Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of real estate-relevant headlines from the national papers.
Blackstone’s plans for the largest artificial intelligence data centre development in Europe have moved forward with a pre-planning application to Northumberland County Council.
Blackstone bought the site, at Cambois in Blyth, after vehicle battery business Britishvolt was placed into receivership. It had been earmarked as a £3.8bn gigafactory for the company.
An environmental impact assessment report produced for applicant Renaissance Land – directors of which include Blackstone executives – says the development will comprise up to 10 data centre buildings totalling up to 5.8m sq ft.
Also getting new project plans under way is M&G Real Estate, which has filed initial paperwork for a redevelopment of its 1-2 Minster Court office and retail block in the City of London, EC3.
The existing 13- and 10-storey buildings provide around 315,000 sq ft of space. The proposed development would more than double this to almost 700,000 sq ft of office, retail and cultural space.
As part of an earlier consultation, M&G said the aim of the project was to create “a new City destination that becomes a City institution”.
If these investors are looking for inspiration, they could do worse than read this column from General Projects founder Jacob Loftus, who argues that real estate development is akin to movie directing.
“This analogy captures the essence of the job, emphasising the importance of fusing vision and imagination, teamwork and collaboration and persistence and resilience,” Loftus says. “It’s ultimately about creating a product that delights and excites our end users and, hopefully, leaves a lasting legacy that stands the test of time.”
Manchester’s 76 King Street is to become home to two separate flex operators following its acquisition by Northern Group.
Northern Group is to let around 5,500 sq ft of basement and ground floor space at what is known locally as the DKNY building to its sister company, flex provider Colony. It will join serviced office specialist Orega in the building, which occupies the top three floors and has been in place since 2013.
There’s also news on Landsec’s latest leasing in Leeds; a fresh London HQ for Avison Young; and a new consultancy launch from MCR’s Sam Henderson and plenty more below.
All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals:
Blackstone pushes on with mammoth AI data centre plans
M&G takes first steps in Minster Court redevelopment
Northern Group buys Manchester’s DKNY building
COMMENT: Why every developer is a movie producer
Go Compare makes choice on new Cardiff HQ
Revolution Bars toasts completion of fundraise and restructuring
Church Commissioners picks rural agent for the North and Midlands
FEC expands its in-house Found brand
Student Roost adopts resident well-being platform
Avison Young in talks with Lazari for new Fitzrovia HQ
Blackstone buys majority share in Burstone’s €1.1bn logistics platform
MCR’s Henderson launches real estate consultancy
Landsec strikes bowling deal at Leeds shopping centre
Invesco and Garbe team up on East Midlands logistics scheme
Royal London signs tenant for Manchester office
Lego to open second Bristol store
COMMENT: Reading the property runes
Scape Group appoints chief executive for Europe
Avant Homes East Midlands scheme gets go-ahead
Sunderland seeks partner for 600-home neighbourhood
National deals round-up
Young staff least likely to work from home (£)
Mountain Warehouse takes big step to conquer America (£)
Citypoint building is put up for sale (£)
UK’s Grenfell Tower fire victims say final report may still not bring justice (£)
Hong Kong developer suffers historic loss in wake of Xi Jinping crackdown (£)
Murdoch’s REA shouldn’t expect an open door at Rightmove (£)
Send feedback to Tim Burke
Follow Estates Gazette
