Blog
House builders ‘taking a breath’
Whilst the debate continues to rage about the need for more housing, the press is reporting that many National house builders are ‘slowing down’. The experience from our Agency teams is that house builders are still interested in new site opportunities but their rates of acquisition have slowed. The house… Read More
“What is happening to build costs?”
My agency colleagues are now all talking regularly about the need for more new speculative development. The question that soon follows to myself and my Building Consultancy colleagues is: “Why can’t we build factories/warehouses/offices cheaper?” When they say “cheaper” they mean “a lot” cheaper and probably… Read More
“It’s about Placemaking”
The media have picked up on Tony Pidgley’s speech at the MIPIM UK Conference, Tony Pidgley Chairman of Berkeley Homes has talked about the need for a culture change in Planning. The change that Mr Pidgley says is needed is for local and central government, private developers and the public… Read More
99p Store
Harris Lamb are retained by 99p Stores Ltd to identify and acquire stores as part of their ambitious expansion program. 99p Stores are seeking 150 new stores by 2017. Harris Lamb cover the Midlands and north of England, contact details and area of search is shown on the flyer below:… Read More
Is Longbridge about to become the new Solihull?
News last week that Marks & Spencer have been granted planning permission for a new 150,000 sq. ft. store on the former MG Rover site in Longbridge may have raised a few eyebrows for people. Development at “Longbridge Town Centre”, or rather the newly created town centre, is… Read More
HARRIS LAMB ANTICIPATES HIGH DEMAND FOR THE LAST KING
Harris Lamb has been appointed as the sole agent for the last available high quality office space in excess of 20,000 sq ft within Worcester and between junctions 1-9 of the M5 Corridor. At more than 31,000 sq ft, 3 Kings Court has become available following Shop… Read More
The Challenges of acting as an LPA advisor
From a commercial property viewpoint an easing of credit and availability of finance for property lending will provide some real impetus to growth. My colleague Neil Slade talked about a shortage of new development where demand exists but credit is difficult and I thought it was worth supporting Neil’s piece… Read More
Have you visited a Dark Store?
Listening to the radio the other morning I heard a story about the origins of text messaging 20 years ago and how it was first used by Vodafone and intended to be for internal messaging use only – to tell Directors where they were supposed to be when out… Read More
Business Rates Revaluation
From a commercial property viewpoint an easing of credit and availability of finance for property lending will provide some real impetus to growth. My colleague Neil Slade talked about a shortage of new development where demand exists but credit is difficult and I thought it was worth supporting Neil’s piece… Read More
Working with Trusted Contractors
“But aren’t all contractors trustworthy?” Well; I’m sure they are or the vast majority of them are. It is worth making the point though that whether a consultant or a client it pays to work with those you can place your trust in and we see the benefits of this… Read More
If it appreciates, buy it, If it depreciates, lease it.
Andy talks about the arguments for Corporate Property Leasebacks…. Not a catchline I came up with but one attributed to J Paul Getty the billionaire oil tycoon. These days a lot of people use the phrase when talking about people who buy private jets or yachts but is it something in… Read More
The Role of Surveyors as LPA Receivers
Many people will understand the role of an LPA Receiver but most will associate the role as a job fulfilled by an insolvency practitioner or accountant. That is not always the case though… Many times LPA work can be carried out by practicing surveyors; usually an LPA Receiver… Read More
Understanding a Lump Sum Contract
When deciding to undertake refurbishment, extensions or new build work, one of the key issues for the majority of clients is the control of costs and expenditure associated with the work, and with the majority of this being the cost of actually undertaking the physical work, the correct approach to… Read More