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Developers Stoford debuted in Wales when it became the surprise winner of the fight for Admiral Insurance. The deal to build the insurers new 215,000 sq ft HQ was the biggest of the year in Cardiff in 2010 and had been expected to be landed by Wales stalwarts MEPC/Rightacres at Callaghan Square. However, Stoford's having done a deal with Land Sec held the key city centre site - adjoining the St David's shopping centre - on the David Street car park. The deal was a relief, says Stokes, 'the region was foreign to us and it was challenging,' he said not least from the expenditure it involved.

Now that's something you don't see in a Welsh shed everyday. 

"At a top level, what the NPPF delivers in England (and what is missing in Wales) is a clear, legislated link between planning and economic development. The clarity that has been provided across the border as to the definition of the presumption in favour of sustainable development - that there is a requirement for all applications to be considered in the context of the proposed development's impact on the economy - is also sorely lacking in Wales. Accordingly, in the absence of any detailed guidance from the Welsh Assembly Government, applications are currently being rejected in Wales using the principle of localism, with little or no consideration as to the positive or otherwise impact they might have on the economy. 

This is an issue that needs to be addressed. Investment in Enterprise Zones, a defined presumption in favour of sustainable development and now the further clarity and confidence lent to the property sector via the NPPF is more than enough incentive to drive development and investment away from Wales. Yes, last week's Budget did provide some enhanced capital allowances for Welsh enterprise zones (starting with Deeside) but the limitation placed on these via European competition rules means their impact arguably won't be as significant as it could be. And the budget's announcement of 40 per cent-plus cuts in capital grants between 2010 and 2015 was further bad news for Wales - meaning those developments that were ready to go ahead in all but action will now have to wait. 

Whatever the detailed reaction of the industry to today's NPPF, it certainly represents proactivity from the UK government and assurance for the development sector. Over to the Welsh Assembly Government to deliver positive action to protect the future of our own economy."

The loser, Midas and Network Rail's Central Point, will have to go a long way to find another requirement of the size of Admiral. The office market in the town struggled to top 40,000 sq ft of take up in the year to October 2011. 

But size aside, the deal is interesting for what it reveals about the way occupiers think. Huw Llewellyn, Admiral's head of property, said Cambrian Centre inched ahead because of its car parking - Admiral operates a shift working which means it needs to offer staff the opportunity to travel by car - but also because of its location and proximity to the train station. 

Now, the Cambrian Centre is undoubtedly very close to the station and is the right side of the busy Queensway road to allow popping into the town centre to be easy. But Central Point is next to the train station. The land is owned by Network Rail which gives should give you a clue to just how close by it is. 

Llewellyn say that deals offered by both developers were fairly similar. And he admits that it is the matter of a "few hundred metres" between the two but that was enough to swing it for the Cambrian Centre and Scarborough Developments.

Llewellyn says that Newport is "trying so hard" to get regeneration off the ground. He adds that "this development dovetails really well with the rest of the regeneration.

It also assists Newport in redevelopment strategy this is testament to our work with them".

The deal also secures two big redevelopment sites who's future has been uncertain since Modus collapsed.With Queensberry now on board to deliver Friars Walk the abandoned Modus retail scheme; and Scarborough Developments, which bought the then City Spires site in 2010 as part of Modus' £37m retail portfolio, two big regeneration problems now seem to be moving ahead. 

It looks like Scarborough  Developments will have to revisit its 2010 planning application which asked for 42,000 sq ft of offices and in light of yesterday's Tesco results it might be at least reconsidering its supermarket-led strategy but these are all just small bumps in the road. 

OK so the council has recognised that public sector intervention is needed but it is only going as far as demolishing the building and creating a surface car park "until market conditions improve". Where have we heard that before? The kissing towers site in Leeds springs to mind, that 'temporary' car park has been around for 10 years or more. 

Swansea's regeneration plans are grand covering 32 acres with up to 600,000 sq ft of retail and 1,000 homes. Hammerson and then JV partner Urban Splash, which subsequently dropped out, drafted a masterplan back in 2008 (£) for what is seen as a 10 year project.

However back in the Autumn Gareth Hooper of DPP planning consultants said in our Wales Focus: "Swansea had even more ambitious plans than Newport and there is no way those are going to come forward in the current climate. It seems Swansea is still waiting for the market to improve, whereas Newport is being realistic about what it can achieve."

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Andy Giles is hoping to bring a bit of Mayfair to Cardiff. Think Park Lane in London but with a location of Park Place in Cardiff. 

His agents Cooke and Arkwright and Savills say he, along with his business partner Richard Williams are delivering boutique suites to the Wales office market of the sort you might expect to find hedge funds occupying in London. 

Andy has a background in retail and his partner in resi and they're hoping to use the glitz and glamour of these two worlds to deliver posh offices. The aim, they say is to deliver space which is very open plan and comes with luxury bathrooms and kitchens of the sort you might find in a swish pad. 

They are part way through converting 18-19 Park Place. Andy gave us a tour of the 10,000 sq ft project as well as a sneak at what the offices might look like with a wander around his last project on St Andrew's Crescent. 

Below he tells why he thinks Cardiff is ready for this spec of space in the middle of a recession, and why he thinks 18-19 Park Place can achieve Cardiff's very best rents of £20 per sq ft. Listen to what he has to say by clicking below. 

What's interesting is the way what looks like a perfectly ordinary, and very beautiful, Victorian terrace at the front become what looks like a very modern office building at the back. Click on the image above to see a slideshow of the buildings. And if you've ever wondered what a building looks like when it's been stripped down to its skin then keep scrolling to the end.

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Cardiff and Co, the city's marketing company, strongly disagree. Managing director Richard Thomas, says the claims are misleading. Here's what he thinks:

"It is unfortunate that Andrew Hetherton started scaremongering about possible negative effects on businesses from the Welsh Government review of business rates relief chaired by Professor Brian Morgan.

The minister has set no specific requirements for the review being conducted but it is unreasonable to tag the review as a danger to business. Andrew Hetherton's comments appear to assume that the Welsh Government has tax raising powers that it does not have when he expresses his concerns.  

The devolution of business rates is complex and is different in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, so it is unhelpful to try to make comparisons between any reviews that may be under way in Scotland and that announced for Wales. Wales cannot decide what to do with money raised through business rates and it is restricted on how much can be raised from businesses.

At the moment, the Welsh Government has the power to set the 'multiplier' for business rates (the actual tax rate) but the maximum it can increase in any year is by the rate of RPI from the previous September. 

Despite yesterday's retail figures telling us while food sales rose, they were unseasonally slow, it seems the supermarkets can't find space quick enough. The Co-operative Group is the latest to up the ante.

The ethical grocer is looking to expand across the country and, presumably isn't finding it easy. Instead of sitting on its haunches and waiting for the agents to do their bit it is launching its very own roadshow to try and winkle those units out.

The tour starts out in the South West and Wales where the retailer is hosting two events. Many more are planned for next year. 

Details of its expansion are vague. When asked the Co-op would only say it was looking to "significantly increase" the number of stores through 2012. 

In last week's magazine, in our Wales' Focus, we reported that the supermarkets were the only show in town (£). Actually it was crueler than that we said supermarkets were the only guests left at the retail party - the ones the developers didn't want to invite in the first place.

With the Co-op due to open four new stores in the South West and South Wales in just the next three weeks on top of its announcement that it's bought three more stores off Budgens that doesn't look likely to change any time soon.

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