NEWSFLASH 27th April 2015 We are still taking bookings for the Summer BBQ at the Merchant Taylor’s Hall 30th June:Download Booking Form Come and join us at Clerkenwell Design Week - 19th - 21st May - This year the BCFA shall be exhibiting in the Design Factoryin the Farmiloe Building on the first floor. Controversial plans to build three skyscrapers on the old Coopers BMW site in Reading look set to be refused this week. Lochailort Investments' planning application, which was submitted to Reading Borough Council last month, is for the demolition of the former car dealership in King's Meadow Road to make way for three tower blocks up to 28 storeys tall. The development, dubbed Swan Heights, would include 352 apartments as well as office, retail and leisure space. The buildings would also include a reception, concierge, library, club room, community rooms, a business centre, residents' fitness centre, storage and other community facilities. In a report set to go before the council's planning committee on 29 April, planning officers have recommended the scheme be refused. Greenland Group has chosen Kier to build the first phase of its Ram Brewery regeneration scheme in south London, worth £170m. The contractor today confirmed it had been selected as preferred bidder on the Wandsworth scheme. The Ram Brewery will be delivered in three phases and has a total value of £600m. Kier will deliver a 411,000 sq ft building with residential and retail space. Work will also include the refurbishment and remodelling of the 56,000 sq ft Grade II listed brewery complex for new restaurant and retail space as well as a micro-brewery, a brewery museum and residential units. Enabling works will begin this month, with the first phase scheduled for completion in early 2017. Plans have been unveiled for a further extension to the £260m Broadway shopping centre currently under construction in Bradford. The plans could see a new cinema, dining and leisure development added to the project. Plans went on display this weekend by investment group Meyer Bergman, advised by Westfield. The Broadway shopping is set to open Autumn 2015. Almost 70% of the £260m shopping centre’s units have now been filled, with leading retailers including Debenhams, Next and Marks & Spencer already signed up to take space. Urban regeneration specialist Muse has submitted plans for a £50m London Borough of Lambeth town hall redevelopment scheme. The Your New Town Hall project will preserve the historic town hall while reducing the council’s core office buildings from 14 to 2, saving at least £4.5m a year. It will see several buildings on the island site around the town hall demolished to make way for 120 flats and new civic offices while the historic Grade II Listed building is revamped. Subject to planning work is expected to start later this year. Outline planning permission has been granted for the £3.5bn Silvertown Quay project on land neighbouring the Royal Docks in East London. The 62 acre Royal Docks site will provide offices, leisure and retail facilities and 3,000 homes including affordable housing. Chelsfield, alongside partners Imagination Europe and First Base are planning more than 3m sq ft of mixed-use space on the 50-acre docklands site owned by Government. The first phase, which aims to be finished by 2018 in time for the new Crossrail connections, will see the iconic 450,000 sq ft Millennium Mills site converted into a hub for technology, media and telecoms businesses. Work began earlier this year to strip out asbestos from the former flour mill as part of a £12m grant by the Department for Communities and Local Government. At the core of the new London Quarter will be a series of branded pavilions to showcase and exhibit products from leading global brands. The 10-year regeneration plan will see 7m sq ft of new residential and commercial space built. This will include: 3m sq ft of brand spaces 2m of residential (up to 3,000 new homes) 2msq ft of commercial space The developers claim the re-enlivened dock will be the world’s first cluster of purpose-built centres for product innovation. As part of the Section 106 legal agreement, the developer would provide £10m to Workplace, Newham Council’s job brokerage scheme, this would be used to provide training and support for Newham residents to ensure they have the skills needed to take advantage of the 20,700 new jobs the development is expected to generate.The application will now be referred to the Mayor of London and then to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Secretary of State for Transport before a final decision can be issued. Kier has gained reserved matters planning consent for its latest mixed-use project at the King’s Cross Goods Yard site in London. Badged R7 by developer Argent, the 150,000 sq ft will rise to 13 storeys in a west tower of offices above a cinema and shops, while BCFA NEWSFLASH Page 1 the East tower will hold 11 storeys