Lockdown no bar to business set-ups at Slater Court

Written by

Lockdown no bar to business set-ups at Slater Court

A new-build commercial development of ten industrial units to the south of Peterborough is now fully let to a range of occupiers whose business growth has continued apace during lockdown.

Slater Court – where Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews is the sole agent – is part of the second phase at Eagle Park on Broadway, Yaxley by developer Barnack Estates UK Ltd.

The ten industrial units, ranging in size from 1,100 sq ft to 1,305 sq ft, were launched by the agent for pre-let or purchase last spring (2020).

By August, half had been legally complete with an almost even split of letting and purchase tenures.

Now fully let, Slater Court is home to a number of companies whose businesses trade across a variety of goods and services, ranging from heating and plumbing services, golf equipment sales and coaching, vintage and retro home styling and bespoke urban lodges and garden buildings among other commercial pursuits by the other occupiers.

Eagle Business Park is close to Junction 16 of the A1(M) at Norman Cross and onward connections to Peterborough’s Parkway System and, to the south, the newly upgraded A14 and network of local access roads across Huntingdon.

Occupiers at Slater Court reference the location and its transport connectivity, in addition to the quality of the new-build units, as the main reason driving the decision to take premises there.

The catchment area for recruitment is another reason cited for those occupiers looking to add to their current headcount.

Unit 10 has been leased to A F Golfstore who sells golf equipment and has on-site putting and swing studios for custom club fitting  within its premises. It is A F Golfstore’s second location in the county – the other is in Melbourn, to the south of Cambridge – and is part of the firm’s plans for the roll-out of three further stores.

Specialist antique, retro and vintage furniture seller, Whisper & Echo is in Unit 8 at Slater Court. Established in 2016, the company has chosen to relocate from South Yorkshire to the Peterborough area to be closer to its main customer base in London and the South East.

Nearby, at Unit 6, Willow Plumbing & Heating Services Ltd has moved its business premises to Yaxley from a small unit in St Neots to accommodate the company’s plans for growth in serving residential and commercial customers across in the all compass points around Peterborough.

Moving from a nearby unit at Discovery Business Park in Yaxley to Unit 4 at Slater Court is Urban Marque. While only relocating from Market Deeping to Discovery Business Park in 2018, its business of supplying and installing luxury lodge homes and garden buildings has grown substantially since the company started in 2015.

In the past twelve months, during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown phases, Urban Marque has required purpose-built premises, prompting the move to Slater Court.

Jake Thorpe, Managing Director, Urban Marque said, “The Peterborough area is always going to be a default location for businesses looking to grow in this region, given its strategic location for road communications and the expansive customer reach businesses can access from it.

“Slater Court provided us with premises of notable quality and space that we were looking for in a great location to be able to offer our customers the experience they deserve when buying from us.

“We acknowledge how fortunate we are in operating in a business sector that has been able to trade during lockdown.”

Richard Jones, Director, Eddisons, added, “Some businesses have prospered either because or despite the trading conditions of lockdown.

“Yet in looking at all the occupiers at Slater Court, it is apparent that many small businesses have weathered the past twelve months and some have prospered.

“Regardless of the business sectors in which the occupiers at Slater Court operate, all are now set in new premises from which they will be part of this region’s enduring economic prosperity as we all look forward to much better trading conditions.”

For current availability at Eagle Business Park, contact Richard Jones at the Peterborough office of Eddisons, tel 01733 897722, [email protected] or see eddisons.com/barker-storey-matthews.

Find out more 

For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

Range of office suites and labs in Cambridge village R&D location

Written by

Range of office suites and labs in Cambridge village R&D location

Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews is the sole agent on a range of suites to suit office or laboratory use available to let on flexible lease terms at Harston Mill, five miles south of Cambridge.

The available space ranges in size from 18 sq m (192 sq ft) to larger suites of 292 sq m (3,146 sq ft) with the ability to combine suites.

The suites are to let at £19 to £22 psf per annum, excl, on flexible lease terms.

Features of the suites now available to let through Eddisons include a shared reception area and receptionist services, bookable meeting and conference rooms, security and 24/7 security access, shower facilities, secure cycle parking and ample car parking.

Harston Mill is an established R&D location in a landscaped, picturesque setting and with riverside walks.

It is located is on the A10, two miles from the M11 and with onward access to the A505. The nearby village of Foxton has a railway station with direct train services to Cambridge and London King’s Cross.

Harston village has a range of local amenities including a village store and post office, petrol station, public houses/restaurants and a GP surgery.

Viewing of the office and laboratory space available to let at Harston Mill is strictly by appointment through Eddisons as the sole agent.

Virtual tours are available on request.

