ict active and Commercial Property News

First property in the region undergoes ict active assessment.

A Sunderland business centre has become the first in the region to successfully pass the ict active accreditation.

The North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) has undertaken the ict active assessment and has achieved the highest rating possible – Leading Edge.

The BIC is a 14-acre site which can accommodate over 160 companies in purpose-built offices and work spaces. The site was a former shipyard before it was converted into a business centre in 1994.

Since then the site has been constantly developed and expanded and has now achieved the Leading Edge ict active status.

Paul McEldon, Chief Executive of the NE BIC, says, “We try to provide tenants with as many business support services as we can, and that includes ICT. We are in fact an internet service provider in our own right – we provide the internet and email services to all our tenants onsite. We also have a helpdesk ICT team who deal with our clients plus three back-up internet lines to ensure our tenants have the best possible connection.

“We can also provide a full ICT contract for tenants where we can help provide equipment, install software and perform repairs. So we feel we have an excellent range of ICT services, facilities and infrastructure in place here.”

Paul continues, “Over the years we’ve seen ICT become so integral to businesses that it is impossible to ignore. Business’ minimum specification has increased so significantly that we’ve had to invest in what we believe is good quality infrastructure and also good quality service.

“ict active backs up our claims that we do offer excellent services. It will ensure that tenants know they are coming into a centre with exceptional ICT in place. It gives us real credit for the work we have done here and will continue to do in the future.”

Liz Wallis, managing director of ict active, says, “We are delighted that the North East BIC is now ict active. It is an excellent centre and a flagship development in the whole region.

“The BIC offer so much more than just office space. It is an excellent example of a centre doing everything it can for its tenants. It offers a superb level of ICT services, support and facilities that fully warrants its Leading Edge accreditation.”

Jim Farmery, Assistant Director of Business at Yorkshire Forward, said: “We had significant success in the Yorkshire and Humber region with this scheme so I’m pleased, but not surprised, to see it doing well elsewhere.

“With technology playing such a large part in every modern business, achieving the ict active standard will encourage new and expanding businesses to fill empty offices and buildings because they know that key technological requirements have been met.”

The BIC's Paul McEldon (left) with ict active's Richard Vaughan

A tale of two cities varying success in 2009.

The office markets in Leeds and Sheffield enjoyed contrasting fortunes in 2009, according to a report by property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton.

Take-up in Leeds dropped to 37 per cent below the ten-year trend level at 632,122 sq ft, while Sheffield rose by 9 per cent above its same mark to 386,885 sq ft.

However, prime rental values have remained robust and continued to grow in Leeds, but city centre rents have fallen by 7 per cent in Sheffield over the last 15 months.

Leading Edge status for ict active renewal property

A Sheffield city centre property has successfully passed an in-depth Information and Communication Technology (ICT) survey at the highest level for the second time.

Sheffield Technology Park (STP) has been awarded Leading Edge, the highest rating possible under the ict active scheme.

The ict active assessment is the national standard for the provision of ICT in office buildings.

STP was one of the first properties to become ict active in 2008 and recently underwent re-assessment following its two-year renewal date.

STP is one of only three properties in Sheffield to achieve the Leading Edge status, and only a dozen nationally.

Peter Wood, chief executive of STP, says, “We are delighted to have achieved Leading Edge status. We are very proud to have been one of the first ict active properties and to able to continue to display the plaque for another two years is great.

“In a competitive industry such as ours, it is important to ensure that you’re offering tenants the best possible service. The ict active survey shows us, and our potential clients, that we have a good standard of ICT facilities and services.

“The ict active survey not only highlights our facilities to tenants but it also helps us understand our own ICT capabilities. To be able to learn further information about our ICT, how we can improve it and what else can be done to further enhance our facilities is a real advantage.”

Liz Wallis, managing director of ict active, says, “Sheffield Technology Parks helped to support ict active in our early days by becoming one of our first properties. Since then, we have grown into a national scheme and we are thrilled that STP has once again achieved Leading Edge.”

STP's Peter Wood with ict active's Richard Vaughan

Development activity in Leeds has clearly reduced

Leeds faces a squeeze on Grade A office space as take-up outstrips supply, according to a local property expert.

Speaking at a CB Richard Ellis client seminar, Michael Porter, the company’s director of valuation in Leeds, said: “There is very little Grade A space available in the city centre. Development activity in the city has clearly reduced and all but ceased.

"Schemes will progress but only providing there are sufficient pre-lets and funding in place.”

