Property round-up: Falconer Chester Hall; Cotton Court Leyland; Plus Dane; Cheshire College South & West
Liverpool-based architecture practice Falconer Chester Hall has secured five new projects with a collective development value of £300m.
The appointments take the value of all current schemes being delivered by the firm’s three studios to £1.5bn.
The developments, in Liverpool, Nottingham and London, will deliver almost 2,500 new residential units, of which more than 1,800 are already consented. Amongst the projects is Legacie Developments’ One Park Lane, adjacent to the Liverpool One shopping district, and Jubilee House near London’s Olympic stadium for Unite Students and RG Group.
“This is a bumper set of contracts and testimony to our team’s expertise and track record,” said practice managing director Adam Hall.
“We are in the midst of a recruitment drive to ensure that our capacity remains ahead of our workload and our new business pipeline,” he added.
The firm has been contracted by Northern Irish developer McAleer & Rushe to deliver a seven-storey student block on Huntingdon Street in Nottingham and by Packaged Living to examine options for its new site at Old Hall Street in Liverpool’s business district.
In a separate deal with Legacie Developments, the 85-strong practice will also be responsible for bringing the historic Heap’s Rice Mill in Liverpool’s south docks back to life.
“There’s more than a million square feet of space across these five schemes and our focus will be on working closely with the other project professionals to ensure deliverability and cost-control in all aspects of design,” said associate director Martin Haymes, who is leading the One Park Lane project team.
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Amy Blundell and Robert Binns with Danielle Leeming
An entrepreneur who set up one of the first serviced office and co-working spaces in Preston has added to his portfolio with the purchase of premises in Leyland.
Robert Binns, who has owned and operated the Cotton Court business centre in Preston since 2010, has purchased Oak House, a building that has been a school, care home, and offices down the years.
The building, in Golden Hill Lane, has been rebranded as Cotton Court Leyland and offers serviced office space and boardroom facilities to support local companies.
It also provides a range of administrative services for businesses, including mail, telephone answering, printing and photocopying.
Robert was advised on the purchase of Oak House by Danielle Leeming in the commercial property team at Preston-based law firm Harrison Drury.
Robert said: “Since the pandemic, more people are choosing to work close to where they live – something that’s become more important for people’s wellbeing. Many SMEs have moved away from the model of having a large regional office, instead seeking smaller serviced office spaces for occasions when they need to be with colleagues or have meetings with clients.
“That’s what my vision was for our new Leyland location. Leyland has a growing population, a busy centre, and lots of SMEs operating in the area. We have 18 serviced units within Cotton Court Leyland which are now fully leased with companies from sectors including recycling, marketing, healthcare, digital security and finance.”
Danielle Leeming, an associate solicitor in the commercial property team at Harrison Drury, said: “Robert has great vision and a fantastic understanding of what businesses need to succeed. Through Cotton Court he has played a key role in supporting small businesses and start-ups in the Preston area. We’re proud to have supported Robert to expand the concept to Leyland.”
The Cotton Court story began when Robert purchased an empty iron and wire mill, built in 1851, just off Church Street in Preston and renovated the six-storey brick building to accommodate his serviced office business. Harrison Drury advised him on the purchase of the mill.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Robert expanded the business with the launch of Cotton Court Meeting Rooms and hybrid facilities located in Preston’s university quarter, offering safe self-contained serviced offices.
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Completed block, Norwood Court
Plus Dane has invested £2m, in partnership with Mayor Steve Rotheram and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, as part of its first major retrofit project in two apartment complexes that are among its least energy efficient homes.
In another first for the housing association, the work at Norwood Court and Gordon Court in Greasby, Wirral, has involved boring two 140m holes underground to install a ground source heat pump, to provide heating and hot water to more than 40 flats.
In addition, the blocks are undergoing a refurbishment of communal areas, and the most noticeable change is the installing of external insulation, which has seen the three buildings in the complex transformed with a white render that has covered the brick work.
Cavity insulation, new windows and new patio doors in some ground floor flats are among the other retrofit works being carried out at the scheme to improve energy efficiency throughout the buildings.
