Building briefs: £48m Peninsula building completes; five more for Belle Vale; work starts at Chetham’s; and more…
THE Peninsula, the £48m office block in Manchester’s Greenquarter owned by the Done brothers, has completed.
The 12-storey building, which covers 147,000 sq ft, will act as the new headquarters of Manchester businessmen Fred and Peter Done’s business interests, specifically their employment law advisory firm Peninsula Business Services.
Peninsula Business Services has taken occupancy of all twelve floors, with the intention to sub-let floors seven to 12, comprising 69,492 sq ft.
Peter Done, managing director of Peninsula, said: “We are really excited about the move and are looking forward to entering our new home in the city centre.
“We see the move into this landmark building as a positive step for both the business and our staff and look forward to being based there for many years to come.”
It has yet to fit-out of the new building, which it plans to move into in March 2010.
DTZ has been appointed by Peninsula to both let the upper floors and manage the property. Whitaker Horton acted for Development Securities in the disposal of the freehold.
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BELLE Vale shopping centre, which is six miles to the south east of Liverpool city centre, has won five new retail lettings.
KFC has taken a 15 year lease on 1,740 sq ft within the new extension at the centre; Specsavers has taken the 1,260 sq ft unit next to KFC on a 10 year lease; Ladbrokes has agreed a 20 year lease with a break at year 10 on a 1,250 sq ft unit; Newsbox has taken a kiosk unit totalling 500 sq ft on a 10 year lease; and clothing retailer Store 21 has taken the former Woolworth’s store comprising 6,168 sq ft on a 10 year lease.
Joint agents DTZ and Legat Owen acted on behalf of Frogmore Real Estate Partners. Debbie Reynolds Property acted for KFC, while Morgan Martin acted for Specsavers.
Paul Dale, retail senior surveyor at DTZ, said: “Belle Vale shopping centre continues to perform well and these five new lettings demonstrate the popularity of the scheme. KFC, Specsavers. Ladbrokes and Newsbox join New Look as occupants of the recently completed extension to the shopping centre. Only one prime 3,500 sq ft unit now remains available within the new extension.”
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CONSTRUCTION work has begun on a new £36m building at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester.
The new building, located in the heart of a new Medieval Quarter of Manchester between Victoria Station, the MEN Arena and Chetham’s, will provide music and academic facilities for the 290 students at the school.
It will also include two performance spaces with a full 400-seater orchestral auditorium.
Preparatory work will include the removal of backfill materials and the stabilisation of the old Victorian basement retaining walls around the new building site perimeter. This will take approximately 13 weeks and will pave the way for construction of the building to start in early 2010.
Claire Hickman, head of Chetham’s, said; “The investment in the buildings will not only provide the best facilities for our students and staff to grow and learn, but they will also provide our partners with greater opportunities to work with us.”
Once the new school building is complete, the latter phases of Chetham’s masterplan will begin.
These include the refurbishment and conversion works to the existing Millgate and Nicholls buildings into student accommodation. Additional refurbishment to the boys’ dormitory and the performance venue in Whiteley Hall will also be undertaken.
The architect is Stephenson Bell and Drivers Jonas is project managing the building of the new school. Chetham’s is being advised throughout the development programme by Michael Oglesby from commercial property developer, Bruntwood.
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MANCHESTER-based planning company NJL Consulting has been instructed by LaSalle Investment Management to provide planning advice at the Snipe Retail Park, in Ashton-under-Lyne.
The retail park, close to Ashton town centre, comprises 270,000 sq ft of retail and warehouse space, and includes stores from major retailers such as B&Q, Next, Currys, Staples, Carphone Warehouse, Argos, Comet, and Halfords.
Mark Saunders, senior planner at NJL Consulting, said: “The instructions for the Snipe Retail Park are the latest of a number of ongoing projects with LaSalle. In the short term we will be overseeing the promotion of the site within the emerging local development framework policy consultations.
“Ultimately, we are looking to protect and enhance the reputation of the park as a popular and vibrant retail park in the Tameside area of Manchester, and we look forward to working with various partners to achieve this goal.”