Porter said the lack of supply was likely to stimulate rental growth in the medium to long term.

Voice Technologies moves in city centre office space

Voice Technologies, the supplier of digital dictation and speech recognition solutions headquartered in Glasgow, has opened a new office in Sheffield Technology Park.

The new office will support VT’s expansion in England and Wales predominantly targeting the NHS, legal firms and the public sector.

Alistair Graham, sales and technical director at VT, said: “Sheffield was an obvious choice for us, as it is situated right by the motorway, allows easy access to England and Wales and is only a three-hour drive from our head office in Paisley.”

Take-up in the city has slowed in the first quarter of the year.

Take-up of office space in Leeds has slowed in the first quarter of the year, according to the DTZ Research UK Property Times market reports.

Despite falling back, take-up remained relatively healthy at about 85,000 sq ft, made up of a larger number of smaller deals than occurred in the previous quarter.

The property consultancy’s report said annual take-up is expected to increase slightly in 2010 as, unlike most other regional markets, the public sector has a number of credible requirements in Leeds.

Grade B office space to be refurbished and bridge the potential supply gap according to report

A shortage of Grade A office space under construction in Leeds will create an opportunity for Grade B office space to be refurbished and bridge the potential supply gap, according to a report by property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle.

Leeds has 1.38m sq ft of available office space, a situation which has led to only 40,000 sq ft of Grade A space currently in development.

Jones Lang LaSalle said a return to even moderate levels of Grade A take-up will result in a shortage of supply by 2012.

Hemsworth-based centre achieves Leading Edge status

The Cedars Business Centre has become the first property in Wakefield to become ict active.

The centre, located in Hemsworth in the West Yorkshire city, has been specifically designed to cater for the needs of new, infancy and expanding businesses.

And now the centre has become a flagship property by gaining the sought-after rating of Leading Edge under ict active – the first property in Wakefield to achieve the rating and only the third in the West Yorkshire.

Phil Murray, from The Cedars Business Centre, says, “We are delighted to have achieved the Leading Edge status under ict active. I believe this is testament to the good work we have done here and will continue to do.

“This will hopefully highlight the fact that business centres don’t need to be located in the middle of cities to be able to offer the highest possible level of ICT to clients.

“Hemsworth used to be a colliery site and it has had to undergo a lot of regeneration to get moving again – and that is mirrored by the work we do here – helping businesses. Achieving the ict active mark is testament to that work.”

Liz Wallis, managing director of ict active, says, “We are delighted that The Cedars has achieved the Leading Edge status. They are an important property in their region and the first Wakefield building to become ict active.

“We hope that many more properties in the city will look at the work The Cedars is doing and the fact they are now a flagship ict active centre and want to follow suit.”

Sales reached £233 million during the first quarter of the year, compared with £165 million in the last quarter of 2009

Investment in commercial property has shot up in Yorkshire and property values have risen even faster, according to research by national property consultancy, Lambert Smith Hampton.

Sales reached £233 million during the first quarter of the year, compared with £165 million in the last quarter of 2009 – an increase of 41 per cent.

At the same time, the average property price surged from £7.8 million to £11.6 million – an increase of almost 50 per cent and the highest rise since the first quarter of 2009.

LSH says demand in the Yorkshire property market is particularly increasing in the retail and office sectors, which accounted for 48 per cent and 38 per cent of total activity, respectively.

Nationwide, LSH says institutional investors have made their largest net commitment to the UK property market for more than three years, with net investment more than trebling from £0.3 billion in the final quarter of 2009, to £1.1 billion.

Guy Gilfillan, Sheffield-based head of LSH Yorkshire, said: "While it may appear that investment activity across the region is improving, we mustn't get ahead of ourselves.

"Activity is restricted purely to prime stock as investors continue to adopt a cautious approach, save for Central London, which has seen a steady increase in rental levels over recent months.

However, it is only a matter of time before the north witnesses similar improvements in rental growth."

Steady start to 2010 in Leeds

The city-centre office market in Leeds has got off to a ‘cautious start’ to 2010, according to figures compiled by Sanderson Weatherall’s Leeds office.

The property consultancy says 84,747 sq ft of office space has been taken up in the first quarter in a total of 30 deals.

Sanderson Weatherall partner Glenn Levison said “the bulk of requirements currently on the market are still for smaller office space”, but he remained optimistic for the year ahead, adding: “I expect that as the year goes on, market take-up will improve, and I am hopeful that the general election will instill confidence in the market as a whole, which in turn will encourage movement again.”