of offices above retail space at ground level. Located to the north of the Regents Canal opposite the Grade II listed Granary Building and Central St Martins school of art, the scheme is worth around £60m. Work on R7 will start immediately; completion is due in 2017. The Original Bowling Company (TOBC) is set to acquire rival Bowlplex, which operates 17 ten-pin bowling centres across the UK. Electra Partners, which acquired TOBC for £91m last September, said it will support its portfolio company's acquisition, the financial value of which was not disclosed. Founded in 1976, Bowlplex operates bowling in Basingstoke, Birmingham, Blackburn, Brighton, Bristol, Camberley, Castleford, Cwmbran, Dudley, Dunfermline, Glasgow, Nantgarw, Oxford, Poole: Branksome, Poole: Tower Park, Portsmouth and Tunbridge Wells. Renegade craft brewer Brewdog is launching an ambitious new crowdfunding project to raise £25m from its international fanbase. It is bringing back its hugely successful Equity for Punks scheme, which has already helped the company to raise £7m from Brewdog drinkers. Brewdog will use some of the cash to launch a Brewdog Hotel near its brewery in Ellon, Scotland, which it hopes will turn the spot into a tourist destination and help to further boost the local economy. The company is planning to build a 300hectolitre brewery next to its original brewery to help it meet global demand. A distillery will also be installed on the site, creating craft spirits. Around £7m will be spent on launching between 15 and 20 Brewdog bars across the UK, which would double the size of its current portfolio. The company has also earmarked £2m to grow its international bar division. Berlin will be the next target for a Brewdog bar. In this latest fundraising round, Brewdog is making 526,316 shares available with a minimum investment of £95 for two shares. Equity Punks – Brewdog’s name for its investors – will own 23pc of the company if the whole round is subscribed. The round will close on April 20, 2016. A Qatari investment vehicle has taken a majority stake in three of London’s most prestigious hotels in a landmark deal. Constellation Hotels - which is owned by Qatar Holding, the sovereign wealth fund backed by the Qatari royal family - has bought a 64pc stake in Coroin, the holding company which owns the Maybourne Hotel Group, made up of Claridge's, The Berkeley and The Connaught. The sellers of the stake were the family interests of Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, and Irish businessman Derek Quinlan. Constellation Hotels has become a major investor in the luxury hotel market in recent years, including the Intercontinental London Park Lane in 2013 and Le Grand Hotel in Paris last year. Willmott Dixon has won a £14m contract to convert the Matrix Building in Aldgate for Dorset Hospitality International. The 13storey hotel conversion project, which is located on Aldgate High Street next to Aldgate tube station, will provide 270 rooms along with a restaurant, fitness centre and 1,600 sq ft of meeting space. It is Willmott Dixon’s first project for Dorsett Hospitality International, which operates 22 hotels around the world including at locations in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the UK. Dorsett International opened its first London hotel at Shepherd’s Bush in 2014. Work will begin on site next month and is set to complete in December 2016. The Abu Dhabi-based Eagle Hills, which is led by Emaar founder Mohamed Alabbar, has clinched a deal to build a massive waterfront development in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. The developer plans to spend $3 billion building the Belgrade Waterfront development, which will include Serbia’s largest mall, hotels, office buildings and apartments for 14,000 people. The agreement between Serbia and Eagle Hills was signed on Sunday, it was reported, and construction works are set to commence in September. Belgrade Waterfront will span 1.8 million square meters and be 68% owned by Eagle Hills, with the rest held by the Serbian government, according to Bloomberg. EPR Architects are working to design the hotel and spa – in collaboration with Barr+Wray – at the upcoming Poultry Hotel in London. The five-star offering will occupy the Grade I-listed former Midland Bank headquarters – the vault of which was portrayed as Fort Knox for the climax of the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger. Slated to open in 2016, the hotel is set to feature 252 bedrooms, a restaurant, health and leisure facilities, rooftop terraces and two pools. There will also be a bar in the bank’s former vault – where Goldfinger's lethal henchman Oddjob, played by Harold Sakata, famously met his demise when he was electrocuted by Bond. Originally built between 1925-1939, the Midland Bank building was one of the most expensive bank headquarters of its time. It is considered to be British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens’ finest commercial building. The refurbishment will include a spa with an elaborate thermal zone, which Barr+Wray will procure and install. The MCC has lifted the covers on plans for the second phase of the £200m redevelopment of Lord’s Cricket Ground. The southwestern project, which is the biggest phase of the redevelopment plan, includes replacing the Tavern and Allen Stands. It will also see the Thomas Lord Building redeveloped and extensive internal improvements to the Pavilion, allowing more room for cricket teams and staff. The Tavern pub will also be rebuilt inside the ground to create a more welcoming refreshment centre. The new three-tier stand – which is a single structure replacing two – will have just over 1,400 more seats to better satisfy demand from MCC Members. In total, the capacity of the new stand will be 5,520. MCC aims to submit plans this summer ready for opening the stand in 2019 ahead of that year’s World Cup and Ashes series, with the Pavillion improvements completed in 2022. First phase plans for the new Warner stand are now before members for final approval before work starts in September. BAM Construction has been selected to build the £21m replacement stand, which will provide 2,832 seats with improved views of the ground and new catering and hospitality facilities. BCFA NEWSFLASH Page 2 Plymouth City Council has approved plans from British Land for a £42m restaurant and 12-screen cinema development at Bretonside in Plymouth city centre. Bristish Land will build a cinema complex, including an Imax cinema, which will open in 2017. The new complex will restore the links between the city centre and the Barbican and waterfront. The scheme includes 13 restaurants and parking for 420 cars on two levels. glh is to launch a new budget hotel brand called Thistle Express, with the first of ten sites opening in London next year. Thistle Express will offer modern design, stylish bedrooms, friendly and efficient service, as well as super-fast unlimited free Wi-Fi for everyone, all at great value. Privately-owned Appleby Manor Country House Hotel in the Lake District is set to launch a brand new £1m spa in October. The new spa will offer a pedicure/ manicure suite, two outdoor hot tubs, a thermal suite and a hydrotherapy pool. The Bulldog Hotel Group has acquired the Best Western Royal Oak hotel in the centre of Welshpool in Powys. The Grade II-listed, 18th century hotel offers 25 bedrooms and becomes the eighth property in the company's portfolio. Best Western Royal Oak will now undergo a major refurbishment, which will include a revamp of all the bedrooms and the restaurant. The group's estate includes two other Best Western branded sites - Admiral Rodney Hotel in Horncastle, and Three Swans Hotel in Market Harborough. Splendid Hospitality Group-owned five-star venue, Grand Hotel & Spa is to invest £15m in the expansion, with the creation 107 new rooms. Plans have now been submitted to City of York Council for a two-year renovation project, which also includes upgrading rooms in the existing hotel, converting the former offices block into a new wing creating 107 executive suites. The scheme also includes a new 160-seater restaurant with outdoor terrace . LDC, the private equity investment subsidiary of Lloyds Bank, has acquired leading holiday park owner and operator, Away Resorts from CBPE Capital for an undisclosed price. Away Resorts operates four sites - Whitecliff Bay in Isle of Wight, Mill Rythe in Hampshire, Tattershall Lakes in Lincolnshire (pictured), and Barmouth Bay in Snowdonia National Park. The sites provide restaurants and a range of accommodation choices from luxury holiday lodges and cottages to camping facilities. LDC will invest £18.5m to support the team in delivering their organic growth plan, capitalising on the buoyant market for ‘staycations’ in the UK and providing capital to support further high quality acquisitions to complement the current Away Resorts portfolio. The business will significantly invest in its parks, creating additional capacity by developing existing planning permissions and upgrading accommodation, as well as continuing to improve its central facilities, such as swimming pools, gyms, spas, bars and restaurants and water sports. The business was founded in 2008 by Managing Director Carl Castledine, along with Neill Ryder, Finance Director, and Greg Lashley, Operations Director. Based in Hemel Hempstead, the business has successfully grown sales to more than £22m. Bounce, the ping pong bar concept, will open a second branch in London's Old Street this Autumn before expanding to the US in 2016. The brand opened its first outlet in Holborn - Europe’s first and largest social ping pong club - in September 2012. Ed's Easy Diner is set to launch in Belfast as part of the new Boucher Square development in the south of the city. The American diner-style chain is joining Costa Coffee and