Final development opportunity launched at flagship waterfront scheme

Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews has just announced the launch of the final development plot for sale at Fletton Quays, Peterborough.

Fletton Quays is the city’s flagship, waterside development, fronting the River Nene and Plot 4, is the latest – and final – development opportunity offered for sale.

Known as ‘FQ4’, the property for sale is a former Victorian goods shed associated with the old Peterborough East railway station, and extends to 12,357 sq ft (1,148 sq m) with a total site area of 0.815 acres (0.33 ha).

The property has outline planning consent for a variety of commercial uses including retail, leisure, community and arts, education and medical.

Fletton Quays is the largest development in Peterborough city centre for over 40 years.

Covering over 6.5 hectares, it hosts the new headquarters of the City Council and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). With retail units already let to café occupiers, it has a 400 space multi-storey car park.

Development has also commenced on a new 70,000 sq ft office building, providing a ‘Government hub’ for the Passport Agency and other official departments.

The residential element of Fletton Quays sees 350 high quality apartments built, with further homes planned as part of the ongoing development which also includes a new 160-hotel being built on behalf of Hilton Garden Inn.

Fletton Quays is on the southern bank of the River Nene and FQ4 is immediately opposite the site selected for the new University of Peterborough on the north bank, close to the Key Theatre, with plans for a new footbridge to connect each side of the river.

The relocation of the Peterborough United FC’s stadium has seen a site close to Fletton Quays identified as a suitable location too.

Commenting on the launch of FQ4, Julian Welch, Director, Eddisons, said, “Fletton Quays was always going to be a landmark project in Peterborough and the development is already delivering high quality space.

“The development is transforming a previously derelict part of the city and will inject a vibrancy that will help to take Peterborough towards its next phase of economic growth.

“FQ4 offer the last opportunity to be part of this exciting scheme.”

Eddisons is acting on behalf of Peterborough Investment Partnership in the sale of Plot FQ4 where bids are to meet a deadline of 12 noon on Friday 14 May 2021.

Access to the site is restricted and by appointment only. Price on application.

For further information, contact Julian Welch at Eddisons’ Peterborough office, tel 01733 897722, [email protected].

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For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

New Cambridge office meets care agency’s expanding needs

A care agency is relocating its Cambridge office across the city to premises which better meet its needs in this crucial and growing business sector, according to Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews who acted as sole agent on behalf of the landlord.

The agent’s latest deal sees Availl, who provide homecare services and healthcare recruitment, move to St Giles Hall, Pound Hill from premises on Regent Street where it has been located since 2009.

St Giles Hall is a period building on the edge of the Cambridge’s historic city centre. It provides a self-contained office setting with parking. Office accommodation totals 3,975 sq ft (360 sq m) including open plan offices, a large boardroom and additional meeting rooms.

Close to the key road junction of Queen’s Road (‘The Backs’) with Madingley Road and Northampton Street (‘The Backs’), St Giles Hall gives Availl and its office-based and community-based staff good access to private and public transport options to and from Cambridge and the surrounding area in which its local clients are based.

The care provider began its search for new premises in January this year (2021), ahead of the expiry of its Regent Street office lease next year (2022) and St Giles Hall met its property requirements on a number of levels.

Graham Parker, Founder, explained, “Our current office in a shared building no longer met the needs of our staff or the expansion plans for the business.

“St Giles Hall gives us stand-alone office premises, with accommodation we can configure to ensure Covid-19 workplace compliancy for staff and visitors alike.

“In addition to our allocated parking, there is easy access to on-street, metered parking and the Madingley Road Park & Ride facility for our staff and any visitors to the office.

“Relocating from Cambridge city centre to its edge gives quicker access to the M11 and A14, as well as across and around the city itself, maximising efficiency in the deployment of personnel to meet our clients’ needs.”

Ben Green of Eddisons – whose Cambridge office is also on Pound Hill and is visible from St Giles Hall – added, “We have been happy to help meet Availl’s pressing property requirements and to have done so in such short order.

“St Giles Hall is a unique property, offering lots of character with its vaulted ceiling and outside amenity space. Despite a tricky market, it was always going to appeal with its combination of on-site parking, proximity to the city centre and easy access to the region’s main roads.”

