With the festive season hard upon us, we thought we’d take a tongue-firmly-in-cheek look at those stories and press releases that raised an eyebrow on the regional Focus desk this year. And so, without further ado (and certainly no black-tie dinner or comedian), we present the Alternative EG Awards – the EGGs, as we are calling them
The Raining On Our Parade Award
This goes to Newport for providing the rather damp setting for this year’s Ryder Cup. After years of planning and marketing, and the prospects of attracting potential inward investors to the Welsh city, play was forced into a historic fourth day as the heavens opened.
Maybe, next time, someone should think twice about hosting a major sporting event in South Wales in October.
The “No But Yeah But No But Yeah” Award
HDG Mansur walks away with this one for keeping the market guessing for what seems like years about the start on site of its speculative office scheme in Bristol.
The 110,000 sq ft Bridgewater House is part of the developer’s mixed-used Finzels Reach development. Back in September 2009, when there still was no sign of building, EG wrote: “Chris Read, HDG’s head of UK and European investment, insists that the delay is merely down to procurement issues. He says that work will resume in October, with completion in the first quarter of 2011. The schedule has crept back since April, when the developer said that it would complete the scheme in May 2010.”
Cranes finally went on site last spring. Photographic evidence was requested to put speculation to rest, with completion expected in May 2011. Not quite Q1, then.
The Stating The Bloomin’ Obvious Award
This goes to Mark Swallow, head of Knight Frank’s Birmingham office, for his indepth insight into “top commercial property solutions” for local occupiers.
Speaking on behalf of the RICS, Swallow said: “Nobody in the retail trade is in doubt that a shop in the wrong location – or even a shop in the right location, on the wrong terms – can spell doom for the business. But selection of premises can be equally important if you are running a manufacturing or distribution business, or even an office-based professional services business.”
Valuable advice for fledgling businesses, indeed.
The Sod The Recession, Gung-Ho Developer Award
We are fickle, so this also goes to HDG Mansur for starting a 110,000 sq ft speculative office development in Bristol (see “No But Yeah”), making it probably the only developer outside London to take a punt on better market conditions next year.
The Hold The Front Page Award
News from the North West Regional Development Agency this month, to the effect that a leading Indian aerospace firm had decided to set up its European HQ in the region, grabbed EG’s attention immediately.
However, the initial information from the RDA merely stated that the firm, Genser, would move into Bruntwood’s 1 Portland Street in Manchester under the “Hello Manchester” free desk scheme run by NWDA and inward investment firm MIDAS.
On closer inspection, it turns out that Genser has taken one (yes, one) desk at the site.
The Most Ambitious Property Company Of The Year Award
When the government announced in June that the regional development agencies were to be axed, it called for local authorities and the private sector to come forward with proposals for a network of Local Enterprise Partnerships to replace them.
Effectively, the coalition was asking the country to redraw the UK economic map.
Never one to shy from a challenge, North West uber-landlord Peel Holdings, led by billionaire businessman John Whittaker, decided that it wanted a say. In a bid described in the local press as “audacious”, Peel suggested that its development framework – branded Atlantic Gateway and taking in its sites from Liverpool to Manchester – ought to be enshrined in our economic geography.
Peel described it as “game-changing”. The region’s councils, busy putting together bids based around actual towns and cities, disagreed. Peel subsequently dropped the idea, but full marks for trying.
Last year, the government called in Lend Lease’s £700m Preston shopping behemoth, Tithebarn – in part, because neighbouring towns, led by Blackpool and Blackburn, objected that it would suck business from their centres.
When the public inquiry into the scheme eventually came round this May, displeasure at Lend Lease’s proposals had not eased. The opposing councils put together what can only be called a crack team to put a spoke in Preston’s wheels.
Team Blackpool/burn’s experts included the man known as “KitKat” – Christopher Katkowski QC, a star of the UK’s legal scene, and the man who successfully lobbied for Gerald Ronson’s Heron Tower and Irvine Sellar’s Shard. Shoulder-to-shoulder with him was North West legal eagle Paul Tucker QC.
Against such forces, surely Tithebarn’s days were numbered. Not quite. Last month, the inspector gave the project the thumbs-up.
Most Interesting Or Imaginative Scheme Name Award
Scheme names are getting ever more colourful. London has its fair share of such developments – such as the Shard, the Walkie Talkie, the Gherkin, and so on – while the East Midlands has the Bunny Trading Estate.
Ahem, not quite the cachet of the Shard, but EG hears that the scheme is hopping to get some new tenants soon.
James McArthur, of newly retained letting agent Innes England, says: “Historically, the 66,400 sq ft estate has been challenging to manage. We are looking forward to working closely with the owner, the Appliance Warehouse (Midlands) Executive Retirement Benefits Scheme, to ensure that we continue to improve the estate and the client’s investments.”
Innes England was last seen dangling carrots to prospective tenants.
Your turn to join the fun
If you would like to suggest any other awards, and candidates, do e-mail us the details. If your idea is publishable, we’ll put it up on the Focus blog in the run up to Xmas.