To arrange a viewing within permitted Covid-19 business guidelines or for more information, contact Ben Green, tel 07825 309599, [email protected] or see eddisons.com/properties/harston-mill-harston-cambridge-cb22.

Find out more 

For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

Peterborough ticks the boxes for niche packaging group

Written by

Peterborough ticks the boxes for niche packaging group

 

Industrial premises in Peterborough’s Fengate business district have been let by joint agents Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews and Savills to a company who provides a wide range of specialist process and packaging solutions, primarily to the craft beverage industry in Ireland, UK and Europe.

Bevcraft Group – the parent company of Irish Craft Canning, Copack and Packsource – has taken a 10-year lease on 9 Titan Drive, Fengate.

The specialist packaging company identified Peterborough as being an ideal location from which to service a customer base within a two hour radius of the city and had been seeking suitable premises in the city for six months before securing the 10,412 sq ft (967.3 sq m) warehouse at Titan Drive.

The construction quality of the unit and its size were key considerations in looking for the right Peterborough premises in which to install new plant and machinery following Bevcraft Group’s recent substantial investment as part of its latest round of business growth.

Commenting on the deal to let 9 Titan Drive, Richard Jones, Director, Eddisons, said, “This is an occupier operating in a premium sector of modern manufacture and supply.

“That Bevcraft Group has chosen to locate and invest in Peterborough is a testament to the city’s contemporary industrial profile.

“It also confirms such occupiers’ appetite for commercial premises here in seeing a presence in the city as enabling company growth.”

For more information on industrial and warehouse premises to let in Peterborough, contact Richard Jones at Eddisons’ local office, tel 01733 897722, [email protected] or see eddisons.com/barker-storey-matthews.

Café use for former Bury St Edmunds boutique

Written by

Café use for former Bury St Edmunds boutique

The premises of a former clothes boutique on St John’s Street in Bury St Edmunds have been let to the operator of an independent café.

This is confirmed by Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews whose local office acted on behalf of the landlord as the sole agent in the letting of 7 St John’s Street, which was formerly occupied by the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing boutique, to the new café tenant which is due to open shortly.

As a Grade II Listed property, 7 St John’s Street sees the new occupier with ground floor and cellar space totalling 677 sq ft (62.89 sq m) and with an 8.3 metre frontage on to St John’s Street – one of Bury St Edmunds’ established town centre locations.

For information on other retail premises to let in Bury St Edmunds town centre, contact Steven Mudd at Eddisons’ local office, tel 01284 702655, [email protected] or see eddisons.com/barker-storey-matthews.

Find out more 

For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

A virtual ‘brand new’ high street

Written by

A virtual ‘brand new’ high street

Julian Welch of Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, who is its national retail and leisure agency lead, shares a view of the shape of the post-pandemic high street.

The plight of retail and hospitality business fortunes has never been far from financial commentators’ coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic for the past twelve months.

During this time, this crucial sector of the UK economy has been at the centre of a number of initiatives and announcements by, arguably, the ultimate financial commentator – the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Last summer’s ‘Eat out to help out’ scheme was very much associated with the Chancellor. Indeed, in his latest Budget statement earlier this month (March), there were measures positioned as designed to directly aid the retail and hospitality sectors in the coming months as they steer their businesses according to the roadmap of lockdown lifting.

That the Budget measures announced were very much for the short and medium term is something on which we passed comment at the time of their announcement.

What we are forced to consider now is the future shape of our high streets and the place in them for retail, hospitality and leisure sector businesses.

These are matters investors and professionals in the field have been reviewing for the past two decades as the nation’s retail and recreational habits have been morphing.

There is a broad agreement – among professional and lay audiences, alike – that Covid-19 has merely served to hasten the process of the fundamental structural reform of retail and leisure businesses that the internet kickstarted in the 1990s.

Handily paraphrased as ‘clicks versus bricks’, retail ‘brands’ still retain their attraction.

During the past year, we’ve seen a number of brands being bought by online retailers. Topshop has been acquired by ASOS and Debenhams online has been purchased by boohoo. There have been – and will be – many, many more as businesses and consumers adjust to ‘the new normal’ way of shopping.

It’s the brands of those once mighty retail, high street giants that have been bought. It’s the clicks – their online functions and architecture – and not the bricks that attract modern shopping behemoths.

All of the upside of brand identity but none of the costs of operating a physical, high street presence is advantageous to online-only retailers.

The past year has pushed forward the market share of online retailers and hastened the decline of high street failures. Without the cost of property and other operational costs associated with a conventional ‘shop’, it’s the online retailers who have had the freedom to be fleet of foot and grab market share.

They are not going to cede the territory on which they have been encroaching for decades.

Where once shopping on the high street was a collective pastime and, for many, even a leisure pursuit in itself, for the past twelve months, it has been the opposite.