For information about offices to let in Cambridge, contact Ben Green, tel 01223 467155, [email protected] or see eddisons.com/barker-storey-matthews.

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For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

Eight’s just great for region’s most active property agent

Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews has been identified as the East of England’s most active commercial agent for the eighth year in a row in the annual deals competition run by property research specialists EG Radius.

In each successive year of the competition since 2013, the agent – whose regional offices are in Peterborough, Cambridge, Huntingdon and Bury St Edmunds – has been awarded the title of East of England Overall Winner.

This year sees further success as the region’s most active agent for deals in the industrial, retail and investment sectors.

It’s the fourth consecutive year in which the firm has triumphed in the industrial category and the third successive year in both the retail and investment deals categories.

The annual deals competition is open to all commercial agents who complete commercial property transactions in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk and is assessed on the volume of deals done for lettings and sales.

Commenting on the agency’s sustained success in the regional competition, Steve Hawkins, Partner, Eddisons, said, “To have maintained our position in the top slot and the individual sector categories in this latest year of the competition is enormously gratifying.

“The Covid-19 pandemic and phases of lockdown during the past twelve months have stress tested every sector of business – and commercial property agency is no exception.

“Notwithstanding, our firm’s presence on the ground in the eastern region and the insider knowledge and expertise of our agents when it comes to their markets, means we have continued to push deals through in a timely fashion to the satisfaction of all clients for whom we act and all parties benefitting from the transaction.

“Barker Storey Matthews’ full integration with Eddisons last November (2020) can only serve to reinforce the agency offer that our ongoing success in this competition highlights.”

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For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

Premises let for cosmetic services

Studio premises on Lincoln Road, Peterborough have been let by city agent

Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews  for use by two cosmetic therapy practitioners who have taken a three year lease.

The self-contained, 380 sq ft (35.34 sq m) premises at 967 Lincoln Road will be the new base for Caroline Briston and Kerry Hutson, both experienced professionals in their chosen field of cosmetics and who previously practised from city centre premises on Priestgate.

Having been looking for new business premises in which they could offer their combined specialist services – which include advanced laser hair removal and permanent make-up among other cosmetic and beauty procedures – 967 Lincoln Road came to their attention at the right time with space to grow their successful businesses together.

Speaking on behalf of both practitioners, Caroline Briston said, “It’s a great location for our businesses.

“We are gearing up for the easing of lockdown restrictions next month (April) and look forward to welcoming our loyal clients and a new customer base to our new treatment facilities.”

Eddisons was the sole agent instructed by the landlord in the letting of 967 Lincoln Road, Peterborough.

For more information business premises to let in Peterborough, contact the local office of Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, tel 01733 897722, or through eddisons.com/barker-storey-matthews.

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For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

Keighley Industrial Investment Acquired

Acting on behalf of Malco Holdings, Eddisons have acquired Foundry Park, Dalton Lane, Keighley, BD21 4LG, a new build industrial investment, from Dalton Lane Properties who were represented by Brackenridge Hanson Tate.  The investment was acquired for £4.1 million showing a net initial yield of 5.8%.

The property comprises a new build warehouse totalling 3,650 sq m (39,289 sq ft) on a 0.85Ha (2.1 acre) site.   Whilst it is currently being occupied as one property, it was constructed as two semi-detached units, so the building is capable of future subdivision.   The property is let to Platinum Stairlifts on a 15-year unbroken lease at a rent of £253,500 pax (£6.45 per sq ft).  Rent reviews are every 5 years, to the higher of open market rent or linked to the Retail Prices Index.

The tenants are a Keighley based manufacturer who were seeking a new facility to consolidate their multi-site operation into. Platinum Stairlifts secured a new facility retaining over 200 jobs within Keighley and because of their investment in the building, were prepared to commit to a long-term lease.

Steve Hawkins, Partner at Eddisons commented “Dalton Lane Properties speculatively developed an excellent product based on the strength of the Keighley industrial market.   Platinum Stairlifts secured a new facility retaining over 200 jobs within Keighley and because of their investment in the building, were prepared to commit to a long-term lease. Malco Holdings secured a great investment opportunity with guaranteed growth”.

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For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

Budget 2021: Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews comments

Measures announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Budget Statement (03 March) regarding the extension of business rates relief, reduced VAT rates and the furlough scheme are welcome but remain too focused on the short term and the assumption of the smooth roll-out of the current roadmap out of business lockdown.

