< Previous© Shutterstock/SFIO CRACHO 10 Business Link www.blmforum.net PROPERTY Looking at the latest deals The commercial property market here in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire has experienced rapid activity over the last month, with a number of exciting deals, developments and announcements. First phase of new Leeds industrial units completes The first two units of the industrial development at Cross Green Industrial Estate in Leeds have been completed with both being snapped up as pre-lets. Wine merchants, London City Bond, have expanded into the new 55,000 square foot detached warehouse and Beerhawk have taken the second 62,500 square foot detached warehouse. Both properties provide two-storey office space with scope for expansion, as well as large secure yards and loading areas. The deals were completed by Caddick Construction acting on behalf of Towngate. Cross Green Industrial Estate is just a mile from the M1 motorway and Leeds City Centre. It is one of the city’s largest industrial estates and home to a number of manufacturers. Approximately 3,000 people work at the site. Sheffield Hallam acquires office building in £8.8m deal An office building has been sold to Sheffield Hallam University by London and Scottish Property Investment Management (LSPIM) on behalf of regional real estate investment specialists Regional REIT for £8.8 million. The sale price reflects a new initial yield of 6.6 and marks an uplift of 39.7% since acquisition and 24.8% against a valuation undertaken in December 2018. The property was purchased in 2016 for £6.3 million following which various asset management initiatives were undertaken, increasing the length of leases and rental income. The total rental income for the property has increased to £620,000, representing an uplift of c. 18% from acquisition. The proceeds from the sale will be rapidly deployed towards the Group’s considerable pipeline of opportunities. 10-13.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2019 11:57 Page 1www.blmforum.net Business Link 11 PROPERTY Hull’s biggest multi-let industrial park changes hands J.R. Rix & Sons has purchased Kingston International Business Park – the largest multi-let industrial park in Hill – from Wykeland Group, ending almost three decades of ownership and investment by the commercial developer. Wykeland purchased the site in 1991 from the administrators of engineering business Priestmans after the historic Hull company folded with the loss of hundreds of jobs, leaving the site vacant. Over the past 28 years Wykeland has completed new buildings, refurbished existing facilities and invested in the infrastructure across the 30-acre site to create a 500,000 square foot business park where close to 1,000 people are now employed. The acquisition is the biggest single investment in the 140-year history of Rix Group. J.R. Rix was advised on the deal by legal practice Rollits and commercial estate agent Garness Jones. Andrew Jackson Solicitors and Carrick Real Estate represented Wykeland. Former Eggborough Power Station sold to property developer The former Eggborough Power Station in Yorkshire has been acquired by property development and investment group St Francis for an undisclosed sum. Built between 1962 and 1970 the coal fired power station closed in 2018 and has been sold by Eggborough Power Limited, a subsidiary of Czech utility Energetický a Průmyslový Holding (EPH). The site extends to around 130 acres gross and St Francis Group intend to promote the site for a number of industrial and logistics units in a range of sizes to take advantage of its key strategic location fronting the A19, only 1 mile north of junction 34. Occupiers with build to suit requirements will also be targeted. Eggborough Power Limited has retained adjacent land to construct a new gas-fired power station. Adam Booth, Managing Director for Eggborough Power Limited, said: “Eggborough Power will continue to maintain an active interest in the site as we pursue our plans to develop a new, high efficiency gas-fired power station on the former stock yard of the old coal station.” 10-13.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2019 11:57 Page 2Armstrong house Offering a prime position in Grimsby, Armstrong House on Armstrong Street is ideally located. Close to the ports of Grimsby and Immingham, motorway links and the town centre, off-street parking is also available for all staff and visitors, meaning it’s convenient too. Our spacious, welcoming offices are located on the ground floor and are both secure and CCTV- monitored, giving you the ultimate peace of mind. At Armstrong House, the flexible in/out terms of contract mean confidence when it comes to affordability and with a range of office sizes there are opportunities for all types of business. If you require virtual office services, prices start from just £15 per month. For more information, or to discuss your office requirements, give Scotts Property a call today on 01472 267000 and ask about Armstrong House. Last remaining office suites Prime location in Grimsby Superb Location - - Close to the ports of Grimsby & Immingham - Great motorway links - Close to the town centre Secure off street parking High speed internet availability Easy in/out terms A range of affordable office sizes 3 3 3 3 3 Armstrong House, Armstrong Street, Grimsby DN31 2QE Tel: (01472) 310301 • Email: s.fisher@blmgroup.co.uk www.shutterstock.com/terekhov igor www.shutterstock.com/Yentafern 10-13.