< Previous10 Business Link www.blmforum.net COMMERCIAL PROPERTY T he UK’s commercial property sector has undoubtedly bounced back from the pandemic and skilfully adjusted to the rise of new demands, needs and challenges in the market. Yorkshire and Lincolnshire have not only reclaimed their status as prime development sites in the country, but they have also seen a rise in new technological and scientifical investments and developments, that will push the regions to reach new high standards and prestige in the country. In West Yorkshire, Triton Construction has secured a series of contracts valued at £9 million to deliver the next significant expansion phases at Production Park in Wakefield. Production Park is a campus for live events, film, and TV where industry, education and innovation come together to create entertainment experiences. Triton is working to building a 15,064 sq ft two-storey building for offices, manufacturing, teaching facilities and testing for the XPLOR project, the world’s first research and innovation centre for entertainment technology and production. Paul Clarkson, Managing Director at Triton Construction, said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Production Park to deliver these further significant contracts. This is a hugely ambitious and successful campus that we are excited to be involved with.” An increase interest for sustainable developments has seen a rise in green initiatives in the commercial property market. In North Yorkshire, Harworth Group plc, a regenerator of land and property for sustainable development and investment, has conditionally exchanged contracts for the sale of its Kellingley development site in Selby to HPREF I Konect Investments SARL, for a consideration of £54.0 million. The site had a valuation of £31.1 million as of 30 June 2021 and generated gross profits of £0.3 million in the six months to 30 June 2021. Lynda Shillaw, Chief Executive Officer, Harworth Group plc, said: “The sale proceeds will be used to continue the build-out of our other development sites, including our consented industrial sites in Yorkshire, and for expanding our strategic landbank, in-line with our recently announced strategy.” Sheffield Housing Company (SHC) is working with energy and regeneration specialist EQUANS on a £5.5m project to construct 35 new eco-friendly homes at Norfolk Park, Sheffield. The properties will feature electric vehicle charging points and solar photovoltaic (PV) panels to help residents live a modern and green lifestyle, whilst also contributing to Sheffield City Council’s target to be a zero-carbon city by 2030. Steve Birch, project director with SHC, said: “The provision of affordable, Finding the new normal by investing in the future After a two-year pause, the commercial property sector is reopening to Yorkshire and Lincolnshire with new promising prospects Finding the new normal by investing in the future 10-13.qxp_Layout 1 01/12/2021 16:31 Page 1www.blmforum.net Business Link 11 COMMERCIAL PROPERTY 13 Á modern, quality homes is a priority, but we also take our environmental responsibility seriously and are keen to support the continued growth of Sheffield, which is known as the greenest city in the UK.” In North Lincolnshire, an application for the South Humber Bank Energy Centre has been granted development consent by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The Order grants development consent for this Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project comprising the construction and operation of an energy from waste plant of up to 95 megawatts gross capacity and associated development including an electrical connection, landscaping and access. Yorkshire and Lincolnshire have also seen a rise in investments aimed at restoring and transforming cultural centres and historical sites. Doncaster’s city centre is set to receive a £18.6 million cash injection from the Government’s Levelling Up fund that will put towards the transformation of the Waterfront, further regeneration of the Enterprise Market Place and developing the wider area around the Civic and Cultural Quarter. Ros Jones, Mayor of Doncaster, said: “We are immensely proud of Doncaster and passionate about further unlocking its huge potential as reflected in our recent bid for City Status. The £18.6m funding will assist in our journey to create a better future for our residents, businesses and visitors.” New parent brand for a number of leading cross-industry businesses, The 55 Group, has relocated to the former HSBC building on Whitefriargate in Hull city centre following redevelopment to make it a thriving creative and innovation hub. The 1879 building contains a great deal of original decorative features that have been retained in situ and that have been incorporated effectively into the design alongside modern elements to create a contemporary finish fit for modern day working practices, with a clear nod to the building’s heritage. This project was supported by a £711,000 grant from the Humber High Street Challenge Fund. Councillor Daren Hale, leader of Hull City Council, said: “This project compliments the vision we have for the area, of being a vibrant place for people to live, work and play, as well as complimenting both established and newly arrived businesses in the Old Town.” Latimer, the development arm of Clarion Housing Group, has hosted a ground-breaking ceremony at The Cocoa Works. The event marked the start of work on site at the former Rowntree © stock.adobe.com/MarkLG1973 10-13.qxp_Layout 1 01/12/2021 16:31 Page 2Armstrong house Armstrong House, Armstrong Street, Grimsby DN31 2QE Tel: (01472) 310301 • Email: s.fisher@blmgroup.co.uk 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 Last remaining office suites Prime location in Grimsby 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 call 01472 310301. 