Frankie and Benny's at Boucher Square, which has over 12,000 sq ft of restaurant space. Ed's Easy Diner already has more than 30 restaurants spread out across Britain, and is one of the UK's fastest-growing food chains. A Thames Valley technology company is set to build a bespoke headquarters thanks to funding from NatWest. Ultima Business Solutions, which is 25 years old this year, provides IT infrastructure to public and private sector customers. The company has purchased a business and technology campus adjacent to its current base on Basingstoke Road in Reading. The new campus currently consists of two properties, together comprising 67,000 sq ft, and space to design and construct a third building of 21,000 sq ft. Ultima borrowed £4.5m late last year from NatWest to complete works including a refurbishment of its technical services centre (TSC), which is next to its HQ. Now it has borrowed a further £5.6m to acquire the new campus. Office take-up across the UK hit 27.5m sq ft last year, up 8% on the previous year and the highest level since 2001, according to Lambert Smith Hampton’s latest Office Market Report. The report said the high level of take-up reflected the spread of economic recovery and confidence across the country. The growth came despite the growing trend for occupiers to use space more sparingly through the introduction of initiatives such as agile working practices. Central London had an “exceptional year”, with take-up increasing up 11% year on year and hitting the highest level since 2000. Take-up in the Docklands doubled year on year on the back of several major deals at Canary Wharf. The strength of the UK’s economic recovery was reflected by the positive performances of regional markets: Manchester had its strongest year of take-up since 2001, while Edinburgh saw record take-up of 1.3m sq ft. However, the report also highlighted the impact of Permitted Development Rights (PDR) on the availability of office space, with more than 11m sq ft of office space - equivalent to all of the office floorspace in Reading - earmarked for alternative uses since the introduction of the policy almost two years ago. The PDR allows offices to be converted into residential use in England without planning permission. With the policy scheduled to expire in May 2016, the amount of office space leaving the market accelerated last year, with 6.8m sq ft allocated for conversion - an area equivalent in size to the Oxford office market. BCFA NEWSFLASH Page 3 Japanese developer Mitsubishi Estate has announced it will submit plans for a 40-storey tower in the City of London. Mitsubishi Estate London will make an application to build an office-led, mixed-use tower at 6-8 Bishopsgate and 150 Leadenhall Street. The 40-storey tower would also feature retail units at ground and mezzanine levels and a public access viewing gallery on the top floor. Mitsubishi intends to deliver a full regeneration of the site in the eastern cluster of tall buildings in the City, which it expects to appeal to insurance and financial tenants. The 71,500 sq m building is designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects and features stacked blocks that become narrower towards the top of the building. Titan Investors is lining up a sale of a major development site in Glasgow, which has permission for a 95,000 sq ft office scheme. The investment firm has appointed agents at Cushman & Wakefield to find a buyer for the New Exchange scheme at 20 Cadogan Street. The planned scheme on the site is estimated to have an end value of around £55m. The site is currently home to two buildings, which Titan acquired at the end of 2012 in a sale-and-leaseback structure. The deal allowed the vendor to keep the remaining occupational income, while Titan acquired the development site upon vacant possession. In 2014, Titan acquired planning consent for a 95,000 sq ft prime office scheme. Glasgow is experiencing a strong office occupation market, with three speculative schemes in the city centre. Business assurance company Lloyd’s Register has agreed a deal for a new 27,000 sq ft office in Solihull - the most significant deal to be completed in the M42 corridor this year. The company will move into two floors of One Trinity Park (pictured), which is located at the entrance to Birmingham International railway station and Birmingham Airport. Last year, the 20-year old building underwent a £2m refurbishment in a bid to bring more grade-A office space to Birmingham. The company has taken a 10-year lease on the ground and first floor of the building. Scott Rutherford, head of offices at Cushman & Wakefield, leasing agent at the park, said the deal was the second biggest in the M42 market in 12 months. Global oil giant Trafigura has agreed to take the top two floors of 14 St George Street in London’s Mayfair, after pulling out of a record-breaking deal in Berkeley Square. The oil trader is now close to sub-letting