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2019 11:57 Page 3www.shutterstock.com/Yentafern www.blmforum.net Business Link 13 PROPERTY © Shutterstock/Ant Clausen Second unit sold at Enterprise 36 A second industrial unit has been sold at Enterprise 36, a four unit scheme based in South Yorkshire, in a £3.55 million deal. The sale of the 41,500 sq ft unit has been secured by Barmston Developments and was brought by label printer Dura ID Solutions. This latest deal follows quickly on the back of the sale of Unit 4 to Williams Rowlands in April. This leaves two options available – a unit of 77,000 sq ft available for sale or to let, which is due for completion in January 2020, and a fully prepared plot which has planning for 100,500 sq ft. Enterprise 36, which is located 1 mile from J36 of the M1, is being developed by Barmston Developments, a joint venture between Wilton Developments and Clugston Estates who began work in March 2019 to speculatively build Units 2, 3 and 4. Unit 3 offers versatile high spec warehouse/industrial accommodation comprising 38,750 sq ft of space with 2,750 sq ft office provision. Unit 2 is currently under construction and is already attracting strong interest from potential occupiers. Unit 1 is available on a Design and Build basis with site preparation completed and detailed planning in place for the building, allowing delivery within the next 12 months. Barmston Developments is being supported by Barnsley Council’s Property Investment Fund and their Enterprising Barnsley investment team, who have provided help and advice alongside specialist business coaching to Dura ID. CBRE are acting as joint agents on the scheme with CPP. Beverley business park sold in £11.1m deal Tokenspire Business Park in Beverley has been sold in a £11.1 million deal by Scottish Property Investment Management (LSPIM) on behalf of investor Regional REIT. The 24-acre industrial site was originally purchased back in March 2016 for £8.5 million. This disposal represents an uplift of over 30% to the acquisition price. Since acquisition, the asset manager increased occupancy from 73.8% to 94.3%, decreasing EPRA vacancy from 26.2% to 5.7%. Key tenants include: QDOS Entertainment Limited, Sargent Electrical Services Limited and TAPCO Europe. LSPIM’s completed its business plan by undertaking much needed improvements to the estate’s infrastructure, resulting in attracting new tenants reducing void periods, assisting in retaining existing tenants, increasing income and improving the value of the property substantially. CGI of Enterprise 36 10-13.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2019 11:57 Page 414 Business Link www.blmforum.net ENGINEERING engineering Innovative technologies are being adopted left and right in UK engineering, but concerns over the industry’s potential stagnation due to a labour shortage, skills gap and lack of R&D funding cannot be ignored. The state of 14-17.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2019 11:59 Page 1www.blmforum.net Business Link 15 ENGINEERING T he UK has numerous engineering achievements to be proud of, whether it be the steam engine, the World Wide Web, the first jet engine, the first bionic hand or the colour television, and Yorkshire and Lincolnshire’s own renowned engineering prowess has drawn numerous businesses the region. Last year saw the official opening of three new £47m advanced engineering research centres in Sheffield, which aim to boost the region’s reputation as a hub for advanced engineering and industrial digital technology. The centres (the Royce Translational Centre, the Integrated Civil and Infrastructure Research Centre and the Laboratory for Verification and Validation) give businesses access to university research expertise and allow firms to use industrial digital technologies like robotics and AI. Continuing to bolster the region’s fame for engineering, the University of Sheffield took over Imperial College London as the top UK university for income and investment in engineering research according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), attracting £124m for engineering research from worldwide organisations in 2017-18. Boeing has also opening its first European manufacturing facility in Sheffield as part of the University’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and McLaren opened the McLaren Composites Technology Centre by the AMRC. Despite that fact that the government has highlighted engineering as one of the UK’s most important business sectors, and that the engineering sector contributes 21.4% of the UK’s £5.75 trillion total turnover, many in the industry have been quick to point out the problem of a lack of funding, particularly in R&D that is key to innovation. The Campaign for Science and Engineering (Case) for instance has called for a boost funding if the UK is to avoid stagnation. At present the UK is 23rd in its R&D spending. In comparison to the EU © Shutterstock/PopTika 16 Á 14-17.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2019 11:59 Page 216 Business Link www.blmforum.net ENGINEERING average of just over 2% of GDP spent on R&D, the UK spends 1.67%. The Government has however said it will spend a further £7bn on R&D by 2020 and plans to increase research funding to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. Further, UK networks like Catapult are promising, which was awarded £780m in 2018 to help with R&D, training apprentices and doctoral students in technical skills, and the Grand Challenges (artificial intelligence and data, ageing society, clean growth, future of mobility) in the Industrial Strategy. Brexit and its associated migration uncertainties continue to affect the industry too and are of course no help to its labour and skills shortage, as EU nationals make up 8.4% of those in engineering. In 2017 a report looking at engineering in the UK found that the UK has an estimated annual skills shortfall of 60,000 engineers. With this figure, to Units 4b & 4c, Harpings Road, National Avenue, Kingston-upon-Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire HU5 4JF Tel: +44 (0)1482 440222 Email: esales@eyh.co.uk Web: www.ehy.co.uk eyh .co.uk EAST YORKSHIRE HYDRAULICS Hydraulic engineering - design, build, installation and service. • Complete hydraulic systems • Installation and commissioning • Hydro-pneumatic accumulators • Hydraulic equipment • Cylinders Single Source Hydraulic Solutions Design, build, installation and service of hydraulic systems, cylinders, accumulators and equipment. 14-17.