AROUND THE SOUTH WEST AND SOUTH WALES WWW.PROPNEWS.CO.UK
Devon
Newport and south east Wales
Tim Smith
Head of Commercial
Chris Sutton
Stags
Joint Managing Director
Exeter
King Sturge
Cardiff
Contrary to the general media I am going to focus
on more positive aspects of the commercial
property market in Devon. Through other agents
The recent announcement that Admiral Insurance
around Exeter we have seen continued take up
is to open its claims office at the newly built
of prime city centre offices at The Senate and a
Guinevere House, on Rombourne's Langstone
large out of town pre-let at Capital Court.
Business Park, provides another major boost to the economy of
A major land deal has also been agreed for the sale of part of Rok
Newport. The only downside to this announcement is that it is, yet
Development's portfolio at Exeter Business Park and having recently put a
another, major project attracted to the outskirts of the city and is a
large industrial & office business park development scheme into the market
reflection on the lack of modern floorspace in the city centre. The
at Cullompton on a pre-let/sale basis we have been very encouraged by the
doughnut effect continues.
response from occupiers.
On the other side of the city, Celtic Springs Business Park, adjacent to
From talking to fellow agents who went through the last big downturn in
J28 of the M4, continues to go from strength to strength. It is understood that
the early 1990's there are several things that I have picked up on:
the Home Office is considering the 35,000 sq ft CS 3000 office scheme on
The first is the speed of the downturn this time around which is obviously
the basis of an extension being undertaken to increase the unit to its required
linked to the global credit situation but may also have something to do with
size. In addition, work on a new 'Hilton Garden' Hotel is due to start shortly
the age of technology which we now live in where speed of communication
and a new crèche has also been attracted to the Park.
is so much quicker & availability of information is more widespread through
To the south of Celtic Springs, Wales' second data centre is being
the internet. It follows that once the credit situation is fixed we should see a
commissioned in the former Hynix Semi-Conductor building on Imperial
quick recovery.
Park. Next Generation Data plan to sub-divide the building into a large
The second is the lack of speculatively built space and development land
number of data halls in what is promoted as a '£200m development'.
in general which is keeping up demand and keeping down outgoings for
Meanwhile, there remains a steady stream of enquiries for the modern
those with land holdings. I can think of half a dozen substantial buildings
industrial floorspace being marketed by Curzon at Imperial Park.
around Exeter which went up speculatively during the early 1990's and sat
At nearby Cleppa Park some 18,500 sq ft has come to the market at
empty for a long time afterwards, no doubt causing their owners significant
Glyndwr House with a further 4,800 sq ft in Caradog House, both owned by
financial pain even without vacant property rates. There will always be vacant
La Salle and these are to be offered at competitive rents having been
stock but it is currently nowhere near these levels.
refurbished.
In summary we are far from being out of the woods yet, but it is certainly
Out of town, the office market has remained active with recent lettings at
not all bad news at least as far as the commercial property market is
Mamhilad Business Park, Pontypool, to Gwent Police, Monmouthshire
concerned.
County Council, Gwent NHS Trust, Advocacy Action Wales and D M
Gallagher Plant. The proposed relocation of Monmouthshire County Council
Cornwall
from County Hall, Cwmbran, is now coming to a head with agents Alder King
acting.
Tim Smart
On the Llanwern Regeneration Site, St Modwen Developments have
Head of Agency
confirmed the residential sector is to be marketed as Glan Llyn with site
Alder King
remediation well underway. The 100 acre employment element is to be
Truro
brought to the market through our firm and our joint agents Knight Frank. In
the short term, the site will become what is probably Wales' largest park and
Well, l've made it to 50 and we are witnessing the
ride facility with some 10,000 vehicles to be accommodated there during the
worst summer weather since I arrived on this
Ryder Cup in September 2010.
planet. The economic climate is looking gloomy
too but I had an early indication of the present
credit crunch in mid 2007 courtesy of my friend North Somerset and Somerset
Victor Chu, a member of the World Economic
Forum along with our PM - so, did Gordon also
know what we were in for? Victor, a world renowned Asian businessman,
invited me for coffee at the Grosvenor Hotel in Park Lane after his 50th
Chris Cluff
birthday party in Brooks. He explained with great tenacity the sub
Principal
prime lending debacle and predicted it would be a two year stint of
Cluff Commercial
world economic slowdown from the latter part of 2007.
Bridgwater
There are positive challenges in this changing market. We alI need to be
adaptable and versatile and look for different opportunities and maybe we will
even see the return ot the industrial leasehold market? Fortunately, Cornwall The inevitable has finally happened, and the
is better placed than in the last recession - with improved infrastructure, the market has finally realised that the growth spiral
internet, quality business space, greater inward investment and, of course, could not last forever, some three years after I
convergence funds coming on line - incidently, Diana Mompoloki, head of had thought that it was no longer sustainable.
convergence at the RDA is a breath of fresh air! As usual the government has milked the property gold mine into oblivion,
When reading the London Evening Standard recently it had an article and we are now left with the legacy of high stamp duty, energy performance
about a stag weekend in Cornwall - Newquay was referred to as Sodom on certificates, and the ham fisted empty rates legislation to further stifle the
Sea and the columnist was advising his readers to save themselves a trip to market.
the Eden Project and go to a garden centre! The only slight glimmer of sunshine is that we are finding a reasonably
During my year as chairman of the RICS Cornwall Local Association I active letting market as companies abandon their freehold aspirations and
intend, in conjuction with the Wooden Spoon Charity, to organise a visit by return to the more traditional leasehold route.
a high profile rugby player to selected schools and promote surveying to their My prediction is that as long as business confidence remains, the
pupils. All of us at Alder King, who are sponsors of the Funchall 500 Tall Ships commercial market will find its own balance by next spring, and investors may
Regatta at Falmouth, are looking forward to September when the weather creep out from under their stones, but the housing market will take much
will have, hopefully, improved and that Fannie and Freddie will be fixed by longer to recover. At least it will be easier to find a plumber or a bricky when
then but somehow I doubt it. you need one! Now I'm off to the beach!
Property News August 2008 19
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