Property round-up: Ashton Old Baths; Pro Blo Group; Northern Trust & more
A TENDER for the management of the £4m business incubator at Ashton Old Baths and Tameside College’s Enterprise Centre has been advertised.
Tameside Council has asked commercial property agency and consultancy Cushman and Wakefield to assist with the search for a “business incubation centre operator” for the Grade II-listed building.
Built in 1870, the building has stood empty since it closed as a municipal baths in the 1970s. The restoration project is due for completion in early 2016 with a Spring 2016 opening.
The facility will provide managed workspace within a timber pod structure specifically aimed at providing accessible accommodation for start-up businesses in the creative, digital and media sectors.
Funding has come from a £1.7m Heritage Lottery Fund grant, £1m European Regional Development Fund grant and from Tameside Council’s capital programme.
Both facilities will be capable of supporting over 100 small businesses when operational. Property developer PlaceFirst is managing the development.
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BEAUTY products business Pro Blo Group has relocated its head office to Oriel Chambers in Liverpool.
The firm, which counts the popular CurlME hair tool among its product portfolio, has moved from Birkenhead into a 259sq ft space at the historic Bruntwood-owned building on Water Street.
Pro Blo Group was founded in 2014 and has already expanded into new continents and secured contracts with a high-end department store and an international wholesaler, as well as receiving various celebrity and blogger endorsements for detachable hair brush Curl Me.
It hopes to use the new premises as a platform to undertake further product development and increase its share of the fiercely competitive hair and beauty market.
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NORTHERN Trust has announced it has bought the multi-let 44,170 sq ft Golborne Enterprise Park in Wigan.
The Park comprises a modern mixed-use estate with traditional self-contained industrial buildings with sizes at the front ranging from 4,105sq ft to 8,210sq ft.
The rear of the site provides self-contained office/business units ranging from 4,105sq ft to 8,210sq ft.
The estate will be managed by Northern Trust’s subsidiary Whittle Jones North West.
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BARTON Properties (UK) has sold the 250-year leasehold interest in Victoria House in Altrincham to Novo Property Group.
Novo Property Group plans to convert the first and second floor office accommodation comprising 4,000sq ft into four luxury residential apartments.
The retail unit on the ground floor is currently occupied by furniture store Sharps.
Daniel Lee, director of Regional Property Solutions, acted for the vendor.
The purchaser was unrepresented.
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CHESHIRE East Council is to seek a developer to revitalise the Crewe swimming pool site as part of its ambitious plans to regenerate the town.
And the authority’s preference is for proposals that would retain the current building’s classic Art Deco façade.
The swimming pool will be relocated to the new purpose-built lifestyle centre in Crewe town centre in spring 2016.
This leaves the current 1.154-acre public swimming pool and gymnasium site surplus to requirements and a drain on taxpayers prompting the decision for the site to be put up for sale.
The lifestyle centre is a flagship project which will provide an impressive range of leisure and community facilities, including an eight-lane 25m pool and top-class fitness suite accessible for everybody in the community.
The marketing process is expected to begin shortly after the Council has formally approved the redevelopment strategy to enable a smooth transition to the new use as soon as possible following the swimming pool re-location.
The Council is seeking to maintain the historic architecture of the town where possible and will therefore be encouraging proposals that retain the existing Locally Listed building or its landmark 1930s façade.
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MANCHESTER-based architector and interiors practice Millson Associates carry out the £3.5m design the new Albert’s Schloss bar and restaurant in the city’s historic Albert Hall.
Millson has been appointed by Mission Mars to carry out the work on the Grade II-listed building which has in recent years become a live music venue.
The new ground floor bar and restaurant will anchor its leisure offering, propelled by owner Mission Mars – a joint venture group comprising the businesses behind Trof.
Millson is implementing a series of designs which will help bring to life the client’s ambitions of creating a food, drink and entertainment venue, described as a “Bohemian pleasure palace”.
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THE first tenants at Liverpool’s residential development The Keel have taken up residence and are making themselves at home at the former HMRC building on Queens Dock.
The £30m makeover to transform the one-time tax office into 240 waterside apartments was completed on September 18, following investment from Moorfield Group (Moorfield) on behalf of the Moorfield Real Estate Fund III (MREFIII), with development partner Glenbrook Property.
The new luxury development offers a range of studio, one, two and three bedroom apartments, complete with a residents’ only gym and waterside terrace.
Demand has been exceptionally high for the apartments since launching on to the market in June.
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THE site of a former Mecca Bingo hall in Bolton has been sold to Aldi supermarkets for more than £3m.