That’s the view of leisure and retail specialists of Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews in considering the effect the Budget Statement will have on operators in the sector.

The extension of full business rates relief will now run until the end of June (2021) and at two thirds of the normal charge for the remainder of the year. Yet, as it stands presently, all current lockdown legal restrictions will not be lifted until 21 June.

Many business operators in the retail and leisure sectors will be ‘testing the water’, as they are permitted, in the months running up until June. However, it will only be from mid-June when hospitality businesses can operate in anything like pre-pandemic circumstances in anticipating also that customers will return with confidence too.

The timeline for the maintenance of lower VAT rates is also too short for leisure operators against the backdrop of lockdown lifting and consumer confidence returning, according to Eddisons.

The current five per cent reduced VAT rate will operate only until the end of September this year (2021), lifting to 12.5 per cent until April 2022 when it will resume at 20 per cent – the pre-pandemic level.

Again, in following the current roadmap for the lifting of lockdown restrictions in England, this means that, in just over a year’s time (April 2022), businesses who have been closed for the best part of 12 months at this point (March 2021) will be expected to be operating at a level at which they can return to VAT outlay at the 2019 level.

The announcement in the Budget of the retention of the furlough scheme until the end of this September will help businesses to plan, in one respect, contrasting with the previous announcement of the scheme’s extension which was so close to the end-of-scheme deadline.

Commenting further on Eddisons’ response to measures affecting the retail and leisure sectors, Julian Welch, Director – who is based in the Eastern region – said, “The measures are welcome but could have been more meaningful were they extended to a more mid-term timescale.

“If there are no bumps in the roadmap and we have a spring and summer of something like ‘normal’ trading, that will only claw back some of a year’s severely restricted – or totally absent – trade.

“There may, indeed, be an initial consumer spend bounce in the late spring and early summer. But many consumers may take any window of opportunity open to travel abroad in the late summer and not spend in the UK.

“But, after that, consumers’ thoughts will, undoubtedly, be turning to September, the end of the furlough scheme and the consideration of their own household’s financial circumstances for what might lie ahead.

“As notable for the measures the Chancellor did address were those that were absent from the statement.

“The chance has been missed to address the glaring power imbalance between high street retailers and the online giants that existed before the pandemic.

“Lockdown has served to boost online operators pre-pandemic ascendance – and profits – at the expense of traditional high street operators who were forced to close.

“Much deeper fiscal easing for high street retailers and operators in the food and beverage sectors is required in order to ensure their survival and in recognition of their contribution to the viability of town and city centre economies.

“Similarly, the inequality of the business rates regime has been thrown in to sharp relief by the pandemic. This presents the authorities with the ideal opportunity to address this outdated regime – the reform of which business operators and sector professionals have long been calling on.”

For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

New industrial premises in place for summer occupation

The roof is in place on brand new industrial premises at Eagle Business Park, Yaxley, on the southern outskirts of Peterborough, where Barnack Estates UK Ltd is well underway with phase two of this development.

Falcon House, Harrier Way is a 10,050 sq ft, detached, two storey industrial unit which, as the sole agent, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews  is offering to let as one, large, full sized unit or as two semi-detached units of 4,050 sq ft and 6,050 sq ft and will be ready for occupation early this summer (2021).

Joinery giant Howdens is the neighbouring occupier of a 10,000 sq ft warehouse/trade counter unit at the companion development of Harrier Court, where it began trading last autumn (2020).

Whether one or two units, the Falcon Court premises have offices and cloakrooms with the option to add additional office at ground floor and first floor levels, subject to negotiation and the internal build schedule.

Falcon House is approved for B1 & B8 uses and offers good levels of parking and a yard with security barrier. It is the latest new-build addition to be offered to let on this, the second phase of development at Eagle Business Park which fronts on to Broadway in Yaxley and is now a well-established business location.

Eagle Business Park is close to Junction 16 of the A1(M) at Norman Cross and onward connections to Peterborough’s Parkway System and, to the south, the newly upgraded A14 and network of local access roads across Huntingdon.

According to the agent, the development of Eagle Business Park’s phases have played a leading role over the past decade in profiling commercial and industrial opportunities on the southern side of Peterborough.

