Martin Hannan: Face-lifted spaces weather economic downturn

They can’t promise the First Minister to officially open every office that they let, but the Carlyle Group and Rydens appear to have something special with the refurbished Tanfield in Edinburgh. Light, airy, and with a restored roof-top garden, Tanfield has all the latest mod cons, including internal streetscape.

Alex Salmond opened the new global headquarters of FNZ at Tanfield last week, and was impressed with the £20 million redevelopment of the former Standard Life building – no surprise as it has been named Refurbishment of the Year by the British Council for Offices.

Inquiries are coming in thick and fast, as always happens with a successful office complex. Peter L’Anson at Rydens, in Edinburgh, is the man to contact.

In-Site Property Solutions’ Craig Mitchell House, in Queensway Industrial Estate, Glenrothes, has secured three new tenants, occupying a combined total of 19,000 sq ft.

Two mid-terrace units of 4,250 sq ft have been let at rents of £3.50 per sq ft, while energy provider Npower has signed up for 5,000 sq ft of open-plan and partitioned office space on both the ground and first floors at £7 per sq ft.

The building was refurbished last year and Kirsty Palmer, associate director for Jones Lang LaSalle, which acts for In-Site, said: “In-Site’s extensive refurbishment of the site has reaped rewards with these lettings, all in close proximity to one another.”

Refurbishment was also vital for GVA, acting jointly with Winton Faith, in their letting of the sixth floor of Merchant Exchange, 20 Bell Street, Glasgow on behalf of CCLA Investment Management. The office space, which extends to 3,556 sq ft, was leased to the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disability on a five-year lease at a headline rental of £14 per sq ft.

Alastair Cumming, associate in the Offices team at GVA, said: “The high- quality refurbishment undertaken by CCLA Investment Management coupled with their commercial, flexible approach to the negotiation of the lease terms was the key to securing this high-quality tenant, in the current challenging market conditions,”

It is clear that price is still important, as confirmed by Drivers Jonas Deloitte (DJD), which last week announced the £3.93million sale of Shettleston’s Annick Industrial Estate. The site, comprising 55 units extending to 107,559 sq ft, has been bought from Rockspring Property Investment Managers acting on behalf of Hanover Property Unit Trust and advised by DJD.

Craig Leslie, senior surveyor in the national transactions team at DJD’s Glasgow office, said: “There is still investor demand for multi-let industrial stock where the asset fundamentals are good and the property is priced correctly.”

Other recent deals include two companies increasing their space at Harbour Point in Musselburgh, which is owned by Edinburgh-based Cosmopolitan Investments. Daxtra Technologies has added 5,000 sq ft to the 2,800 sq ft already occupied, and taken a new ten-year lease, while Spark of Genius has added 2,000 sq ft to its established 4,000 sq ft and its lease has been re-geared for a further five years. Both rentals were concluded at an average rate of £9 a sq ft. Colliers International has let 10 Palacecraig Street, Coatbridge, on behalf of a private investor, to commercial vehicle repair company, CEM Scotland. The 3.8-acre yard has been let on a five-year lease at an annual rent of £95,000.

Do these and other deals indicate a stirring in the sector? We’ll let you know.