Shopping is now something a rising demographic is doing via devices in bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens or on-the-go to wherever. That looks set to stay.

There is deep uncertainty in the leisure and hospitality sector as to how we will approach venturing out post-pandemic, many for the first time in any meaningful way, to go to the pub, the cinema, a gig, a club, a restaurant and even a mini-break or a full-blown holiday.

Famed as a nation of shopkeepers, we were in the process of reinventing and adjusting to the way we do it but that pace of change has been turbo-charged by the pandemic and the land-grab of the online retailers.

The transmissible characteristic of a virus sees the nation’s innkeepers being forced to think about their place on the high street too.

What this means for property fortunes and the shape of the high street to come is a moot point.

But business – like nature – abhors a vacuum and fresh ideas about our high streets abound in property discussions.

Where those ideas will land and with what impact on the high street, remain to play out but challenging times are ahead for parties with property interests.

For more information about retail, food & beverage and leisure property prospects and opportunities, contact Julian Welch on 01733 897722.

 Find out more 

For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

Final development opportunity launched at flagship waterfront scheme

Written by

Final development opportunity launched at flagship waterfront scheme

Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews has just announced the launch of the final development plot for sale at Fletton Quays, Peterborough.

Fletton Quays is the city’s flagship, waterside development, fronting the River Nene and Plot 4, is the latest – and final – development opportunity offered for sale.

Known as ‘FQ4’, the property for sale is a former Victorian goods shed associated with the old Peterborough East railway station, and extends to 12,357 sq ft (1,148 sq m) with a total site area of 0.815 acres (0.33 ha).

The property has outline planning consent for a variety of commercial uses including retail, leisure, community and arts, education and medical.

Fletton Quays is the largest development in Peterborough city centre for over 40 years.

Covering over 6.5 hectares, it hosts the new headquarters of the City Council and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). With retail units already let to café occupiers, it has a 400 space multi-storey car park.

Development has also commenced on a new 70,000 sq ft office building, providing a ‘Government hub’ for the Passport Agency and other official departments.

The residential element of Fletton Quays sees 350 high quality apartments built, with further homes planned as part of the ongoing development which also includes a new 160-hotel being built on behalf of Hilton Garden Inn.

Fletton Quays is on the southern bank of the River Nene and FQ4 is immediately opposite the site selected for the new University of Peterborough on the north bank, close to the Key Theatre, with plans for a new footbridge to connect each side of the river.

The relocation of the Peterborough United FC’s stadium has seen a site close to Fletton Quays identified as a suitable location too.

Commenting on the launch of FQ4, Julian Welch, Director, Eddisons, said, “Fletton Quays was always going to be a landmark project in Peterborough and the development is already delivering high quality space.

“The development is transforming a previously derelict part of the city and will inject a vibrancy that will help to take Peterborough towards its next phase of economic growth.

“FQ4 offer the last opportunity to be part of this exciting scheme.”

Eddisons is acting on behalf of Peterborough Investment Partnership in the sale of Plot FQ4 where bids are to meet a deadline of 12 noon on Friday 14 May 2021.

Access to the site is restricted and by appointment only. Price on application.

For further information, contact Julian Welch at Eddisons’ Peterborough office, tel 01733 897722, [email protected].

Find out more 

For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

New Cambridge office meets care agency’s expanding needs

Written by

New Cambridge office meets care agency’s expanding needs

A care agency is relocating its Cambridge office across the city to premises which better meet its needs in this crucial and growing business sector, according to Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews who acted as sole agent on behalf of the landlord.

The agent’s latest deal sees Availl, who provide homecare services and healthcare recruitment, move to St Giles Hall, Pound Hill from premises on Regent Street where it has been located since 2009.

St Giles Hall is a period building on the edge of the Cambridge’s historic city centre. It provides a self-contained office setting with parking. Office accommodation totals 3,975 sq ft (360 sq m) including open plan offices, a large boardroom and additional meeting rooms.

Close to the key road junction of Queen’s Road (‘The Backs’) with Madingley Road and Northampton Street (‘The Backs’), St Giles Hall gives Availl and its office-based and community-based staff good access to private and public transport options to and from Cambridge and the surrounding area in which its local clients are based.

The care provider began its search for new premises in January this year (2021), ahead of the expiry of its Regent Street office lease next year (2022) and St Giles Hall met its property requirements on a number of levels.

Graham Parker, Founder, explained, “Our current office in a shared building no longer met the needs of our staff or the expansion plans for the business.

“St Giles Hall gives us stand-alone office premises, with accommodation we can configure to ensure Covid-19 workplace compliancy for staff and visitors alike.

“In addition to our allocated parking, there is easy access to on-street, metered parking and the Madingley Road Park & Ride facility for our staff and any visitors to the office.

