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On Friday, Land Securities treated me to a bird's eye view of the work in progress that is its 1m sq ft Trinity Leeds development.

As you can see from the pictures, the shopping scheme is really taking shape and from the vantage point of LandSec's marketing suite, it is quite an impressive undertaking.

While in Leeds, I also caught up with Town Centre Securities' which is revamping it's Merrion Centre, had a look at what there is to see of the Leeds Arena building site and had my eye caught by Downing Developments' award winning student digs, Broadcasting Place.

 

Related posts:

Pics and video: LandSec's Trinity Leeds development update

The planet's best tall building of 2010? Student digs in Leeds, apparantly 

At times it may have seemed like an impossible dream, getting a 1.6m sq ft retail and leisure scheme up and running during a recession, losing a developer along the way to administration, but The Rock in Bury finally flung open its doors last week. 

More than 18,000 eager shoppers visited the M&S and Debenhams-anchored scheme within the first two hours of opening and EGTV was there to capture the excitement.

It is 84% let by area and retail and leisure reporter Annabel Dixon spoke to Hammerson, which took over the development for the administrators Deloitte in January, and some of retailers about the journey to the opening.

You can also read the full story by clicking here:

All Leeds council wanted to do was make sweet music.

But today in the council there must have been rather more head banging than rocking out.

Its hopes of a Leeds arena have suffered another blow as the latest twist in the Leeds arena saga emerged. The council said this lunchtime that they're disappointed in a high court judge's decision which rejected the council's bid to overturn parts of a legal action from former city marketing chief Jan Fletcher (there's more on the case by clicking on the continue reading link below).

Jan is a well-known, and fairly feisty character on the Leeds scene and not one to lay back and let anyone walk all over her. But even so this latest turn does look a bit unusual.

Jan's Montpellier Estates has a planning application in with the council for the very site on Sweet Street she'd hoped they'd pick for the arena. She's also like the license the council holds for a large casino.

Now I'm sure that Leeds council will be at pains to point out that one case will in no way influence the other but few developers with a major pending planning application want to say an ill word of the council never mind launch a full blown legal action.

Unless urgent action is taken, the satellite towns of Greater Manchester can look forward to a future of decline.

That was the somewhat grim starting point for a debate held last Friday at Manchester United Football Club's Old Trafford stadium, hosted by the Greater Manchester Business Leadership Council and chaired by Ask Developments' chief executive, Ken Knott.

The high profile panel included Neil Mitchenall, co-founder of retail agency Lunson Mitchenall, Drivers Jonas Deloitte's Manchester head Simon Bedford, and Richard Akers, managing director of Land Securities' retail team.

In an A-Team-style call-to-arms, Knott urged that private sector stakeholders in the eight towns of the city region need to put their heads together and come up with a solution in a bid to bring a concerted regeneration effort to the region.  

Talk in Manchester suggests that everybody's favourite mockney chef, Jamie Oliver, (pictured) is close to agreeing a deal to bring his Jamie's Italian restaurant brand to the city, at long last.

After scouring potential sites , the face of the in-no-way-annoying Sainsbury's adverts and his people are likely to settle on the grand 1920s-built 100 King Street in the city centre; a former Midland Bank (and latterly HSBC) grade II listed building which is owned by Yorkshire-based Marshall CDP.

Oliver's hunt for space has raised the question of just where is the trendy and upmarket retail and leisure pitch in Manchester these days?

Traditionally, King Street in the city core has been the stomping ground of Mancunians with a penchant for designer brands and trendy eateries.

But Mike Ingall's Allied London is determined to inject a bit of luxury and trendiness into its Spinningfields estate on the edge of the city centre. This autumn, at long last (a mere 18 months after it was due to open) Allied will unveil its 'boulevard of international fashion', The Avenue, which has already tempted brands such as Armani away from King Street.

It's as if Christmas has come early for developer McAleer & Rushe.

Bradford city council has agreed to provide £6m to bridge the funding gap at the developer's £45m mixed-use Southgate scheme in the city centre.

As reported in EG last month, the developer went cap in hand to the council for extra cash after its funders, Bank of Scotland in Ireland, said it would only provide 75% of development costs on condition that the developer secures and spends the remaining 25% of costs first. And this was despite the developer securing a pre-let for the entire 117,000 sq ft office element and Jury's Inn as the hotel operator.

But the clinking of champagne glasses may not last long, as a gift this is not. The developer will need to have paid back the £6m, with interest, by the time the project is completed in October next year, which is when Provident Financial, wants to move into its new offices.

And with the council already spending £10m on Bradford's City Park and mirror pool water feature at a time when local authority finances are already under pressure, the council will no doubt be feeling that this repayment date can't come soon enough.

 

It's another double Focus in this week's mag with Yorkshire and our continued trip around the M25.

Bradford: While in the city interviewing for this week's Bradford feature, I picked up that BBC Inside Out had been out and about filming for a documentary about the city's regeneration. Not to be outdone I've put together my own short film which walks around some of the major regeneration sites. The city still has many hurdles to clamber over. McAleer and Rushe's has yet to secure financing for its 100% prelet Southgate scheme, but plans for the council's City Park seem ready to progress. You can read an indepth analysis in my feature this week.

Retail: Retail regeneration is a dirty word in any county at the moment, but Yorkshire's  had more than its fair share of stalled projects. Nadia Elghamry looks at the latest from Trinity Walk in Wakefield and how Hammerson are turning to TIFs to try and get its Sevenstone scheme in Sheffield back on track.

Property investors in Bradford are being given the rare opportunity to make an investment on a dead-cert property.

The former mortuary in the Yorkshire city is being put up for auction next month with a guide price of £80, 000 to £100, 000. It's full listing is here.

According to The Telegraph and Argus auctioneers Pugh & Company believe it will become a nightclub or a bar - presumably for anyone in need of a stiff drink. We've heard that the pub business is dead but this may be taking this too far.

And it's not the only unusual property to pop up for sale this week. A former Prisoner of War camp in County Durham is being sold on eBay. The ancient monument was turned into a tourist attraction in 2004 but its owners can no longer afford to complete its restoration.

With a guide price of £900, 000 the one acre site has planning permission for 13 holiday homes and comes complete with an original theatre and huts featuring prisoners wall paintings. Lovely I'm sure if you are into that sort of thing.

Picture of toe tag by a.drian from Flickr used under a Creative Commons license

You've got to hand it to Allied London's Mike Ingall. The force behind Manchester's 4.6m sq ft Spinningfields came to the juddering realisation recently that it might have made some mistakes in its letting strategy for its restaurant space.

But rather than cover this with bluster and apply the sticking plaster of PR Ingall gives David Thame a frank and disarmingly honest account in this week's Focus of what went wrong and how they are going to put it right.

Meanwhile, Daniel Cunningham turns his attention to the local office and industrial market. Exclusive research compiled for EG by Kellie Solutions shows just how dramatic the slowdown in development has been in the city. Nearly 850, 000 sq ft has ground to a halt. In the industrial Segro by buying Brixton Estates has become the dominant player in the North West, Daniel looks at what their strategy might be.

Picture from Coxy on Flickr. Used under the Creative Commons license.

A PR sent me this picture relating to a feature I'm writing on Herefordshire. It's The Sportsman pub in Hereford and illustrates a trend of pubs coming onto the market in the area, proving there are still investment deals, carrying solid development opportunities, to be done.