Property round up: Vita Student; Roundhouse Properties & more
VITA Student has appointed Hitchcock Wright & Partners to market two ground floor commercial units at its £27m luxury student accommodation development in Liverpool.
The development by Vita Student Liverpool has been provided in three phases – The Chapel, Crosshall and Tinlings, and on completion soon 357 luxury student studios will be created.
Vita Student operates in eight UK cities and its Liverpool development is its latest luxury halls of residence made up of individual studio rooms and apartments. The student accommodation boasts an onsite gym, cinema room and a communal hub complete with games room and study facilities.
The commercial space atthe corner of Crosshall Street and Victoria Street provides commercial occupiers – which can be office, leisure or retail – to take full advantage of the strong location and high quality units on offer.
The two units available total 3,294sq ft on the upper ground floor of the building and can be let either as one single unit or split into two separate units.
The units will incorporate new glazed facades and will be finished to a shell specification ready for an occupier’s immediate fit out.
The accommodation is available by way of long leasehold at a premium or conventional rack rented lease, either as one unit or two.
John Barker of Hitchcock Wright & Partners said: “The highly prominent location of this space makes it a fantastic opportunity for a commercial occupier to be in the heart of Liverpool city centre and take advantage of the high quality unit on offer.”
The units are available for sale or to let, with a purchase price of £330,000.
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THE first unit in Roundhouse Properties’ new Momentum Business Centre@South Rings at Bamber Bridge, near Preston has been bought by Avalon Doors for £76,500.
Established in 1991, Avalon Doors supplies and installs security doors, roller shutters, awanings and garage doors for industrial, commercial and domestic use throughout Preston and Blackpool.
Avalon is moving from its Leyland location to the 729sq ft unit.
Construction of phase one of the business centre is due for completition in October.
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A TRADING estate in Liverpool is fully let after a safety store opened its 46th outlet there.
Arco has opened a 5,884sq ft store at Unit 2, Trafalgar Way, Erskine Industrial Estate, after agreeing a 10-year lease with London & Cambridge Properties (LCP), which owns and manages the estate.
Arco, which stocks a wide selection of safety gear, including hard hats, workwear, footwear and gloves, joins traders such as Screwfix, Toolstation and Sally Hair & Beauty at the estate.
Andrew Preston, industrial portfolio manager of LCP, said: “The fact that Erskine Industrial Estate, which comprises 16 units across 77,000sq ft, is now fully let is great news for the area. It’s a thriving trade area and is ideally located, being close to the city centre.”
Paul Frewin, head of retail at Arco said: “The opening of our new Liverpool Store has extended Arco’s national network to 46 UK stores, which has helped us in our goal of making safety products and advice even more accessible to local business and tradesmen.”
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ARCHITECTURE and interior practice Millson Associates has been appointed to help deliver a 36-home new build residential scheme in Tameside, Greater Manchester.
The consultancy has been tasked by Insite Properties (Manchester) to get planning approval and listed building consent as well as top carry out the design and build in the conversion of St Stephen’s Church – a Grade II listed building in the Flowery Field area of Hyde.
The project includes the sympathetic conversion of space within the Church to 20 apartments and the development of adjacent land which will be transformed into 16 two and three bedroom family homes.
Upon completion all 36 units will be offered on the open market via Insite’s newly established private housing arm Nook and Key.
Millson’s head of residential Ryan Brookes said: “We are delighted to be working with Nook and Key in delivering this challenging and exciting project which will breathe life into a magnificent local building.”
Nook & Key’s managing director Mike Hampson said: “Millson’s expertise in housing and conversion projects and their understanding of our commercial needs made them the obvious choice to work with.”
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COUNCIL chiefs masterminding the regeneration of Macclesfield town centre are offering one of two sites owned by the Cheshire East for sale.
Plans by Cheshire East Council to breathe new life into the town centre and boost tourism and investment now hinge on the sale of either Duke Street or Churchill Way Car Park to a developer.
A town centre ‘Vision’ has been developed by the Council in conjunction with the Make it Macclesfield Forum to help understand the needs of the local community alongside opportunities for improvement.
