Ayrshire in west Scotland is used to existing in the shadow of Glasgow — the Goliath of Scottish property development. But long-term plans could have its larger neighbour looking over its shoulder.
The centre of activity has been in and around the county town of Ayr, where AWG has drawn up a masterplan for the redevelopment of the 740-acre Auchincruive campus of the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC).
In addition, nearby Ayr racecourse has outline consent for a £35m mixed-use development (see box), and the 350,000 sq ft Ayr Central shopping scheme will double the size of the town’s retail offering. “Ayr has really taken off in the past couple of years,” says Hugh Cole, commercial associate at DM Hall.
In terms of pure scale, the largest scheme is AWG’s. Following the SAC’s decision to open up underused land on its three sites in Scotland, it selected the firm as development partner from around 50 bidders late last year.
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The Scottish Agricultural College has chosen AWG to build a golf course, equestrian centre, a hotel and housing |
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Source: AWG |
AWG has had to take into account that the Auchincruive campus is on green-belt land. Jim Kirkwood, development manager, said: “This is not a mass housing redevelopment. A residential-led scheme would have struggled to get planning consent.”
Although it includes around 200 houses, the masterplan is led by a business park campus, an 18-hole golf course and a hotel/conference centre. The SAC will also continue to operate from the site.
The multiple uses being suggested for the site are complementary, Kirkwood says. Office workers, residents and those using the hotel and conference facilities could all use the golf course, for instance.
Ayrshire is something of a Mecca for golfers, and Cole says there is a danger of the area becoming “golf coursed out”. Kirkwood, however, says AWG’s design will differ from the links-style courses in the area.
AWG is aiming to build 100,000 sq ft of low-rise campus-style offices and, while a prelet or two would be good, Kirkwood says that the firm is prepared to develop speculatively. He cites the extension of the M77 motorway, which opened earlier this year, as a major benefit.
Stretching from Fenwick near Kilmarnock to Glasgow, it replaces a notoriously dangerous and congested section of the A77. Kirkwood estimates this has shaved half an hour off travel time to Glasgow.
Ayrshire has struggled in the recent past to attract office occupiers, although there is also a supply issue. DM Hall’s Cole notes: “There is no doubt there is a dearth of modern offices in Ayrshire.” He explains, however, that a catch-22 situation has not helped. “Rents are around £10 per sq ft, which developers often can’t afford. If they do build, they are looking for £15 per sq ft, which is too much for the local market,” he says.
Cole says there a couple of large public sector requirements, with both the local council and health board expecting to relocate.
Evelyn McCann, chief executive of Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire, agrees that the public sector is the most likely potential occupier. “We have found that call centres have had difficulty attracting staff unless they are in the middle of town centres, because of the lack of public transport,” she says. She is also pessimistic about the chances of life science companies being attracted to the area — despite the presence of the SAC, competition from other regions with existing life-science clusters would be too great.
Ayrshire has, McCann notes, been successful at securing aerospace and air cargo companies, attracted by the presence of Prestwick airport, north of Ayr, although this has tended to focus more on industrial rather than office requirements.
Kirkwood, meanwhile, is keen to emphasise AWG’s flexible approach to the SAC scheme. “The masterplan is not a closed book,” he says. The developer aims to submit an application for outline consent in March 2007. “It’s all about deliverability,” Kirkwood says. He hopes to get the scheme off the ground towards the end of the decade, which ties in with the SAC’s requirements.
He is not worried about the scale of the scheme. “Ayrshire has had too many schemes stall at the planning stage. It needs something to give it the ‘wow’ factor.”
This is also the aim of Henry Boot’s Ayr Central shopping scheme in the town centre, which the developer says will take the town to fifth in the Scottish CACI retail rankings, placing Ayr behind Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee, and above Braehead, East Kilbride and Stirling. The scheme, anchored by Debenhams, is around 75% let.
Activity in Ayrshire’s other two main towns, Kilmarnock and Irvine, is subdued, however, with agents reporting that industrial units in Irvine are proving particularly difficult to let.
Looking to Kilmarnock’s retail market, Martin Gudaitis, partner at Montagu Evans, reports that zone A rents have been stagnant for more than five years.
There is still investor demand, however. Cole states that recent retail transactions in Kilmarnock have dipped below the 6% initial yield mark. But he notes that the M77 extension, while opening up links into Ayrshire, also makes it easier for shoppers to get to Glasgow.
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Ayr racecourse has been given the go-ahead for a £35m mixed-use scheme, after a long planning process. The scheme, which includes a multiplex cinema, casino, sports bar, hotel and conference centre, 37,000 sq ft of retail and 400 houses, achieved outline consent mid May. Originally intended to be ready for Ayr racecourse’s centenary in 2007, it is now scheduled to open in 2009. “This development will be a catalyst for all of Ayrshire,” says racecourse chairman Alan MacDonald. MacDonald says that Odeon Cinemas, which has an old three-screen facility in the centre of Ayr, did not object to the plans, and predicts it could be interested in the scheme. “A cinema is needed,” says Hugh Cole, commercial associate at DM Hall, who notes that Ayr residents often go to Kilmarnock’s cinema. MacDonald has applied for a gaming licence for the casino, which he says will be a “rasino” — a casino with a racing theme. The scheme will also house an 80-bed hotel and conference centre, as well as the existing 49-bed hotel. Cole notes, however, that planning consent has been granted to both Travelodge and Holiday Inn Express to build on the edge of Ayr. “That will take up a lot of bed space, although there is a dearth of modern, quality hotels. It will probably be the bed and breakfasts that will suffer.” On the retail side, two of the four units have already been taken. Money generated by the scheme will be ploughed into an upgrade of the racecourse, including a new grandstand, and income from retail rents will be added to prize money. MacDonald, chairman of construction firm the Dawn Group, and Richard Johnstone, chairman of Thorntoun Health Care, brought the course for £10m in 2003. |
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