TONY Thomas has got off to a flying start in his new role as director of the Edinburgh-based WYG Planning & Design.
He led the team which successfully pitched for a major contract to act as planning consultants for a multi-million pound extension by RWE Npower to the wind farm on the Novar estate near Dingwall.
The WYG team is now getting on with the task, a
s Thomas describes it, "of helping to get these windmills up and turning and producing renewable, sustainable energy as quickly as possible".
It is a planning-led project and planning is what Thomas is all about. He graduated from Dundee University in 1994 with degree in town and regional planning and around that time jobs in the property business were hard to find. So his first career move was selling ice cream in Princes Street for Haagen Dazs. One of his regulars was managing director of a leading commercial property agency (Hillier Parker as it then was) and he was soon offered a job.
He went on to scale the planning heights and became head of the Scottish planning and development team at CB Richard Ellis.
At WYG he heads a team of 14 planners, landscape architects, master planners and architects. His remit: "To enable a smooth transition from the old regime to the new – a velvet revolution, if you like, working closely with the founders of the business because we want them to stay involved – we want to consolidate what we have."
The founders of the Edinburgh business are Alan Farningham and Donald McCreadie, whose Farningham McCreadie Partnership became part of the WYG Group which has more than 30 offices worldwide. Wanting to maintain their involvement, the founders have stayed on in Edinburgh as consultants.
Thomas has joined WYG when, as he puts it, there is unprecedented turmoil in the property market while the planning procedure in Scotland is going through major changes – so many planned and up for debate that it is difficult to keep track of them.
Thomas says: "It is our job to know what is going on. Is this a good time for changing the planning machine or is it a bad time? The last thing the development industry wants is changes but it could be a good time because developers are going through a quiet spell so it gives them a chance to get used to the changes before the market picks up again."
He adds that when he started his career he believed that planning was pro-development but it has not turned out to be as clear cut as that. But he believes there is an opportunity in the market place for a more proactive and flexible development system.
He poses three questions: "Will local authorities be more open to development? Will they process things more quickly? Will they not be as stringent in the interpretation of policy?"
He says he is not talking about cutting swathes through the green belt or driving a coach and horses through a well-established system but making sure things happen and that the system adapts positively to the changed circumstances.
A keen rugby fan, Thomas's Australian honeymoon with Joanne in 2001 coincided with the Lions tour. Holiday time is looming again and the Lions are in South Africa, but with Henry (four) and Anna (two) on the scene, it will be a European venue and following the Lions from afar.
Protego secures Grade A city investmentIN ONLY the second office deal to be completed in Glasgow city centre this year, CB Richard Ellis (Scotland), acting (jointly with Ryden) for ING Real Estate Investment Management, has sold 220 St Vincent Street to Protego Real Estate Investors (represented by King Sturge) for £6 million, reflecting a net initial yield of 7.75 per cent. The recently refurbished Grade A office building is let to CIGNA Insurance, Towry Law and Hiscox. Steven Hendry, associate director in the CBRE capital markets team, said: "While activity in the investment market remains relatively subdued, our client was able to take advantage of a lack of competing stock and generate strong interest in this asset from a number of investors." Protego director Darren Hutchison says it intends to make further quality UK acquisitions.
SHANKS Waste Management, one of Europe's largest recycling companies, has taken a ten-year lease over three acres of land and 5,000sq ft of offices at Glasgow's Easter Queenslie J10 M8 development at an undisclosed rent. The site will complement Shank's Blochairn facility and will be used for the storage of the Shanks vehicle fleet along with admin offices. The landlord, United Wholesale (Scotland), represented by Colliers CRE and Jones Lang LaSalle, created a road access and refurbished the offices as part of the enticement. Shanks was represented by Gerald Eve.
AN EDINBURGH restaurant has been sold to a private Scottish investor for more than £1.7m at a Jones Lang LaSalle auction in London. The restaurant, Zizzi in Queensferry Street, is over three floors and brings in an annual rent of £130,000. Alisdair Hogg of the JLL investment team said the deal showed a positive shift in attitudes towards commercial property investment, with cash investors starting to find some of the best deals in the auction marketplace for a decade for the more secondary assets.
DOWNTOWN Space, developer of The Hub in Glasgow's Pacific Quay, has signed up a raft of new tenants, the latest being an IT training company, Enlightened Training, which has taken 2,673sq ft on "flexible lease" terms. Agents are Ryden and CBRE.
VETS Now, provider of out-of-hours emergency veterinary care, has secured its first clinic in Glasgow at 123/145 North Street, taking 8,858sq ft at £65,000 a year. The unit was formerly occupied by Majestic Wine. Vets Now is on the trail for further acquisitions through retained agents, SGM Property Consultants.
• Send deals details to jimdow@lumison.co.uk