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2019 11:59 Page 3Tel: 01482 325676 • Email: sales@kingston-engineering.co.uk • www.kingston-engineering.co.uk Kingston Engineering are specialists in precision engineering, based in Hull. As one of the region’s leading companies in their sector, Kingston Engineering can provide specialised power screw products, specialist leadscrew and ex-stock power nuts and screws. In addition, they can provide expertise and guidance in factory and production machinery installation, commissioning, maintenance and repair. www.blmforum.net Business Link 17 ENGINEERING meet demand, the number of engineering students in the UK would need to double. Engineering UK has also noted that there are now 10 engineering occupations on the Shortage Occupation List that are expected to be in significant demand in coming years. To help boost the number of future engineers several programmes have been established, with organisations such as Primary Engineer launching the Institutions of Primary and Secondary engineering to help create an upcoming generation of engineers by changing how skills are taught. There is also an increase in focus on getting women specifically into engineering, with the UK hosting the lowest percent of female engineers in Europe, accounting for 12% of UK engineering workers in 2018. In addressing this, employers are offering flexible working options as well as programmes to help workers re-enter the industry after taking a break. Returning to schools, a new partnership has been launched to inspire young people, in particular girls, to study STEM subjects called the STEM Accord which will support teachers, build on the government’s industrial strategy, bring focus to regional and industry STEM clusters and increase the impact of STEM in disadvantaged areas. Trends for the industry While funding and staffing concerns are rife in engineering, the industry is seeing rapid change with new, innovative technologies that can streamline processes. The rise Industry 4.0 continues with more automation, robotics and cobots being incorporated to improve efficiency, productivity and flexibility as well as to achieve the reliability one cannot reach with human workers. While robots and AI may remove humans from certain jobs, a new set of skills is now required that engineers must adapt to. Engineers are supervising machines with smart devices, thus changing the workforce. 5G is expected to be a key technology this year, and a facilitator of Industry 4.0 by improving the speed of data transfer and management and allowing for greater collaboration. The Internet of Things (IoT), which powers Industry 4.0, is set for a boost in particular thanks to developments in 5G connectivity as IoT sensors rely on fast communication to be able to work effectively. Further, as businesses add more sensors across facilities that need to communicate with each other, more bandwidth is essential. These sensors are becoming imperative for monitoring machine health and performance and discovering small changes in machines, so that when used with sensor analytics software, operators can find the source of a possible future failure before it occurs and enact a predictive maintenance plan, preventing costly downtime. Use of Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed Reality (MR) tech is another industry trend, particularly in engineering design and will help clients visualise projects. VR allows designers to see whether a prototype will be unsuitable by visualising a model in a virtual environment. AR is also proving helpful when used by engineers assembling intricate products and is being used for quality checks and for collaboration from a distance. A further trend in engineering is the focus on environmentally friendliness and sustainability - reducing energy consumption and lowering emissions. This can be seen across the numerous industries engineers are involved in from the push for electric cars to solar and wind harvesting technology that can serve engineering practices that require a lot of energy that is currently not clean. © Shutterstock/Gorodenkoff 14-17.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2019 11:59 Page 418 Business Link www.blmforum.net © Shutterstock/Phoderstock mental health As mental health conditions overtake musculoskeletal disorders as the most common form of work- related ill health, it’s time to get serious about implementing a solid mental health strategy. Managing 18-21.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2019 12:02 Page 1HEALTH & SAFETY www.blmforum.net Business Link 19 A n in-depth health and safety policy is essential in every kind of workplace across all industries, whether that be an office environment, manufacturing facility or construction site. Without this, potential clients and employees are steered away, and businesses may face prosecution and as a result a damaged image. Considering health and safety today, much more focus is being placed on the importance of mental health and wellbeing in the workplace and reducing the stigma surrounding it. Stress, anxiety and depression took over musculoskeletal disorders as the most commonly reported form of work-related ill health last year, with 595,000 people suffering from stress, depression or anxiety in relation to work (up from 526,00 in 2016/17). The importance of having a mental health plan in a company’s overall health and safety policy is therefore blatant, even if the legal obligations of what one must offer those dealing with mental health issues are not well defined. As pointed out by mental health charity Mind, a culture of fear and silence around mental health is costly to employers, and indeed the average cost of mental health to business is over £1,000 per employee each year, while 15.4m working days are lost as a result of stress, anxiety and depression - accounting for more than half of all workdays lost to ill health - and presenteeism, a bugbear on productivity, has tripled since 2010. Further, eight in ten British workers say their workday is impacted by stressed co-workers, and 83% of people noticing stressed colleagues believe this has an impact on workplace morale, thus we can see the effects of mental health extending past a single employee. Businesses must therefore be more active in supporting mental health. A key first step is mandatory mental health training. The Stevenson/Farmer review of mental health and employers, commissioned by the Prime Minister in 2017, highlights “mental health core standards” that all businesses can execute quickly. These include: producing, implementing and communicating a mental health at work plan; developing mental health awareness among employees; encouraging open conversations about mental health and the support available when employees are struggling; providing employees with good working conditions and ensuring they have a healthy work life balance and opportunities for development; promoting effective people management through line managers and supervisors; and routinely monitoring employee mental health and wellbeing. The report also outlines enhanced standards for employers that want to lead the way including: increasing 20 Á 18-21.qxp_Layout 1 04/07/2019 12:02 Page 2Next >