Recently in Manchester Category

Considering how difficult it was to get take up stats from Manchester's office agents at the end of last year, I thought its all new singing and dancing office agents forum would release them to a fanfare.

The idea, floated this time last year, was Manchester would follow in the footsteps of their regional cousins and present a collective view of office take up from this January onwards.

But three months into the year and the fanfare has yet to sound as agents couldn't agree on a date in Q4 last year to gather and agree on the figures.

Needless to say, in that time, agents released their own figures, and CB Richard Ellis grabbed the headlines in February, reporting that take up in the city centre reached 830,000 sq ft. (EGi subscribers can read the story here). Other agents also released reports, all telling a different story.

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.

A lack of supply and the fragile state of the property market were key topics at the Estates Gazette Focus reception in Manchester last week (for pictures click here).

The reception, held in the Urbis building in Manchester city centre, included a presentation by EG editor Damian Wild. He also announced the winners of the EGi deals database competition with King Sturge taking the Most Active National Agent in Greater Manchester title and Roger Hannah the Most Active Regional Agent.

EGTV's Helen Roxburgh talked to attendees about the city's property market, and visited developer Argent at its 78,000 sq ft office scheme The Hive, which is due to complete next week. The building is a rarity - a new office block completing in the city this year.

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.

 

After inflicting sticky floors and less than glamourous surroundings on our guests last year (the person who recommended the venue confessed to having been a little bit tipsy when they'd visited) it was time for something a bit, well, nicer for this year's annual Manchester reception.
 
And our choice of The Modern at Urbis, with it's panoramic views of the city, seemed to go down well with the city's property industry who turned out in force, despite the snow.

There was plenty to talk about, some of which may even make it into the Manchester features. The rest? Well I couldn't possibly say except that it involved a life guard and a moustache.

Here are a few pictures, we'll add the rest as they become available. You can also click here for the Manchester and North West industrial synopses.

Overview
An examination of the region's market
Melanie Smith, editorial assistant, 020 7911 1916, melanie.smith@estatesgazette.com

Both Deloitte and Drivers Jonas have offices in Manchester, on Hardman Street and New York Street respectively, but how the two companies handle their space requirements after the conclusion of the merger, which was announced on Friday, is unclear.

The news of the merger sent shockwaves through the market as it potentially gives Drivers Jonas, with it's 650 staff, access to Deloitte's impressive list of FTSE 100 clients and wider network of UK offices.  It gives accountancy firm Deloitte's 40-strong property team a chance to grow (see our earlier post for details and interactive map of two firms UK offices).

Deloitte also has an office in Liverpool and Dan Cunningham our North West reporter asked head of Drivers Jonas' Manchester office, John Adams, about the plans for the merged companies North West presence. He said: "Our partnership with Deloitte will afford us an exciting opportunity to extend the range of high quality services and advice that we provide to clients across the North West.

"We see huge opportunity in combining Deloitte's real estate skills and wider business expertise with our full range of property and construction services. North West investors and occupiers will benefit from a fully integrated, market-leading offer combining real estate knowledge, tax, finance and structuring advice.

"We have continued to grow our North West business throughout the recession and, as Drivers Jonas Deloitte, can now look forward to exponential growth, increasing the scale of our real estate service offering and overall traction within the North West property market. For now, though, it is business as usual for our clients, and that remains our top priority."

For comment from Drivers Jonas and the market reaction in Leeds click here.
For reaction from East of England agents at our Cambridge reception on Friday click here.
For market reaction in Birmingham click here.