new Waterside Enterprise Zone. The design and build contract includes five to six buildings, providing 400,000 sq ft of mixeduse teaching spaces, catering, commercial and sports facilities to achieve BREEAM Excellent. The job also involves restoration of a
listed engine shed and adjacent office building for the student union. Work is expected to start on the ground in November.
Detailed plans have been granted for £2.2m 44 student cluster flats at 4B Former Mowlem & Co Newcastle. The client is
Adderstone Group and the agent Ainsworth Spark Associates.
Detailed plans have been granted for £5m student accommodation Powis Place Aberdeen. Client is Alumno Developments and the
agent Carson & Partners.
Detailed plans have been granted for £23m student accommodation 34B Haddington Place, Edinburgh. The client ios S Harrison
Developments Ltd and Agent ICA Architects.
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has picked BAM Construction to deliver a new three-storey ward block. The
£20m contract will include a new accessible link to Smith Lane, critical care unit, car parking and roadways for the hospital.
Harrogate-based DSSR is M&E consultant on the Bowman Riley designed scheme. The three storeys will include new paediatric and
elderly patient wards and retail and refreshments provision, and improved access arrangements around the hospital. BAM expects
to start on site in Spring and the project concludes in Autumn 2016.
Willmott Dixon has just started a £20m contract build a community centre, health care facilities and 80 extra-care apartments in
Old Trafford. The Shrewsbury Street project is an integral part of the wider Old Trafford Master Plan being led and delivered by
Trafford Housing Trust in partnership with Trafford Council and the Homes and Communities Agency. The development should be
complete in summer 2017.
NHS Highland is planning to invest £5m in the revamp of Caithness General Hospital in Wick. The health board hopes to secure
funding from the Scottish Government for the project, and aims to start work next year. It could take about two years to complete
the work on the 74-bed rural general hospital, which was opened in 1985.
Notaro have confirmed that construction has commenced on the care homse to be built on the 5 acre site at Bower Lane,
Bridgwater, Somerset, was given planning approval by Sedgemoor District Council over a year ago to help facilitate the growing
need for more beds in the region for those living with nursing dementia needs. The new Care Home will be built by locally based
Midas Construction, who have been involved in 2 of their previous projects. The home will be state of the art and will feature the
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latest technology within the health and social care sector including a Sun Room, Cafe and large communal areas. Consisting of 66
en-suite bedrooms and 22 close care apartments. Nunzio Notaro, Managing Director said that the home will be opening its doors in
October 2016.
Carlson Rezidor announces the very first Park Inn by Radisson in Romania: the Park Inn by Radisson Bucharest Hotel & Residence
featuring 210 keys is scheduled to open in Q4 2015. It will be part of Carlson Rezidor's first dual-branded property in the country opening its doors right next to the existing Radisson Blu hotel. Park Inn by Radisson is a vibrant mid-market brand, Radisson Blu is
Europe's largest upper-upscale brand. The Park Inn by Radisson Bucharest Hotel & Residence will be designed by Belgian-based
Creneau International, a visionary and trendsetting design agency. It will offer 210 rooms & apartments, a lobby lounge & bar, an
all-day restaurant, 4 meeting rooms and a pre-function area.
Remo Stoffel, Swiss entrepreneur and chairman of Dubai-based Farnek, and US-based architect Morphosis have showcased the
design of what will become the world’s tallest hotel. The structure which is to be situated in Vals, in the Swiss Alps, is designed to
reach a height of 381 metres, which once completed in 2019, will eclipse the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel in Dubai which currently
holds the record at 355 metres tall. According to Stoffel, the inspiration for the hotel came from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al
Maktoum, the Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Sheffield city council has unveiled plans for a £480m retail quarter to transform the city centre. The ambitious plan designed by
Leonard Design Architects comprises 900,000 sq ft of mixed-use accommodation. This will predominantly by retail and leisure led,
but also includes over 200,000 sq ft of residential and office space. Sheffield City Council has been assessing the best way forward
for the retail quarter since ending a partnership with developer Hammerson in 2013. Sheffield City Council is now talking to
potential strategic development partners to help deliver the new scheme by 2019 and expects to announce a partner this Autumn.
Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard on Saturday handed over Viking Star, the first of three ocean-going vessels for Viking Cruises. It
has been an eventful week for Hagen and Viking, with 12 river vessels inaugurated in Amsterdam and Rostock on Tuesday. The
47,800gt Viking Star can accommodate 930 passengers. The interiors were created by London-based SMC Design and Los Angelesbased Rottet Studios. Viking Star will now embark on a shakedown cruise before its first revenue sailings. The ship is due to be
named on May 17, Norwegian Constitution Day, in Bergen. Next up for Viking Cruises' ocean fleet are Viking Sea and Viking Sky,
both scheduled for delivery in 2016. The company has an option for a fourth ship. Fincantieri has built 69 cruise ships since 1990
and other 15 passenger vessels currently are being designed or built in the group's yards.
Carnival Corp. & plc's whopping nine-ship order—split between Fincantieri and Meyer Werft—is the largest ever placed by the
company and features next-generation newbuild designs for established markets in North America and Europe and newer
markets including China. The memoranda of understanding with the Italian and German builders cover deliveries over a four-year
period, 2019 to 2022, and include options for additional ships. The agreements are subject to financing. Carnival announced the
order on the eve of reporting its first quarter financial results. The order averages out to 2.25 ships per year, within the two to three
annual additions goal Carnival has stuck to for several years, UBS Investment Research said in a note. Fincantieri will develop and
build five ships at its yards in Monfalcone and Marghera. Carnival said additional ship orders will be explored over the coming
decade as part of its long-term partnerships with Fincantieri and Meyer. Additional information on design and which of the
company's nine brands will add tonnage will be announced at a later date. Carnival currently fields 101 ships totaling 216,000 lower
berths.
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