The work has been funded by Plus Dane and a grant secured by Mayor Steve Rotheram and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority from the first wave of the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
Mayor Rotheram is ramping up his retrofit programme after securing a further £42m from the Government to take the region’s total retrofit fund to £105m, which will be used to help 10,000 low income homes to save money on their energy bills.
The ground source pump works by absorbing natural heat from the ground and transferring it into buildings to provide heating and hot water in a low carbon, energy efficient way. This is the first time Plus Dane has undertaken a retrofitting project of this size and represents a new way of working as part of its commitment to sustainability and aim to meet the housing sector’s net zero targets.
The flats previously relied on inefficient and costly storage heaters, which have been replaced with the new system. Almost all of the residents agreed to have the new system installed in their homes, and those who did not will still be able to connect to it in future.
Work began in November 2022 and is scheduled for completion in mid-April. Despite the building work, customers have been able to remain in their homes throughout.
Barry Callow, director of repairs at Plus Dane, said: “We identified Norwood Court and Gordon Court as some of our poorest performing homes with regards to energy efficiency, so they were ideal for undertaking this pilot scheme. Storage heaters are not only inefficient but expensive for customers to run, and we are delighted to have been able to offer a sustainable alternative in the form of a ground source heat pump.”
Plus Dane is working with designers and retrofit specialists Constructive Thinking and contractors SBS on the project.
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The Lancaster scheme
Concert Homes has completed the acquisition of land off Ashton Road, Lancaster, for an undisclosed sum.
The 6.5-acre site will form Concert Homes’ seventh development following the acquisition of a site at Deane Golf Club at the end of 2022 where construction on 14 executive homes will begin later this year.
The site has detailed planning permission for 59 open market homes, on the south side of the city and will feature an attractive mix of one-, through to four-bed homes.
Head of land, John Beardsell, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for Concert Homes to expand our brand across the northern region of our operational area. It’s been a pleasure to work with everyone that assisted with this purchase, including Cowburn Land, Wrenman Homes, Napthens solicitors and our in-house teams that made this one of the most straightforward and expedient land purchases I’ve had the pleasure to be involved in.
“We are looking forward to bringing our signature homes to this part of Lancaster on what will be an exceptional development for the area and assisting in the continued growth of the company.”
Managing director, Laurie Lane, said: “This is another fantastic acquisition to add to our current sites at Inskip, Weeton and Deane. The new site at Lancaster will now give us the opportunity to establish our homes and brand in a key market area of the county.”
Concert Homes is a small housing developer with sustainability at the heart of its values. Established in 2017, Concert Homes typically builds homes with a traditional appearance but with spacious interiors designed for the modern family.
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Chester campus entrance
Cheshire College South & West has been successful in securing almost £2m in funding from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to upgrade the boilers in its Chester campus. The upgrade will see the existing end-of-life gas boilers replaced with an air source heat pumps and an electric hot water boiler.
The College’s success in Phase 3b of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme means that the education provider is one step closer to its goal of becoming net zero, thanks to the £1,962,922 award.
Up to £409m in funds have been allocated across the country during this phase of the scheme, which provides funding for projects that decarbonise heating systems and improve energy efficiency in public sector buildings – 144 public sector organisations have been awarded money for 171 energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation projects, with the North West receiving just over £44.5m.
The money is distributed through Salix Finance, the delivery body for the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and the Low Carbon Skills Fund. The non-departmental public body also plays a key role in increasing the awareness across the public sector throughout the UK in the importance of energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation.
Cheshire College’s Crewe campus has already made the transition to air source heat pumps as part of the college’s commitment to provide a sustainable environment for staff and students.
Jasbir Dhesi, principal and CEO at Cheshire College – South & West, said: “Our College is committed to help improve the environment. Our pathway to achieving net zero is embedded in everything that we do, from delivering innovative courses centred around sustainability, to investing in state-of-the-art digital facilities and equipment – we are striving to be greener across all our sites and operations.
“Through this Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme grant, we will be able to accelerate our pathway to net zero by significantly reducing our carbon emissions. Our construction and engineering students will also be able to work closely with contractors to see first-hand the instillation and commissioning of new technologies. This investment in reducing our carbon emissions will benefit generations to come.”
Salix Finance, director of programmes, Ian Rodger, said: “We will support the college throughout this decarbonisation journey, helping it meet its net zero targets, benefiting future generations.”