10-13.qxp_Layout 1 01/12/2021 16:31 Page 3www.blmforum.net Business Link 13 COMMERCIAL PROPERTY factory on Haxby Road in the centre of York. With a Gross Development Value of approximately £80 million, the scheme will deliver 279 apartments, of which 84 will be available for shared ownership. Latimer’s plans for the eight-hectare site, which has been derelict for more than a decade, will ensure original features of the building are celebrated and incorporated into designs. The old Joseph Rowntree Memorial Library will also be refurbished, providing a character-filled community space that will be home to a concierge service for residents and a private working space. Richard Cook, group director of development for Clarion Housing Group, said: “The scheme will deliver characterful, high-end apartments, including many available through shared ownership, whilst celebrating the heritage of the building and the legacy of Joseph Rowntree. We’re looking forward to seeing the first residents move in and a vibrant community developing around one of York’s most iconic buildings.” Despite businesses still struggling to adjust to the new normal of a post-pandemic world, the commercial property sector has proved us all that not only it is possible to go back to normal, but the new changes can provide new opportunities for innovative investments that will improve our communities. Yorkshire and Lincolnshire’s commercial property market has successfully raised to the challenge and found new exciting opportunities in the process. HSBC South Humber Triton 10-13.qxp_Layout 1 01/12/2021 16:31 Page 414 Business Link www.blmforum.net END OF YEAR SUCCESS There is an adage in China that conflict and opportunity are one and the same. It’s true that when everyone suffers, those who can push through and reach onto a winning formula first are in a stronger position to pull ahead of the competition. The lockdown of 2021 is not what anyone would call a “pleasant surprise” but it’s worth pointing out that while it has been indiscriminate in harming everyone, those who adapted to working from home faster, those who were able to find workarounds sooner, were granted a significant advantage over those who could or would not. If the year has taught us anything it is that adaptability is an important strength for any business. Those who cannot change to survive in unpredictable conditions have been hit the hardest, while companies who have taken an open mind approach to lockdown, embraced working from home and sought to find ways around it have done well for themselves. According to ICAEW’s Business Confidence Monitor, Yorkshire businesses were reported as feeling confident about the economy and its recovery, though this did take a hit in the final quarter of 2021. That said, firms in our region expect staffing numbers to grow by levels far in excess of many other regions in the UK. Major cities such as Leeds, Lincoln and York have experienced healthy levels of growth, and while the recent news of the Omicron variant will inevitably hit confidence somewhat, the quick recovery of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire should prove that we have, and can again, weather a future lockdown if the worst should happen. Following COP26 and new commitments for a greener future, the region is also expected to benefit with new jobs, investment and a stronger economy. Our region has always been a The year has not been an easy one, which is what makes the successes of businesses able to achieve despite it all the more impressive. Adaptation in challenging times 14-17.qxp_Layout 1 01/12/2021 16:32 Page 1www.blmforum.net Business Link 15 END OF YEAR SUCCESS © stock.adobe.com/Lucian Milasan target for renewables – with many major foreign companies such as Siemens calling our region home. A new report from the Group for Action on Leeds Bradford Airport and Green House Think Tank suggests that almost 16,000 jobs could be created across Leeds City Region through investment that is rooted in the needs of local communities and also tackles the climate emergency - for example in public transport and super-insulating homes. The report is supported by Leeds Trades Union Council and describes a vision for the region that rejects the false narrative of ‘jobs versus the environment’. In fact, a Green New Deal investment programme would deliver significant employment opportunities and restore services across every local authority in © stock.adobe.com/Lucian Milasan 16 Á 14-17.qxp_Layout 1 01/12/2021 16:33 Page 216 Business Link www.blmforum.net END OF YEAR SUCCESS the region. The report finds that currently, central government tax breaks for Leeds Bradford Airport flights amount to nearly £100m annually - and would rise by a further 75% if plans for the airport’s expansion go ahead. Similarly, the number of financially struggling businesses in Yorkshire and across the UK economy fell sharply in the third quarter of this year compared to Q2 as a result of the relaxation of Covid regulations this summer, according to the latest Red Flag Alert data, published in late October by independent business rescue and recovery specialist Begbies Traynor. The figures for the three months to September 2021 showed a 15% decline in the number of distressed businesses in Yorkshire compared to the previous quarter. Greater concerns going forward involve the supply chain with over half of business leaders in Yorkshire having seen their company significantly impacted by disruption to supply chains since the start of the year – with leaders fearing such interruptions will remain a key business challenge over the next 12 months, according to the findings from a new survey conducted by Leeds-based finance recruitment consultancy Headstar. The survey also revealed that business leaders consider supply chain risk to be one of the three biggest challenges facing their company over the next 12 months (52%) - alongside recruiting quality talent (58%) and generating revenue (40%). Unsurprisingly, such a challenging backdrop has made hitting financial targets harder than ever for businesses of all sizes. Asked in the survey if they expect their business to hit this year’s financial targets, 45% of respondents said they thought their company would be below or significantly below target. On a positive note, over a third (36.9%) said their business remains on target, while a little under a fifth (17.9%) said their business was ahead of or significantly ahead of target. The positives don’t stop there either; while many businesses are struggling to hit financial targets, two-thirds (66.7%) © stock.adobe.com/Kateryna 14-17.qxp_Layout 1 01/12/2021 