Growing choice for parking out of town

Published on Monday 9 November 2009 18:07

IN JANUARY 2005 the Alcan aluminium works ceased production at Falkirk, ending a 60-year association with the town, and Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley moved in to buy the site in a £5 million deal – perceived by the marketplace as being over the odds, but SE was keen to fill the gap in the Falkirk economy.

Falkirk Council chipped in with 3.15m of infrastructure work and the fruits of it all were revealed last month with the official launch of Abbotsford Business Park, a new 18-acre development for businesses ranging from high-tech to light industrial offices aimed at the owner-occupier market.

The claim is that this new business park is an innovative concept for Central Scotland and will meet a significant demand for flexible self-contained premises.

Bryce Stewart, director of logistic and industrial with the agents, Colliers CRE, says: "Abbotsford Business Park represents an excellent opportunity to attract new businesses to the area as well as for enterprises around Falkirk and Grangemouth to create their own bespoke facilities.

"Although the park is aimed exclusively at owner-occupiers, there is scope for such businesses to team up with interested developers on specific plots."

The Abbotsford opening comes after the launch of a major marketing campaign for the third phase of development at the John Smith Business Park in Kirkcaldy which will be competing with Abbotsford and other business parks in places such as Livingston and Stirling.

So is the business park competition in the Central Belt heating up?

Nadir Khan-Juhoor, partner at Knight Frank, agents for the John Smith Park, says: "There is a lot of competition out there – the out-of-town market is pretty fierce."

Ryden is successfully marketing Earls Gate Park in Grangemouth, a joint venture development between international chemical manufacturing company Kemfine UK and Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley. It claims to be Scotland's most advanced and integrated industrial/business park for chemical technology and manufacturing companies.

Partner David Fraser says that in North and South Lanarkshire there are business park developments in the pipeline but there is a shortage elsewhere in the Central Belt. "We have not seen rents drop since the downturn because there is not an oversupply," he says.

In a market overview, Glasgow-based Campbell Hart of King Sturge says that historically the business parks market has been sluggish and as a result of market conditions out-of-town business parks find that increasingly they have to compete directly with city centre locations.

He continues: "Refurbished city centre locations are a serious consideration, given the more competitive terms being offered. Lower city centre rents are eroding the commercial advantage previously offered by business parks and at the same time city centre locations can often mitigate staff retention issues.

"However, it is encouraging that John Lewis has selected Hamilton International rather than a city centre location. It seemed set to move to Broadway near its outlet in Glasgow city centre before Tesco took it. Then it had a radical shift in thinking and chose Hamilton International Park for a 40,000sq ft call centre."

King Sturge cites Maxim, the 330m, 756,000sq ft development in North Lanarkshire, the largest speculative office park scheme in the UK, as a concept that addresses the issue of incomplete development that has characterised business park development in the west of Scotland, its only weakness being the lack of direct rail links to Glasgow and Edinburgh. It is also offering space at the Trilogy Business Park at Motherwell's Eurocentral and claims that it sets the standards for office moves into business parks.

Good day at office with deals in pipeline

A MAJOR boost for the Edinburgh office market could be on the way with two deals in the offing. Wood MacKenzie is said to have a "serious interest" in space at the Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Exchange Place development. That interest is reckoned to be in around 40,000sq ft at about 28.50 per sq ft with bags of incentives. The National Health Service is looking at 16,000sq ft in the virtually empty 210,000sq ft Waverley Gate development, where rates have been slashed by administrator BDO Stoy Hayward to between 12 and 21 per sq f

NHS Quality Improvement Scotland has renewed for ten years its lease on 20,000sq ft at Elliot House in Hillside Crescent, Edinburgh, at an undisclosed rent. CBRE acted for the tenant with Eric Young for landlord, Roxspring Property Investment Managers. Eric Young and Ryden have been retained to market the remaining 16,000sq ft.

IN THE largest letting in Broxburn this year, Jones Lang LaSalle has signed up online electrical wholesaler BDC 2008 for 6,355sq ft on a five-year lease "at a competitive rent" at Liggat Syke Place at East Mains Industrial Estate. It will move from premises in Newbridge. JLL, along with Links Commercial Property Consultants, acted for the landlord, Landgate Developments, with Pater Goodman Merriman for the tenant.

ANOTHER Broxburn deal – AGR & Sons is to double its space at Axwel Yard, taking a further 3,500sq ft of warehouse space from landlord Cosmopolitan Investments – represented by Lambert Smith Hampton – on a two-year lease off a quoting rent of 3 per sq ft.

IRISH bookmaker Paddy Power has opened in Union Street, Glasgow, with a 15-year lease on 1,772sq ft at 50,000 a year – with the help of three months rent-free, followed by 18 months of half rent. Cushman & Wakefield acted for landlord Aspin Estates.

SCOTTISH bed retailer Archers Sleepcentre has signed a 15-year lease for 7,500sq ft at the Springkerse Retail Park, Stirling, at 138,750 a year (18.50 per sq ft). The unit was let by LaSalle Investment Management, represented by Savills, with Buchanan Wright for Archers.

COSTA Coffee has signed a lease for a 1,710sq ft cafe in Kirkcaldy's High Street at 40,000 a year with an incentive equivalent to half rent for the first four years. Cushman & Wakefield acted for Costa, with Culverwell for landlord Annfield Assets.

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