December 2010 Archives

Estates Gazette Surrey Focus synopsis

Published February 12, 2011

Croydon

Examination of Croydon's market performance

Contact: Paul Norman, EGi news editor, 020 7911 1894, paul.norman@rbi.co.uk

Retail

Analysis of the retail sector in Surrey

Contact: Mark Simmons, freelance writer, 07787 561032, msimmons@sourceform.co.uk

People

Analysis of the regional market

Contact: Daniel Cunningham, acting deputy regional editor, 020 7911 1822 daniel.cunningham@estatesgazette.com

Market in numbers

Please contact regional editor Stacey.meadwell@estatesgazette.com if you think you can supply up to date Surrey market stats and predictions.

Please contact writers by Wednesday 19 January 2011

Estates Gazette Kent Focus synopsis

Published February 12, 2011

Investment

Analysis of Kent's investment market

Contact: David Thame, freelance writer, 01544 262 896, dthame@clara.co.uk

Regeneration

Examination of major regeneration schemes

Contact: Claire Robson, freelance writer, 07896 267 707, robson.claire@hotmail.co.uk

Market in numbers

Please contact acting deputy regional editor daniel.cunningham@estatesgazette.com if you think you can supply up to date Kent market stats and predictions and comment on the market

Please contact writers by Wednesday 19 January 2011

This video, released today by St Modwen, shows how its Great Homer Street project in Liverpool (known to many by its working title of Project Jennifer) might one day look.

The scheme has been subject to more of its fair share of controversy. Until earlier this year, Great Homer Street in the Everton area of the city was the site of a ferocious planning battle between the UK's titans of supermarket shopping; Tesco and Sainsbury's.

On the one hand, Tesco had hoped to build a scheme featuring a 90,000 sq ft store on the site. On the other, Midlands-based St Modwen, with Sainsbury's in tow, have plans for a 114,000 sq ft supermarket, 481 new homes, 80,000 sq ft of non-food retail, 80,000 sq ft of light industrial and 40,000 sq ft of "community uses".

The planners ruled in favour of St Modwen. A CPO process is underway, with the council expected to issue the order in early 2011, and St Modwen says it is indiscussions with a number of retailers to join Sainsbury's.

It doesn't quite signal the thawing of developer frostiness to the property market, but Salford-based Muse Developments has braved the icy conditions and broken ground at its £300m Civic and Cultural Quarter scheme in Doncaster, south Yorkshire.

The motivation for this particular on-site start is the fact that Muse is the council's development partner and a major component of the scheme is a new 180,000 sq ft HQ for the council. The fact that it is financially backed by the European Regional Development Fund must help as well.

Clearly, this scheme was devised during better days for the public sector, but was far enough advanced not to be axed. But with Britain's new age of austerity upon us, the sight of private developers partnering local authorities on major development projects is going to become very rare indeed, so Muse's ground-breaking (which involved Peter Davies, Mayor of Doncaster, getting behind the wheel of a JCB) is rather a significant event.

Estates Gazette Essex Focus synopsis
Published January 29, 2011

Regeneration
Examination of regeneration projects
Contact: David Quinn, freelance writer, 07841 115601, david@wordsdept.co.uk

Public sector
Analysis of public sector issues
Contact: Karen Day, freelance writer, 07971 671 369, karen.day@dsl.pipex.com

Market in numbers
Please contact regional editor Stacey.meadwell@estatesgazette.com or acting deputy regional editor daniel.cunningham@estatesgazette.com if you think you can supply up to date Essex market stats and predictions, and commentary from local market players

Please contact writers by Wednesday 5 January 2011

Estates Gazette Hertfordshire Focus synopsis

Published January 22, 2011

Development Examination of development projects

Contact: David Thame, freelance writer, 01544 262 896, dthame@clara.co.uk

Public Sector Analysis of the local public sector

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

Offices and industrial Analysis of market conditions and future trends

Contact: Paul Norman, EGi news editor, 020 7911 1894, paul.norman@rbi.co.uk

Market in numbers Please contact acting deputy regional editor daniel.cunningham@estatesgazette.com if you think you can supply up to date Hertfordshire market stats and predictions

Please contact writers by Thursday 23 December 2010

With local councils' budgets having been slashed, RDA's given their marching orders, and many property companies still trying to get back into the black, there has been much speculation as to how many people will actually turn up to next year's MIPIM in Cannes.

Indeed, on this blog in October, we reported that Liverpool council had decided to axe its £150,000- a-year MIPIM budget. Then, in November, Liverpool Vision chief executive Max Steinberg told us that the city's presence at the property festival, while not non-existent, would be "scaled down".

However, it seems like there are plenty of people down the East Lancs Road in Manchester who are already buying their sun-screen and packing their shades ready for next March's trip to the French Riviera.

It has emerged that Manchester's presence at MIPIM 2011 will outstrip that of this year's, with 45 companies already signed up to represent the city, as opposed to 38 this year.  

As if it were an episode of its flagship soap Coronation Street, tension is mounting in the will-they won't-they drama that is ITV Granada's potential move from central Manchester to the Peel Group's MediaCityUK.

This latest episode of speculation has come about due to a slip of the tongue (something which seems to be catching at the moment). Last week, during the handing-over ceremony to Salford University of its new premises at the 103,000 sq ft Orange building at Media City, the university's vice chancellor, Adrian Graves, commented that ITV will soon relocate into "this very building".

The subsequent frenzy of press speculation was met with a stony silence by Peel, while ITV has denied that such a deal has been done.

However, unlike several of the characters in this week's 50th anniversary Corrie episodes, the story will not die. There have been further claims in the national press and online that a long-anticpated deal between ITV and Peel is close.   

Those who have been following Merepark's and development partner Ballymore's progress at the Central Village scheme in Liverpool might find it difficult to envisage just how the finished product will fit into the existing fabric of the city.

The site for the mixed-use project, which includes a redevelopment of the famous Lewis's department store (with the retention of Dickie Lewis), is sandwiched in between the city's Bold Street and Renshaw Street, and features railway sidings land. At first glance, it's hard to imagine how the developers will wedge two hotels, an apart‑hotel, shops and restaurants, a cinema and offices, not to mention public realm into the space.

Well, take a look at the above fly-through which Merepark has released today. The video shows exactly how the developer imagines its finished product, and it looks, it must be said, fairly impressive.