around 15,000 sq ft on the third and fourth floor of the Georgian building from private bank Kleinwort Benson. Kleinwort Benson leased the 51,000 sq ft building in 2010 and has five years remaining on its lease, which expires in 2020. But it has instructed JLL to find sub-tenants for 37,000 sq ft within 14 St George Street. After the deal with Trafigura is completed, the first, ground and lower ground floor in the building will still be available. Trafigura’s London office is currently located at Portman House on 2 Portman Street, off Oxford Street near Marble Arch. The letting will be a blow for Russian luxury group Mercury’s 30 Berkeley Square. At the end of last year, Trafigura was in talks to pay what would have been a UK record rent of up to £150/sq ft in the building. AEW Europe has placed a 45,000 sq ft office building in the City of London under offer for around £22m. St Clements House, which is on St Clements Lane near Monument station, was put up for sale by Stenham Property and Riverside Capital last year. It is understood that AEW’s offer is around the asking price. The building is home to serviced office provider MWB Business Exchange on a short let, but has planning permission for an additional 7,500 sq ft extension. The existing space could also be refurbished to take advantage of rising City rents. Engineering group Renold has signed a deal to take 10,000 sq ft of space at Property Alliance Group’s Trident business park near Manchester Airport. Property Alliance Group acquired the vacant park from Kennedy Wilson earlier this year for £5.25m and is currently carrying out a major refurbishment. The refurbished offices will have new bike storage, shower and changing facilities, a gym with weekly exercise classes and an additional outdoor sports pitch. The deal with Renold, who have signed a 10-year lease at £15.50/ sq ft, means that the park is now 55% pre-let. Insurance outsourcer Quindell has also signed a deal to take 38,000 sq ft of office space. Brindleyplace has signed two deals for more than 38,000 sq ft in transactions for HR firm Mercer and recruitment company PageGroup. Mercer has taken out a 10 year extension to its existing lease on the 22,500 sq ft that it currently occupies on the fifth and sixth floors of Four Brindleyplace. Currently occupying suites on the ground and first floors, PageGroup will be relocating to 15,500 sq ft on the building’s fourth floor on a 10-year lease. Brindleyplace is owned by Hines and Lone Star, and asset managed by Hines, Moorfield Group and Hudson Advisors. The lettings leave 13,150 sq ft of space remaining in a number of small suites split across Three and Four Brindleyplace. Developer British Land is planning a major office refit at its Regent’s Place scheme in London after social media giant Facebook struck a deal to take extra space. The landmark office at 338 Euston Road provides 112,000 sq ft of office space over 17 storeys, and will be comprehensively refurbished when tenants Hachette and BT vacate in May. Facebook will occupy the fifth floor of the building, as well as floors 9-16 and a ground floor events space, totalling 66,000 sq ft. This space is in addition to the 87,000 sq ft that Facebook already occupy at Regent’s Place, following the company’s decision to relocate their UK headquarters to 10 Brock Street in 2013. The office refit is expected to be completed next year. The University of Huddersfield has been granted planning approval for its proposed new building near the Shorehead Roundabout. The £27.5 million building will provide a new home for the University’s Law School and the School of Music, BCFA NEWSFLASH Page 4 Humanities and Media. The new structure will link into the University’s new Student Central building, which was completed in 2014, at a cost of £22.5 million and officially opened by HRH The Princess Royal in January. The proposed new building, which was approved unanimously at the Kirklees Council Planning Applications meeting last week, will provide 7,500 square metres of space and will be six stories high. The University of Liverpool has gained planning permission for a £90m student accommodation scheme at its Greenbank halls. The job, which will be run by the University of Liverpool Construction Company Special Projects team, involves building new halls of residence, demolishing old ones and refurbishing Derby Hall. Its in-house construction team was formed at the time of the collapse of student accommodation specialist Ocon to finish a major student hall project at the university. The latest student village scheme will deliver 1,370 new or refurbished rooms in total and include a two-storey sports hall. It forms part of a £250m masterplan by the university to build and upgrade accommodation at its city and Mossley Hill base. New housing blocks are to be set around three landscaped courtyards and will rise to 5-8 storeys. The site contains a mix of buildings including Greenbank