Nick Hynes, delivery executive and chair of the Macclesfield Town Centre Vision Stakeholder Panel said: “People are looking to their town centres to be leisure destinations and to provide a good retail mix.
“The Council has had many conversations with local businesses, local residents and potential developers. The stakeholder panel set up in May has thrown itself into considering all sorts of ideas about how we can work together to improve the retail offer for visitors and local shoppers.
“It is important to note that we are not just looking to sell to the highest bidder but would like to find a purchaser who will offer the best all-round scheme for the town centre.
“For a town the size of Macclesfield, the leisure offer is limited. I believe this is a good time to go out and look for investment.
“We know that local people want to see a quality development which not only increases footfall but which also reinforces Macclesfield’s unique personality.”
Cheshire East council leader Michael Jones said:“We promised to deliver for the town centre of Macclesfield.
“This latest development has allowed us to act quickly and provide Macclesfield with the injection that it needs; that is, to put it back on the map as a key destination for visitors and local residents as a place to shop and enjoy coming back to.
“The Council is committed to Macclesfield and to ensuring that residents and businesses in the area have a town centre which they can be proud of. We are wasting no time in bringing forward major regeneration initiatives to enhance the town centre’s existing offer with these two potential sites.”
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NORTH West construction firm ForWorks has been appointed to two multi-million pound frameworks as the company continues to expand its commercial operations and moves into North Wales for the first time.
The maintenance and development firm, which launched in June 2015, has been appointed to three lots on the Undod £10.95m Welsh Housing Framework and two lots on Fusion21’s circa £100,000 property retrofit framework.
Work across both frameworks will be released over the next four years.
The appointment to Undod’s framework will see ForWorks in line to deliver internal works, windows, doors and soffits projects, and responsive repairs works for social landlords in the Clwyd area of Wales.
The Fusion21’s framework will enable the firm to work with housing associations and local authorities across the North West and North Wales delivering external wall insulation and cladding works for its members.
Steve Parrington, Director of ForWorks, said: “Securing five lots on two separate frameworks is the latest in a series of wins that are paving the way for our ambitious growth plans.
“We are very proud that we are now expanding our operations into Wales, as we also continue to develop our reputation working across the North West region.
“These appointments highlight that we have the skills and the expertise to provide a first class service to both housing associations and other organisations operating in the public sector – helping to transform communities whilst delivering high-quality installation and refurbishment projects.”
The framework appointments builds on the firm’s recent contract wins worth £400,000 with social housing providers Pierhead Housing and First Choice Homes Oldham – to deliver a range of responsive repairs, maintenance and planned adaptation works.
ForWorks is a member of housing group ForViva, which owns and manages 18,000 homes across the North West.
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CHESTER Trade Park has been sold for £2.45m representing a net yield of 6.9%.
Acting on behalf of CBREGI, CBRE’s Manchester Capital Markets team sold the facility to clients of IO Group.
The park, on Bumpers Lane within Sealand Industrial Estate, is Chester’s prime location for trade counter occupiers.
It comprises eight units extending to 25,651sq ft and is fully let at a total passing rent of £178,330 per annum to existing tenants including Screwfix Direct, Living Floors Ltd, GAP Plastics Ltd and Plumbase.
The 1.4 acre estate is two miles to the south west of Chester city centre and forms part of Chester’s main trade counter and out-of-town retail destination.
CBRE says its research indicates that the trade counter sector has grown into a well-established industrial property sub-sector which has performed well in the last five years, despite the recent economic downturn. Click and Collect internet sales are further driving expansion to safeguard the sector.
CBRE Manchester director Robert Woods said: “We are pleased to confirm the sale of one of Chester’s most prominent trade parks.
“Chester Trade Park is situated within an established location for trade counter occupiers and is already fully let to a mixture of high profile tenants, guaranteeing a sound annual revenue for the purchaser.”
CBRE acted on behalf of vendor. B8RE acted on behalf of the purchaser.
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HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Developments (North West division) has welcomed 14 new construction apprentices.
