This week Estates Gazette shines the spotlight on the East Midlands within the Focus section of the magazine.

I talk to the UK's king of sheds - John Burbage about the secret to his success. After more than four decades in the business, Burbage's no-nonsense work ethos and his grasp and focus on strategic land has made him the most successful shed agent in the country. For someone so successful, I found him to be very amiable, down to earth and refreshingly honest.

Leicester is standing by to welcome its newly elected mayor next month. David Thame talks to the frontrunners, Sir Peter Soulsby and Ross Grant about the property issues which are at the forefront of the election.

Meanwhile, conflict in Corby continues between Land Securities and Corby Council following the council's decision to approve a rival scheme to LandSec's Willow Place, which was to have been anchored by Sainsbury's. David Quinn analyses the situation and talks to those involved in the debacle.

Last month in Derby, the council took the first steps towards supporting four city centre office schemes with its £10m regeneration pot. David Thame asks which schemes will benefit and why? We also take a look at Leicester's Highcross shopping centre.

In Nottingham, David Quinn takes a look at the controversial Eastside proposals which will see Tesco anchor the project with a state of the art mixed-use scheme. Opinion is divided as to whether it is the right location for a Tesco's with the council saying it is in the wrong place, while agents believe it will kick-start the long-delayed regeneration of the area.

We're taking a rural view of Lincolnshire in the Focus, looking at why proposals for a "mega-dairy" in Nocton turned sour? David Quinn asks if such large-scale schemes are the developments of the future?

With two further pages of up to the minute stats for each sector, the East Midlands Focus has something for everyone...

Also published in this week's issue is the Lancashire and Cumbria Focus.

Details are emerging about high jinks at CB Richard Ellis' Birmingham office on April Fools day last Friday. It appears that when it comes to playing pranks on each other, the chaps at CBRE just can't resist a bit of light-hearted tomfoolery.

However, this was taken to a whole new level on April 1st when Richard Meering, senior director and head of the Midlands industrial team, decided to play a prank on colleague Will Abbott.

After a few beers the night before, Abbott, who works in the industrial agency team for Meering, got an early morning wake-up call that he wasn't expecting. He was late for a meeting and Meering, his boss, was demanding in no uncertain terms, to know why he wasn't there.

*Prime rental growth showing early signs of returning - especially in key cities such as  Birmingham and Manchester
*Stronger investor interest in grade A stock *In terms of take-up, only Birmingham and Manchester performed above average in 2010
*Prime stock is getting squeezed as very little is coming through the development pipeline

Industrial/logistics:

*Very strong manufacturing growth helped record one of the best year's ever for the sector in 2010
*Retailers still driving the market, however there's a squeeze at the prime end of the market in terms of availability
*East Mids leading the way with 4.34m sq ft average take-up over last five years
*While West Mids averaged 3.13m sq ft
*No spec space has been built since Q2 2007
*62% of take-up has been new kit. CBRE estimates that there is currently less than 1 year's supply available in the East Mids
*And just over 1 year's supply available in the West Mids
*Current Midlands requirements total 9m sq ft and include: Amazon - 1m sq ft Midlands-wide and Costco - 400,000 sq ft, Lutterworth/M1
*Only two sheds of over 450,000 sq ft remain available across the whole of the Midlands region
*NEW - Q1 2011 saw take-up of 2.17m sq ft across the Midlands

Investment:

*£160m worth of transactions so far in 2011 have taken place
*Now seeing longer lease terms in certain areas
*Investors want 'flight to prime'
*Insitutions have a lot less capital to invest at present, less appetite from retail funds
*Seeing a lot of Isreali and overseas investors at the moment
*Private investors (including prop-co's) seeing a resurgence in interest in 2010
*50% of transactions soaked up by private investors
*People are largely not selling in 2011
*Market constrained by the need to secure higher LTV's
*The develoment funding market will grow over the next 24 months
*Appetite from banks to fund construction will increase - where there's deliverability, strong covenent and strong lease terms

Although the market will continue to be tough this year, there is cautious optimism that the market is finally starting to strengthen.

When former Targetfollow central Birmingham office block Baskerville House got a new investment agent recently the market assumed a quick-fire sale was on the cards. But this week word has filtered through that a sell-off is on hold.

"We're not selling for at least nine months"' confirms Franco Sidoli, founder of Franc Warwick, the London-based niche agent appointed by Targetfollow administrator Deloitte by LloydsTSB to dispose of the 197,000 sq ft period property on Centenary Square. The building has never been fully-let since it was redeveloped in 2006 and 64,000 sq ft is still empty.

What's going on? Has there been a change of heart? Well, no. It turns out Deloitte wants letting agents CBRE and Jones Lang to actively manage the building by renegotiating rents and leases with existing tenants and ideally finding additional ones to join Targetfollow's own serviced office provider Target Space which occupies 29,000 sq ft, the Office of Legal Complaints which has 40,000 sq ft and Deutsche Bank which has 46,000 sq ft. A fully-let property with a healthy income stream will be a far more attractive proposition for institutional investors is how the thinking goes.

Nine months eh? That takes us to December. So, a bit like fattening up a turkey for Christmas then. The late Bernard Matthews would surely approve...

Pics courtesy of carl.lacey2 and EG Focus via Flickr.com

Here's a first look at how Birmingham's £127m Midlands Metro extension line between Snow Hill Station and New Street station will look when completed.

Work is due to start on the 0.75 mile extension in 2012 with completion due by 2014.

This fly-through shows the route in detail, starting from Snow Hill Station, going around Colmore Circus to Bull Street, and then down Corporation Street to link up with New Street Station.

Courtesy of TheBusinessDesk.tv

No, you're not reading the wrong blog, although this is the place to come to read about all things Midlands, I'm stepping outside of the region (temporarily) to write a couple of features on the Yorkshire market in the next few weeks. A most interesting and enjoyable couple of days in Leeds last week has culmintated in me writing about the South Yorkshire and also the Leeds retail markets. So if you'd like to get involved, feel free to send me an email or give me a call on my numbers below.

ESTATES GAZETTE NORTH & WEST YORKSHIRE FOCUS
PUBLISHED MAY 28, 2011

Estates Gazette South Yorkshire Focus
Published June 4, 2011