The Chancellor announced in his Spring Statement that the next rating revaluation in England will come into effect on 1st April 2021, based on a valuation date of 1st April 2019. After that, revaluations will take place every three years starting in 2024. These revaluations will be carried out by the Valuation Office Agency. For the time being at least, both self-assessment and formula based revaluations have been ruled out.
At the Budget 2016 it was announced that the local authority business rates systems would be linked to HMRC digital tax accounts by 2022 however, the government will delay implementation of this until after 2024 to prioritise the delivery of the next revaluation one year earlier than planned and the move to three-year revaluations. The government will aim to implement this new business rates digital system at the earliest opportunity after the start of the three-year revaluation cycle from 2024.
A major letting has been completed on part of The Crescent scheme, located on The Viables Business Park in Basingstoke.
Vision RT have signed a lease on 32,700 sq ft of mixed use commercial space within Building 1, satisfying their requirement for a combination of offices and research & development uses. A new 10 year lease has been contracted with the Landlord, Gort Properties, who were represented by local Basingstoke agents bdt and the Southampton office of CBRE. A tenant break option has been granted at the end of Year 7, to reflect Vision RT’s potential for further expansion. The financial figures involved in the deal have not been revealed by either party.
Vision RT, winner of two Queens Awards, are a medical device manufacturer, renowned for developing market leading technology for surface guided radiation therapy. The technology allows the tracking of a patient’s skin in 3D during treatment, enhancing patient comfort and safety and improving treatment efficiency. The company will also retain their existing premises in Ramsdell for a period of time.
Vice President of Operations, Gideon Hale, commented:
“The Crescent offers us an excellent opportunity to accommodate the substantial growth that we are experiencing. Fortuitously the property was previously used by another medical research company, so the design and layout were ideally suited to requirements”.
Richard Thomas from agents bdt added:
“Make no mistake, this is a genuine good news story. It sees the requirements of a rapidly growing Basingstoke company being satisfied locally, whilst also reflecting a major letting of office space in the town”.
Further lettings within Network House on Basing View mean that the building is now 80% occupied. This reflects a significant turnaround from the position back in 2013 when less than 50% of the building was full.
Deals over the past 3 months have included an expansion by Wates Construction (an existing tenant in the building) and open market lettings to Kulite Sensors and Crouch Waterfall Ltd.
The building’s popularity has seen a marked improvement since a decision was taken by the Landlord to subdivide 6,000 sq ft floor plates into small suites, generally ranging between 1,000 and 2,000 sq ft. Further investment in upgrade works to some of the common parts of the building has also helped to reposition the attraction of the building.
bdt act as sole agents for the Landlord and are now offering the remaining options:
Rents in the building are now touching £14.00 – £15.00 per sq ft.
Acting on behalf of Quantum Storage Ltd in Bracknell, bdt have negotiated lease surrender terms with Arlington, extricating Quantum from a further 4 year lease period at Building 3, Arlington Square.
The catalyst to the transaction was interest being expressed in Quantum’s space from Quest Software Ltd, who not only negotiated a new lease on Quantum’s 6,500 sq ft of offices, but also on the adjoining vacant space in the building, ultimately resulting in an overall new letting of 13,500 sq ft at a headline rent of £23.00 per sq ft.
bdt negotiated attractive surrender terms on behalf of Quantum, enabling them to ‘walk away’ from liabilities and future obligations, in return for a surrender premium agreed at a highly reasonable level.
Quantum were tasked with vacating the offices swiftly in order to enable Quest to commence their own fit out works. They have taken space within one of the Regus offices in the town as a temporary measure. bdt now hope to assist with the search for more suitable offices in the foreseeable future.
Specialist Tech PR and marketing experts, The Whiteoaks Consultancy have utilised bdt‘s acquisition services in order to acquire new corporate offices for their business operations.
Richard Thomas has worked closely with James Kelliher, the CEO at Whiteoaks, in the search for suitable offices along the central M3 corridor. The exercise has culminated in the acquisition of 4,300 sq ft of prime, Grade A, office space within the “Form 1” building on Bartley Wood Business Park in Hook – already the home of Taylor Wimpey, EDMI Meters, SERCO, Lenovo, and William Grant & Sons.
The Whiteoaks Consultancy have signed up to a new 6 year lease, paying a headline rent of £19.25 psf with a rent free incentive, and a break option after the 4th year of the term.
The offices are being fitted by Grey Interiors, and will offer a rather different and far more contemporary working environment to the period style offices in Farnham which Whiteoaks have occupied over the past 17 years.
Website link: www.whiteoaks.co.uk
bdt incorporating Woodford & Co have produced figures for the 2017 industrial and warehouse market which show that take up fell from the 2016 figure of approximately 285,000 sq ft, to around 169,000 sq ft.
There were 34 deals transacted in total, but surprisingly only 3 of these exceeded 10,000 sq ft, which proved to be the difference between the two calendar years. Whilst there was a reduction in take up, supply statistics also fell, from 440,000 sq ft to 385,000 sq ft, part of which is thought to be a function of no new stock being constructed in the sector at present.
This agency Practice questions whether the lower take up figures, particular of larger units, are actually a result of there being limited opportunities in the supply sector, with only 3 units of over 20,000 sq ft currently available for immediate occupation, and with one of these poised to go under offer… or do the ‘stats’ reflect a slowing down in demand?
The answer is probably a compromise between both scenarios. With the economy running at a pretty decent level, many occupiers have expanded over the last few years, but via leases which have generally reflected longer periods of occupancy. Arguably there are fewer lease events, and companies therefore have less flexibility with their expansion opportunities. This affects levels of demand. In the supply chain, the cost of land is certainly no cheaper and building material costs are significantly higher nowadays. The inevitable knock on is caution and limited enthusiasm from developers when it comes to building speculatively. Kier Properties are poised to buck these circumstances however, having bought the old Macmillan Publishers site last year. The 1960s building has now been demolished to make way for a 108,000 sq ft brand new scheme comprising 3 mid range units, to be aimed at warehouse and logistics operators.
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