WHR Property Consultants advised Millfield Estates on the change of use of its 3.6 acre site on Bury Road.
Planning permission has now been granted for an 18,000sq ft food store and ancillary retail uses.
WHR partner Simon Hampson said: “We are pleased that we were able to assist Millfield Estates in asset managing this change of use resulting on a very positive outcome for our client.”
Lamb and Swift Commercial represented Aldi Supermarkets.
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PROFESSIONAL hair and beauty supplier Sally Salon Services is moving into the heart of Bolton town centre following a £500,000 investment by Gordon Moon Properties into 56 Deansgate.
Sally Salon – the UK and Ireland’s largest supplier in its sector – will move into the 5,000sq ft prime retail space following completion of a major refurbishment currently being under taken by the North West Property firm.
The retail unit is located on the main approach to the Market Place Shopping Centre, and retailers in close proximity include Marks & Spencer, Vodafone, Waterstones and Caffé Nero.
The new store will offer an unrivalled range of hair, beauty and electrical products for professional and retail customers, stocking leading brands like Lord & Berry, Wella and OPI.
Sally Salon Services managing director Michael Dewey said: “We are very excited about coming to Bolton, and the new store will be a strong addition to our growing portfolio of over 250 stores in the UK. We look forward to welcoming local customers through our doors in 2016 to make the most of our unrivalled product range and expert in-store team.”
James Gordon, of Gordon Moon Properties, said: “The signing is fantastic news for Bolton and an indicator of the increasing interest, from both national and international brands, in securing a presence in the town. As work now commences on the unit we look forward to unveiling the new look property in early 2016.”
Bolton architects Bradshaw Gass and Hope are lead architects on the project; Hitchcock Wright and Partners are the acting agents alongside CBRE.
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ONE of Europe’s largest student accommodation projects, the £81m Peel Park Campus in Salford, has been officially handed over by GRAHAM Construction.
The mammoth development, providing almost 1,400 individual bedrooms for students at the University of Salford, was the most complex and demanding construction schedule GRAHAM has ever undertaken in its near 240-year history.
The project, which comprises nine residential blocks on two separate sites as well as teaching accommodation, cinema, gym, energy centre, laundrette and conference facilities, is regarded as a game changer for the university.
GRAHAM completed the project on budget following an intensive 90-week build, handing over a day early to enable the university to welcome students arriving for the 2015/16 academic year.
The scheme was designed by Sheppard Robson.
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MARCUS Worthington Group has been honoured for its pioneering Foxhall Village development in Blackpool at this years’ Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) North West Planning Achievement Awards.
Foxhall Village is being delivered by the company’s residential arm Hollinwood Homes, in partnership with Blackpool Council, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and Great Places Housing Group, with 400 new homes being built and the creation of a new community.
The awards celebrate the positive impact of planning in the region and are made up of four categories: collaboration, innovation, regeneration and conservation.
Hollinwood Homes collected the most innovative scheme award for the £50m project at a ceremony at the Hilton Deansgate in Manchester.
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A NEW 115-bed Holiday Inn Express will be opened at Stockport Exchange after Muse Developments and Stockport Council completed agreements with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).
Due to open in 2017, Holiday Inn Express Stockport forms a key part of the second phase of the mixed-use Stockport Exchange development which is currently under construction, creating a new gateway for Stockport town centre.
The hotel’s contemporary design will reflect the town’s rich history, featuring vertical fins which reference the town’s Grade II-listed Victorian covered market hall nearby. Amenities will include a bar, restaurant, wi-fi and meeting facilities.
As well as the hotel, the second phase of work will deliver a new 50,000sq ft, five-storey office building and pedestrianised public space, which will create an attractive gateway from the train station into the town.
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MANCHESTER Science Partnership’s Salford Innovation Park has welcomed four new companies on to its campus.
The arrival of Novus Property Solutions, Confident 3D, Safeway Contractors and Working IT Solutions brings the campus closer to maximum capacity and is a sign of the rising upturn for Salford commercial businesses.
National property maintenance firm Novus has taken the largest amount of space at approximately 2,000sq ft to increase its national coverage, followed by fast-growing commercial IT service provider, Working IT Solutions, taking on 1,350sq ft.
Safeway Contractors (930sq ft) and Confident 3D (570 sq ft) have also taken on units to support the next stage of their respective business development.
Since MSP took on the management in 2012, occupancy at the campus site has steadily risen as the private sector in Salford has regained momentum following the UK recession.
The location of the site on Frederick Road is close to the major road and public transport links, as well as Salford’s cultural centre, and has made Salford Innovation Park a desirable location for many businesses.