“Relocating from Cambridge city centre to its edge gives quicker access to the M11 and A14, as well as across and around the city itself, maximising efficiency in the deployment of personnel to meet our clients’ needs.”

Ben Green of Eddisons – whose Cambridge office is also on Pound Hill and is visible from St Giles Hall – added, “We have been happy to help meet Availl’s pressing property requirements and to have done so in such short order.

“St Giles Hall is a unique property, offering lots of character with its vaulted ceiling and outside amenity space. Despite a tricky market, it was always going to appeal with its combination of on-site parking, proximity to the city centre and easy access to the region’s main roads.”

For information about offices to let in Cambridge, contact Ben Green, tel 01223 467155, [email protected] or see eddisons.com/barker-storey-matthews.

Find out more 

For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].

Best bids secure office freehold in central Cambridge location

Written by

Best bids secure office freehold in central Cambridge location

The freehold of ‘one-off’ office premises in the centre of Cambridge has been sold by Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews in a deal which went to best bids and achieved in excess of the asking price.

The two storey premises, totalling 1,328 sq ft (123.35 sq m), are at 1 Pemberton Place, in the area of the city bordered by Lensfield Road, Brookside and Panton Street.

The freehold of the property, with parking, and planning consent for change of use to residential was offered for sale through Eddisons as the sole agent on behalf of the vendor.

The agent confirmed that there was keen interest from a number office users and other parties attracted by residential opportunities.

The freehold sale price achieved in excess of £465,000 and, according to Eddisons, the new owner intends to convert the property for residential use.

For more information on freehold opportunities in Cambridge, contact Ben Green at Eddisons, tel 01223 467155, [email protected] or see eddisons.com/barker-storey-matthews.

Storage company’s move to Newmarket is a ‘cinch’

Written by

Cinch Storage Eddisons

Storage company’s move to Newmarket is a ‘cinch’

Cinch Self-Storage has agreed a design & build freehold deal on a new high bay warehouse facility in Newmarket.

The new warehouse, on Willie Snaith Road in the Suffolk town, is 16,423 sq ft (1,525 sq m) and has 10.5m eaves height, allowing for four storey mezzanine self-storage and passenger/goods lift access.

The unit is being constructed to BREEAM ‘Very Good’ standard and includes electric vehicle charging points.

Nearby occupiers include Unisurge, Howdens Joinery, Travis Perkins and Ridgeons.

Ben Green of Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews led the marketing of the freehold.

He said, “Initially, the unit was being built speculatively by Hamilton Land but the Covid-19 pandemic forced the closure of the site.  This allowed time to apply for planning to increase the eaves height from 7.5 metres to 10.5 metres.

“Work resumed in January and practical completion is scheduled for June (2021).

“We are confident this brand new facility will prove an excellent addition to the occupier’s portfolio in an expanding region, with fast access to the A14 (J37) and to Stansted Airport, London and the M25 via the A11/M11 (J9).”

Bidwells represented Cinch Self-Storage and Eddisons acted for Hamilton Land.

For more information on industrial freehold opportunities or warehouses to let in the Newmarket and Cambridge areas, contact Ben Green on 01223 456155 or [email protected].

Eight’s just great for region’s most active property agent

Written by

Eight’s just great for region’s most active property agent

Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews has been identified as the East of England’s most active commercial agent for the eighth year in a row in the annual deals competition run by property research specialists EG Radius.

In each successive year of the competition since 2013, the agent – whose regional offices are in Peterborough, Cambridge, Huntingdon and Bury St Edmunds – has been awarded the title of East of England Overall Winner.

This year sees further success as the region’s most active agent for deals in the industrial, retail and investment sectors.

It’s the fourth consecutive year in which the firm has triumphed in the industrial category and the third successive year in both the retail and investment deals categories.

The annual deals competition is open to all commercial agents who complete commercial property transactions in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk and is assessed on the volume of deals done for lettings and sales.

Commenting on the agency’s sustained success in the regional competition, Steve Hawkins, Partner, Eddisons, said, “To have maintained our position in the top slot and the individual sector categories in this latest year of the competition is enormously gratifying.

“The Covid-19 pandemic and phases of lockdown during the past twelve months have stress tested every sector of business – and commercial property agency is no exception.

“Notwithstanding, our firm’s presence on the ground in the eastern region and the insider knowledge and expertise of our agents when it comes to their markets, means we have continued to push deals through in a timely fashion to the satisfaction of all clients for whom we act and all parties benefitting from the transaction.

“Barker Storey Matthews’ full integration with Eddisons last November (2020) can only serve to reinforce the agency offer that our ongoing success in this competition highlights.”

Find out more 

For any press queries, please contact:
Richard Jones, Eddisons incorporating Barker Storey Matthews, 01733 897722, [email protected].