Richard Jones of Eddisons said, “The presence of national operators boosts that of regional and independent occupiers at Eagle Business Park.

“The second phase of development has built on the success of the park’s original phase and provided an additional opportunity for light industrial occupiers to trade from what is now an established business location.”

Viewing of Falcon House, Harrier Way, Eagle Business Park, Yaxley is strictly by appointment through Eddisons as the sole agent.

To arrange a viewing or for more information, contact Richard Jones at the Peterborough office, tel 01733 897722, [email protected].

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For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

RICS Q4 2020: UK Commercial Property Market Survey – Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews comments

The RICS has published its latest quarterly UK Commercial Property Market Survey (Q4 2020), headlined, ‘Widening disparity between strong industrial sector performance and struggling office and retail markets’.

In commenting on the survey, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews reported that its experience of micro-local conditions in the Eastern region of England, in the same quarter, revealed a complex market.

Ben Green, Director, explained, “Each of our locations – Cambridge, Huntingdon, Peterborough and Bury St Edmunds – has its own strengths in particular market sectors but all would, collectively, point to the pre-eminence of the market for industrial units in their locale.

“Across the region, local markets always retain their nuances when set against the whole of the country but do, in the main, broadly reflect the wider UK picture during any one quarter.”

For the full RICS survey, see tinyurl.com/65exsekn.

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For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

Industrial instruction

Large, detached, two storey industrial business premises on the Stukeley Meadows Industrial Estate are the latest instruction of the Huntingdon office of Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews who is acting as the sole agent on behalf of the landlord.

The premises are on a self-contained site at 12 Blackstone Road and the accommodation offered is warehouse, production and office space across two connected warehouses, totalling 13,105 sq ft.

The main warehouse is 10,656 sq ft and the connected, warehouse extension is 2,448 sq ft. Additional features include 40kw solar panels, twin goods access doors and the site is gated and fenced.

Stukeley Meadows Industrial Estate is the principal commercial trading location in Huntingdon, with good access to the A1/A14 junction interchange.

Eddisons confirmed that the current tenant of 12 Blackstone Road is relocating so the unit is a ‘relatively rare’ opportunity to acquire a good, modern, well located industrial building.

Viewing of 12 Blackstone Road is by appointment only through Eddisons as the sole agent.

To arrange a viewing or for more information, contact Richard Adam at the Huntingdon office, tel 01480 451578, [email protected].

For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

The future is Bright with return to Huntingdon

Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews has announced the freehold sale of Burnett House at Ermine Street Business Park in a deal which sees Bright Instruments Ltd return to Huntingdon after four years in Luton.

Working in the highly specialised field of medical and laboratory precision equipment, Bright Instruments’ new headquarters sees the company as the exclusive owner-occupier in 11,646 sq ft (1,081.91 sq m) of production, warehouse and office space at Burnett House which is on Lakeview Court at the business park.

Sold for undisclosed sum, Burnett House was offered to let or for freehold sale through Eddisons who acted as the sole agent.

In seeking to return to Huntingdon in order to recruit skilled staff in line with its future growth plans, Bright Instruments had, initially, been looking to lease new premises to meet its property requirements.

Managing Director, Harry Nugent, explained, “We made the decision to return ‘home’ to Huntingdon – where we established the company over 85 years ago – to capitalise on its pool of skilled staff, many of whom are former employees.

“We had only been looking for business premises for a month before we saw the opportunity to buy the freehold of Burnett House.

“The Huntingdon area is well placed for our business and recruitment plans which are centred on recruiting 15 additional staff members this year and five each year thereafter as our plans for growth play out.”

Welcoming Bright Instruments Ltd back to Huntingdon, Richard Adam, of Eddisons’ local office, said, “Bright’s rationale behind its relocation to Burnett House is typical of that of many businesses in this area – whether indigenous or, previously, outside the area.

“Huntingdon is a business hub at the centre of a large catchment area of potential employees who can meet a range of employers’ contrasting needs when it comes to recruitment.”

For more information on business premises for sale or to let, contact Richard Adam at the Huntingdon office of Eddisons, tel 01480 451578, [email protected] or see eddisons.com/barker-storey-matthews.

 

Find out more 

For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].