House, the Grade II* listed former home of the Rathbones, founding members of the University of Liverpool and Derby Old Court, the first hall of residence on the site. The project team also includes quantity surveyor Gleeds, WYG on mechanical and Electrical engineering, Sutcliffes for structural engineering and RLF as construction manager. The planning approval has been approved subject to a section 106 agreement. The Royal Academy of Arts is believed to be close to signing a deal with John Sisk to revamp and expand its Burlington buildings in Piccadilly, central London. A key element of the project will be to link the main Burlington House academy building to 6 Burlington Gardens, acquired in 2001. The project also includes adding a new 300 seat auditorium and improved student teaching spaces and galleries at Burlington House. Work is due to start on the project, where Arup is the M&E consultant, in the autumn and run for around 18 months. Derby County Council is on the hunt for a contractor to design and build Glossopdale Community College. The project will consolidate three sites within one new school at a site in Hadfield, with extra room for further expansion. The new school will cater for 1,000 students aged 11-16 with capacity for 200 or more in the 6th Form. Part of funding for the new school will come from the sale of the Talbot House site and the Upper School site on Talbot Road, Glossop. Flintshire County Council has approved plans for a £9 million extra care scheme in Flint’s town centre. Earl Lea, designed by John McCall Architects for Pennaf Housing Group, will feature 72 self-contained one- and two-bed apartments with a range of communal facilities. The scheme will now be built on the former Earl Lea site. Communal facilities will include a café, restaurant, hairdressers, sky lounge and multi-purpose rooms that can be used as a small cinema, to hold workshops and as an IT space. Macc Care has submitted plans to Walsall Council to rebuild the Meadow House nursing home in Willenhall, West Midlands. Macc Care, which was formed in 2004, currently operates four nursing homes across Birmingham. The company turns over around £4.5m per annum and employs over 200 staff. 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. Marriott International, Inc announced today the introduction of its new lifestyle brand, Moxy Hotels to Eastern Europe, in partnership with developers, GMT Group. The 130 room Moxy Tbilisi Hotel will be managed by Marriott International and is expected to open in 2017. Located in Saarbrucken Square, central Tbilisi, it will be the third Marriott International property owned by GMT Group in Tbilisi in addition to the Courtyard Tbilisi and Tbilisi Marriott Hotel. Moxy Hotels is expected to open 150 hotels and 25,000 rooms in Europe by 2020. GMT Group has partnered with Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), a government agency, to provide USD25 million for the construction of the hotel which will be part of new retail and office development around Saarbrucken Square. The hotel will be situated in a prime location close to the River Mtkvari and a short drive from the historic city centre with its picturesque cafes and restaurants, popular with both tourists and business travellers. Sundus Investments Projects has partnered with Oman-based Shaksy Engineering Services to develop the first phase of the Sundus Airport Heights project in Muscat, reported TradeArabia News Service. It includes Sundus Rotana, a four-star business hotel, which is set to open doors in February 2017. The 215-key property has been designed to cater to travellers visiting the sultanate for business and to attend conferences. It boasts a central location, and offers amenities such as a ballroom, meeting rooms, an executive lounge, boardroom and a business centre to facilitate corporate travellers. BCFA NEWSFLASH Page 5 Royal Caribbean International's Explorer of the Seas arrived in summer home port of Southampton on Thursday following a multi-million makeover. Hot on the heels of the naming ceremony for Anthem of the Seas on Monday, RCI showcased the newlook Explorer of the Seas having just taken part in a 40-day, bow-to-stern full revitalisation. Highlights of Explorer of the Seas’ revitalisation includes 81 new virtual balcony staterooms and 24 new panoramic ocean view staterooms, offering floor to ceiling wraparound panoramic windows. On deck are added a FlowRider 40ft surf simulator, 220sq ft outdoor cinema screen showing firstrun movies, big sporting events and giant video game challenges. Also new, a print-on-demand Focus Photo Gallery, an art gallery spread throughout the ship displaying original works. New restaurants and bars include signature spaces, Giovanni’s Table traditional trattoria, Chops Grill steak house, Izumi Japanese cuisine, R Bar and The Tavern sports bar, The Card Room, The Diamond Club, NextCruise and Star Lounge. BCFA NEWSFLASH Page 6