The latest refurbishment programme has been completed at The Loddon Centre industrial estate in Wade Road, Basingstoke.
Under previous ownership a series of units were upgraded and successfully relet. The estate was then sold to another Pension Fund investor in April this year, with two units remaining available. The new owners have since significantly upgraded Unit D on the estate comprising 4,945 sq ft.
Agents, bdt and Colliers are offering the warehouse or industrial space at an asking rent of £8.25 per sq ft for a new 5 or 10 year lease period. There is very limited supply in this size category, so early interest is anticipated.
Neighbouring tenants on the estate include Anglian Windows, Habitech Ltd, Cotton Graphics, Vishay Measurements and Videlio Limited. Unit A will shortly house an off-peak gas fired power station, ultimately run by Welsh Power and currently the subject of a significant fit out project in its own right.
Other than Unit D, the only other remaining space is in the form of Unit J, comprising 17,824 sq ft, offered at the quoting rent of £7.25 per sq ft.
On behalf of Goodall Barnard Holdings Ltd, bdt incorporating Woodford and Company have let The Barn an attractive office barn conversion to Childsfarm Ltd. The property set out on two floors with a first floor providing an ideal working environment overlooking fields. The suite totalled 3,027 sq ft and was let at a at a rent of £34,000 per annum exclusive.
Brian Pickett of bdt Woodford & Company commented, “The barn has always attracted strong interest, and yet again we were not disappointed with the quality of enquiries received for the property.”
On behalf of DTW Associates, bdt incorporating Woodford and Company have let 33 Wote Street to Hayes Travel Limited. The unit totalled 908 sq ft and being located just outside the entrance to Festival Place attracted strong interest.
Negotiations included the surrender of the existing lease and the grant of a new lease directly from the landlord at a rent of £27,500 per annum exclusive.
The tenant was represented by Lofthouse & Partners.
Another office building in Basingstoke’s ‘upper town’ has succumbed to residential apartment conversion under the Government’s Permitted Development Rights (PDR) legislation.
Initially this measure was seen as a positive step towards extending the life cycle of poorer quality, under parked office buildings – examples being the Sun Alliance House building at the bottom of Wote Street which now provides town centre living accommodation within what had become redundant office space.
However, the PDR sector has gathered momentum as the values of these apartments have increased. As a result, virtually any freehold offices that now come on stream for sale will attract the attention of apartment conversion specialists.
St Pancras House, comprising 5,600 sq ft of office space over 2 floors, together with undercroft parking, was sold following a ‘best bids’ scenario in May this year. The highest bid of over £1 million was accepted and was dependent upon the ability to not only convert the offices, but also the undercroft parking area.
There is growing concern within the commercial property market over the loss of office stock to the PDR market, but this doesn’t appear to have been recognised by the Government, or indeed some local planning authorities. Not only are we seeing the loss of some key and relatively modern office buildings, but there is now a growing trend for offices which are occupied under short leases, to be sold for conversion in advance of when the leases are due to expire. There is little argument now that Basingstoke’s ‘upper town’ is seeing a critical mass of office accommodation being lost. At worst, this will ultimately reduce the viability of the location as a thriving economic sector of the town.
Furthermore, many (if not all) of the office buildings sold for PDR conversion have not required a social housing element to be provided. Under the normal planning requirements, these schemes should have provided a supply of new affordable housing, or at least, financial contributions towards off-site community provision – a loophole which has been exploited without hesitation by many.
The big questions are where (or when) will this cycle end and where will small and ‘professional’ businesses who are very content with their ‘upper town’ business location, end up in the future?
Bizspace Ltd acquired Belvedere House at the very start of 2017. Since then they have renewed leases with existing tenants including Firefighters Charity, Castle Trust and Workfront.
In a real coup, the entire 1st floor of 24,500 sq ft has been let most recently, to Reassured Ltd (https://www.reassured.co.uk/see link below), who will relocate up to 250 staff member from their current base in Alton.
In addition, Belvedere now also features a virtually full floor of co-working space, to be operated by specialist provider, Desklodge. This is the first offer of its kind in the Basingstoke office market and is a reflection of strengthening demand in an up and coming sector.
Co-working environments generally take the form of ‘funky’ and ‘quirky’ office space, available to hire through a membership scheme. The idealogy is based on ultimate flexibility, such that offices, meeting rooms, kiosks and different styles of working places can be hired by the hour, half day, day or for some other agreed period. The rapid growth in the sector is largely in response to recognition that the office market is now made up of different kinds of potential users of space, all with differing requirements for occupation, style and brands of co-working areas, relative to private offices.
Ultimately the ground floor of Belvedere House will offer a vibrant atmosphere, supplemented by the onsite cafeteria run by Hartleys and the Bizspace serviced office centre which is due to open elsewhere in the 120,000 sq ft building later this year. All the signs are that collaborative working environments are becoming increasingly popular with SME’s and corporate businesses alike, not just those with a younger staff demographic.
bdt have brought 6,500 sq ft of top quality, grade A office space to the market in Bracknell.
Retained clients of ours, Quantum Storage UK Ltd with to downsize, wish the result that a smartly fitted ground floor suite in Building 3, Arlington Square, is now surplus to requirements.
Arlington Square is recognised as one of the best quality office schemes in the Thames Valley, leave alone in Bracknell. Quantum’s fit-out will hopefully add to the ‘appeal’ factor.
The passing rent of £18.50 per sq ft is now “reversionary” with the latest letting in Building 3 having been completed at a headline of £23.50 per sq ft. Quantum’s lease has another 4 years before expiry.
Bracknell agents, Fryer Commercial are assisting us with the marketing campaign.
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