16:33 Page 3www.blmforum.net Business Link 17 END OF YEAR SUCCESS of those surveyed said that their company hadn’t made any redundancies due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, the survey revealed Yorkshire’s businesses are investing in future growth during these challenging times, with almost three-quarters (73.1%) of senior decision-makers saying their business plans to grow its employee-base over the next six months - with nearly half (45%) saying by as much as 10%! The news of increased hiring is mirrored all across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, and this is despite the threat of a new lockdown in 2022 as a result of Omicron. The region is now used to working from home, and while no one wants a return to it (not business leaders at any rate), firms now know how to deal with it. Before, companies were forced to struggle to maintain productivity as they came to terms with how to motivate, monitor and retain staff. With lessons learned, a second lockdown, while problematic, should not have the same impact. The challenging times haven’t stopped new entrepreneurs and start-ups opening across the region either, with fresh investment, fresh faces and commercial property being snapped up as soon as it is built. Lincoln Science Park’s investment in a £3 million building as part of their Phase 2 plans is further proof of this, and fresh investment in real estate (both commercial and residential) has been buoyant across the region. This is expected to continue into 2022 and should be a cornerstone of the region’s continued recovery. While it would be remiss, perhaps even offensive, to say the future is bright with a new variant of COVID on the horizon, what we can say is that the region is now better prepared than ever to face disruption, and that while the challenges have left many justifiably stressed, businesses and business leaders have become far more robust and adaptable as a result. A second lockdown, while undesirable, will not catch Yorkshire and Lincolnshire off- guard. © stock.adobe.com/Prostock-studio 14-17.qxp_Layout 1 01/12/2021 16:33 Page 418 Business Link LINCOLN SCIENCE PARK Q&A Can you tell us about Lincoln Science & Innovation Park? Science parks are a bit like business parks except they have laboratories, workshops and Research & Development facilities instead of simply offices. We look to bring in technically skilled firms to colocate with university research facilities. By creating a cluster of high- end innovation we can make the whole of the Lincolnshire economy more competitive and benefit everyone in our community. What kind of things happen on a Science Park? We’re quite selective about the businesses which locate here. We want companies that are technically skilled and innovative in their product development. There’s nothing wrong with firms that don’t meet this criteria but we find adding tenants who contribute to the technology community helps our cluster to magnify its economic benefit. To help accelerate the growth of businesses within our community, we provide highly specified and flexible space that can accommodate any number of uses. In the past, if you required a microbiology lab or a cleanroom in Lincolnshire, it was prohibitively expensive to build. By providing plant space, risers, and power and data systems already designed with this in mind, we can dramatically reduce the cost. Consequently, as well as offices and electrical engineering workshops, we have category 1, 2 and 3 laboratories and data centres. What makes the Lincoln Science Park so special? Our community is composed of businesses, researchers, students and investors predominantly engaged in sectors in which Lincolnshire excels. Nobody will be surprised that agritech is one of them but also digital defence technology, big data and increasingly pharmaceuticals are becoming our specialist clusters. But as I’ve said before, it’s the people who make our community great and help spread the benefits to the wider Lincolnshire economy. The firms in the Boole Technology Centre have, for example, created many jobs in the last four years and that represents a huge increase in opportunity for the area. How has the Lincoln Science Park handled what has been for many others a difficult year? Clearly it has been really tough for some of our businesses but we have found innovative solutions really quickly because ultimately that’s what we’re good at. The consequence is that we have actually seen an expansion of our tenant companies and the Park itself this year. What’s your biggest success story to date? Typically about half of start-ups fail in the first 3-4 years. When we recruited our first cohort of start-ups we were expecting that kind of failure rate. It’s a credit to the directors of our tenant businesses that all but one have not only survived but thrived, creating more than 100 jobs in the process. How has the Science Park developed since it opened in 2015? Innovation in Lincolnshire prior to 2015 was slow-moving compared to the rest of the UK; so developing a science park was a risk, albeit a carefully considered one. But over the past few years we have seen Lincolnshire businesses stepping up, giving us the confidence to move forward to Phase Two of the Park, to provide premium, highly flexible grow-on space for SMEs, which will require a further £50m investment over the next 5 years. We have already opened our first Phase Two building and are well underway with the second. What plans do you have for the future? In early 2022, we will be releasing the Park’s strategic review which was independently commissioned earlier this year. It shows that we are one of the fastest growing science parks in the UK. By 2030, we will be the hub in the UK for the sectors in which Lincolnshire excels. Q&A Lincoln Science Park The Lincoln Science Park has gone from success to success since its inception – we speak to Tom Blount, Director of the Lincoln Science & Innovation Park, to find out what it’s all about and what has contributed to its strength. 18-19.qxp_Layout 1 01/12/2021 16:36 Page 1www.blmforum.net Business Link 19 LINCOLN SCIENCE PARK Q&A Tom Blount, Director of Lincoln Science & Innovation Park 18-19.qxp_Layout 1 01/12/2021 16:36 Page 2Next >