It has been a year of firsts for our East of England property company of the year winner. Cambridge-based Brookgate, in charge of a 1.6m sq ft of development in the shadow of the city’s train station, has had something of a roller-coaster year. It finished and handed over the first new building in Cambridge city centre for two decades.
The first tenants have moved into new space at CB1, with Microsoft taking occupation in the second week of January. Chief executive Sven Töpel says modestly: “Besides the civic prize, this is our first award.” And in July, the scheme landed a very rare beast in today’s market: a prelet, with Mott MacDonald agreeing a 44,000 sq ft deal on CB1.
But it has not all been plain sailing. Plans to build 50 & 60 Station Road on the scheme hit the buffers when the city council rejected Brookgate’s planning application, despite the development being recommended for approval. Far from giving up, Brookgate has lodged an appeal and resubmitted its plans.
Nevertheless, it was smiles all round as Töpel and Jon Wooles accepted their award at Estates Gazette‘s Cambridge reception in January. Of course, there was plenty to smile about in the city. Cambridge has bucked the national trend and had a good 2012. However, there was a feeling that deals in 2013 would be hard won, and, outside Cambridge, the market was very quiet.
Property adviser of the year went to Savills, which beat off tough competition from Barker Storey Matthews in second place and Bidwells in third place. For the agents, the deals were smaller so there had to be more of them.
Rob Sadler, commercial director for Savills in the East of England, says: “We knew there weren’t going to be the big meaty deals, so it was important we kept on top of everything, there are a lot of the deals that you look at that are not traditional Savills’ deals, but they all made a significant contribution to the end-of-year total and kept us incredibly busy.”
Aside from where the fees came in, high points for Sadler included selling a 30-acre development site on Coldeans Lane in Cambridge. “It was a deal we have been working on for five years and it was a triumph to get it over the line.” That, and the Matrix deal at Cavendish House.
Others, like the agent’s involvement with buying the Platinum Building on St Johns Innovation Park, were just a matter of good luck. He says: “We didn’t plan or budget for it, we were just in the right place at the right time.”
nadia.elghamry@estatesgazette.com
