February 2010 Archives

The North West is "leading the UK out of recession," and "intervention at a regional level has protected the region from the ravages of recession." That was the bullish claim of one speaker at this morning's Smith Institute seminar at the House of Lords this morning I went to this morning.

The institute used the seminar, which featured among others North West minister Phil Woolas, to unveil its latest publication,The Future of the North West.pdf

The report states that the North WEst now has a £120bn economy and urges that the region be granted greater economic powers in order that its economic priorities be met.

The Chatham House rule prevents me from dishing the dirt on who exactly said what, but the flavour was a generally positive - vehemently at times - overview of how the North West is faring this downturn.

The subtle difference between these two recently-taken pictures (except for the fact that one is a night-time snow scene and the other isn't) is that they show the site of Manchester's largest development project, before and after the diggers rolled in.

The images are taken from the top of the Co-operative Group's New Century House in Manchester and show the site of the group's 325,000 sq ft headquarters development. The top picture, taken last December, clearly shows the landholding still in use as a car park. The bottom picture, taken last week, shows that groundworks for the 3D Reid-designed building are now underway (EGi subscribers can read more about the project here.) 

Regional rents may be over the worst. Jones Lang LaSalle has issued what at first looks like an up-beat release for developers desperate to get cracking on those building plans (read the full report here). But read on, the agency goes on to say that it's a shortage of supply and definitely not a growth in demand that's pushing up those rents.

Look at its office clock and that bottom left quadrant, which shows rents accelerating is sadly and totally empty. From a regional point of view only a handful are inching past the 4pm rents bottoming out mark.

Edinburgh and Leeds started to fall later so are behind the cycle and only just beginning to catch up now, says JLL. Birmingham fell first so is already past the worst.

Readers who are partial to watching 22 grown men kick a ball around a rectangular pitch will be intently watching the financial crisis which is enveloping football, from both a supporters' and a property perspective.

Especially with the news this week that sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe has shown football the yellow card by calling for the sport to be better regulated, particularly when it comes to clubs' spending habits.

Indeed, across the country, the financial problems faced by football clubs are highlighting property's role in the sport.

Here's what the press have to say about it.

Crystal Palace: Last Friday, EG's Mike Phillips revealed how the sale of beleagured Crystal Palace FC's stadium is likely to prove crucial in the hunt for a buyer for the club. EGi subsribers can read the story here.

The Croydon Advertiser reports that the complicated ownership of Palace's ground has been a major stumbling block in the club's search for a buyer, but that talks are progressing.

Portsmouth: As it faces the possibility of liquidation, Portsmouth FC has dominated sporting headlines of late. Portsmouth Today reports that the hunt for a buyer is on, but of particular interest to property people is the fact that property giant Grosvenor was one of the parties persuing the winding-up order against the club, as reported in The Telegraph. The petition was subsequently withdrawn.

Earlier this week John Lewis announced they'd be opening a home store in Croydon.

It will be the partnership's second in the country and follows hot on the heels of the one it opened in Poole (pictured) last October. It seemed fairly obvious back then that this was a reaction to the retailer desperately wanting to expand but being thwarted by developers inability to deliver (although the partnership is far too polite to ever actually say that).

In Croydon John Lewis has patiently waited while the fireworks flew over Park Place. The 1m sq ft retail scheme collapsed last year and its future, like much of Croydon's regeneration is now under review. In this week's mag we've taken a detailed look at Croydon's plans and John Lewis says it still had "long term ambition" to set up in the town.

They announced back in 2004 that they wanted a presence in Croydon - the same time incidentally that they announced an ambition to be in Cardiff, a store that has is now open and trading.

The fact that they've invested £7.5m in the at home concept in the town and settled for 52,000 sq ft rather than the 300, 000 sq ft promised at Park Place hints that they may realise that that ambition is slipping further an further over the horizon.

There's plenty of talk about Peel's MediaCityUK at the moment, especially surrounding ITV, which is currently based in central Manchester but is talking to Peel about a potential move (EGi subscribers can read about the talks here).

In the wake of EG's Manchester Focus reception on Wednesday evening, I made the trip to Salford Quays yesterday to see for myself how the scheme is coming along.

The view from many in Manchester is that Peel needs to bag ITV in order to bring a second major media anchor to the scheme, and prevent it from simply becoming known as the BBC's home in The North.

With ITV recently appointing former FA and Royal Mail man Adam Crozier as chief executive and Archie Norman as chairman, most are hopeful that the broadcaster's long-mooted move to Salford Quays, taking with it the famed cobbles of Coronation Street, will happen.

That said, the view of Media City from across the Manchester Ship Canal is already pretty impressive. Click on the slide-show below to see the photographic evidence.

ESTATES GAZETTE SOUTH WALES FOCUS

 MARCH 20, 2010 ISSUE

Overview

A look at offices, retail and industrial across all of South Wales

Simon Jack, freelance writer, 01225 444 780, simon@sdjack.freeserve.co.uk

Public sector

Analysis of the sector and its effect on the local market.

Karen Day, freelance writer, 07971 671 369, karen.day@dsl.pipex.com

Cardiff offices

What's in store for the Welsh capital's market?

Geoff Hadwick, freelance writer, 07885 796689, geoff.hadwick@googlemail.com

Deadline for receipt of editorial information is 23rd February