On-site training will take place at locations all over the North West, including its Imagine Park development in Liverpool.
Barratt Developments, which also comprises David Wilson Homes (DWH), boasts an award-winning graduate programme, Barratt Academy, which offers schemes for apprentices and trainees.
Nationally, the housebuilder already ranks in The City & Guilds top 100 apprentice employers in England, and has been awarded the maximum five-star rating for six years in a row.
It has also won a total of 90 NHBC Pride in the Job Awards – the 10th year it has scooped more than any other housebuilder.
As well as directly employing local people in a wide spectrum of jobs including bricklaying, joinery, carpentry and site management, Barratt says its strategy is to work only with subcontractors who are committed to long term investment in the industry, providing long-term career stability for both employees and employers, a move aimed at helping to promote a career in construction as a “job for life.”
Bernard Rooney, regional managing director, Barratt Developments (Central Region), which includes the North West, said: “We’re extremely proud of our apprenticeship programmes, which offer the very highest level of training available in the construction industry.
“Our graduates leave with the crucial skills and confidence they need to carve out a successful career, and indeed many go on to become long-standing Barratt employees.”
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UNITED Biscuits has appointed commercial agent TFC to let the original Crawford’s head office Fairfield House and the surplus office accommodation in Ashworth House, the northern headquarters of McVitie’s in Liverpool.
Fairfield House retains many original features though thoroughly modernised it provides rooms for start-up businesses with suites from 200sq ft for two people upwards with numerous meeting and conferencing facilities available to provide occupiers quality business facilities at an affordable price.
Ashworth House is a modern four-storey office block which has part floors available from 4,000sq ft up to 17,000sq ft providing light open plan and private office accommodation.
The buildings are situated within a landscaped campus facility which provides ample staff and visitor parking and a canteen offering a varied menu.
The accommodation, in both buildings, is available on flexible terms at all inclusive rents from £7 per sq ft.
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A CARE development site in Lytham St Annes has been sold to Octopus Healthcare for an undisclosed sum.
Acting on behalf of Worthington Properties, CBRE’s Manchester Specialist team has offloaded the 1.2 acre site subject to planning consent for the development of a care home for up to 64 residents.
It will be built to specifications of Octopus Healthcare, forming part of a larger mixed-use scheme comprising a Booths supermarket, Joseph Holt family-dining public house, Morris Homes 132 home residential scheme and a 30 unit Hollinwood Homes development.
The scheme fronts Heyhouses Lane, 1.5 miles from Lytham St Annes town centre and 4.5 miles south of Blackpool.
Acting on behalf of Worthington Properties, CBRE’s Manchester Specialist Markets team has sold a 1.2 acre care development site in Lytham St Annes to Octopus Healthcare for an undisclosed sum.
The site has been acquired subject to planning consent for the development of a care home for up to 64 residents, built to the specifications of Octopus Healthcare with dedicated landscaped areas and parking facilities.
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ERIC Wright Construction, a division of the Eric Wright Group, has completed a £1.7m contract at a specialist school in Kirkham, Lancashire, for pupils with severe and profound learning difficulties and disabilities.
The 45-week programme saw the demolition of the existing Adult Training Centre and construction of a new Intensive Support Centre at Pear Tree School.
Commissioned and designed by Lancashire County Council, the 5,490sq ft centre is for children and young people aged two to 19 years with complex needs, autism and challenging behaviour. It comprises four classrooms, a life skills suite and sensory room, as well as external play and education spaces within a secure perimeter.
Preston-based Eric Wright managing director John Wilson said: “Special educational needs (SEN) projects require an exceptional attention to detail to ensure they meet the individual and diverse needs of the pupils.
“Our extensive experience delivering a range of projects in the education arena enabled us to create a flexible and safe environment that will improve provision and support the tailored development of its learners.”
Lesley Sullivan, head teacher at Pear Tree School, added: “The new intensive support centre will be known as the ‘Compass Centre’ and will provide up to 12 places for some of the most complex and vulnerable young people to be educated close to their local communities.”
