Property briefs: Ascot Property; Capital & Centric; Globe; Steven Abbott; BAM award

CROSBY-based Ascot Property Group has sold a residential scheme for students in Stoke for £6.5m.

It is close to completing the 120-room block on the site of the former Lomax nightclub which it acquired in 2004.

A London-based fund has bought the building but its identity has not been disclosed.

The scheme includes 14,000 sq ft of retail space which has been retained by Ascot. It said it has cafe and bar operators lined up to take space when the building is finished at the end of the year.

Ascot’s chairman Terry Riley said: “We have been working jointly on this development over the past 18 months and are happy to have recently secured a deal with a London-based property fund to purchase the completed development for £6.5m.”

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MANCHESTER developer Capital & Centric is seeking a main contractor for £5.5m of works at its two Liverpool office projects at 12 Tithebarn Street in the city centre and the first phase at the Littlewoods complex on Edge Lane.

These involve a 40,000 sq ft refurb at 12 Tithebarn Street and at the 17,500 sq ft ‘Bunker’ building, a former storage block, at the Littlewoods site.

Work on the Bunker involves the retention of the existing building, making good the structure and inserting a new building block into the existing fabric.

At 12 Tithebarn Street the work involves improving the external appearance, including re-cladding, a new office entrance and reception space and full refurbishment of the six-storey office.

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A MIXED-USE scheme in West Lancashire, which will have a number of lfoating houses, has been approved by planners.

The development at East Quarry, Appley Bridge includes houses around the quarry bank, a hotel, a restaurant and floating homes on the water which has filled the quarry it closed in 1992.

Manchester-based planning adviser Steven Abbot Associates has been working on the scheme since successfully arguing that the site should be allocated for development in the 2004 West Lancashire Local Plan.

Derek Scott, managing director of developer Mainsprint, said: “Steven Abbott Associates has been our trusted planning advisors every step of the way with this project and we have always been delighted with the service they have provided on what has proved to be an incredibly challenging planning application process.”

Christie McDonald, an associate at Steven Abbott, said: “We are very satisfied to see the fruits of our labour over the years in the form of this permission for such an exciting and innovative scheme. Despite being a former quarry, East Quarry is a highly attractive site which will be a great place to live for many people.

“We are particularly proud of the floating homes element which is also a credit to Peter Dickinson of Peter Dickinson Architects who designed the scheme in its entirety.”

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GLOBE Construction has secured projects worth £12m.

The Warrington firm has won a £1.6m contract at the Greenacres Woodland Burial Park in Knowsley where it will construct a new 800 sq ft maintenance building and 5,000 sq ft reception building.

It also has a £3.3m instruction by Saica for the development of a steel frame, metal clad warehouse extension at its paper mill in Partington, Manchester.
 
In addition, Globe has secured two educational developments at Orrell Lamberhead Green Community Primary School and Blackpool Sixth Form College, as well as two healthcare contracts – the demolition and construction of a new doctor’s surgery at Villa Medical Centre, Prenton, and a part refurbishment and extension works to an existing 25-bed mental health facility in Ruabon, North Wales.
 
The team has also won a £1.2m workshop for Blackburn Council and a £1.3m social housing scheme in Wallasey.

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BAM construction manager Tony Grindrod has been praised for his role in the construction of the Co-op Group’s One Angel Square headquarters in Manchester.

He picked up a silver award at the Construction Manager of the Year Awards in London last week.

Born in Bolton, Grindrod went to university in Salford before securing his first job in the industry at Taylor Woodrow in London. He started working for national contractor BAM, which has offices in Salford, in 2001 and took on the Co-op HQ project in 2009.

He said: “I am very proud to have won this award, and of the building we have delivered for the Co-operative Group. As someone who grew up in the area, and studied here, it means even more to have worked on a scheme that changed the landscape of Manchester.

“This project was three times bigger than anything I had managed before and involved a huge amount of co-ordination, especially with the mechanical and electrical trades. The speed of build required was very fast and I was often working long hours.”

He is now working on the University of Salford Gateway project and the National Graphene Instutute at Manchester University.