Eddisons wins place on new advisory services framework for NHS

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We continue to expand our footprint in the public sector after securing a place on a new two-year Government procurement framework that will enable the firm to provide property-related services to the NHS.

The new NHS Shared Business Services (SBS) Consultancy and Advisory Services for Health Framework launched in March and will see NHS SBS partner with health service organisations across the country to increase efficiency, generate cost savings and improve corporate services.

The appointment is Eddisons’ fourth Government framework selection, with previously secured places on the Crown Commercial Services, schools buying organisation ESPO and Homes England procurement frameworks already generating significant work for the firm.

The latest framework appointment will enable the firm to provide property-related services in areas including capital asset strategy PFI, LIFT scheme reviews and hand backs and property consultancy and strategy.

Javid Patel, who heads our public sector team, said: “We have recently launched a suite of boutique consultancy services that are helping to drive efficiency and improvements for clients across the public sector.

“These include transformative AI tech that provides site feasibility appraisals in a matter of hours, and our PFI discovery services, which have been really successful in helping public sector clients to unwrap PFI schemes for smooth hand-back and negotiated settlements.”

The firm also recently launched its Infrastructure and decarbonisation services and has been appointed by Bradford City Council to carry out feasibility studies into developing solar firms at two sites in the borough.

“Our appointment on this latest Government procurement framework underlines Eddisons’ continued investment in our services to the public sector, helping us improve our access to the market.” said Mr Patel.

Eddisons maintains ISO 9001:2015 and 14001:2015 certifications

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We’re happy to announce our latest achievement of retaining our ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 certifications.

These qualifications further support our mission to ensure the highest levels of quality and compliance in commercial property.

The standard ISO 9001:2015 certification is awarded to businesses who can prove that they are a trustworthy organisation that applies continuous improvement to its habits, practices, and strategies.

Furthermore, ISO 14001:2015 is a measurement of the dedication that a company has to a sustainable future, showing that their actions and approaches are in line with creating a more environmentally conscious world.

Hand in hand, these ISO certifications show that Eddisons is a leading force in not only improving the quality of our business practices but also the sustainability of those practices too.

 

Director Charlotte Peel, who led Eddisons through this lengthy and complex process explains: “it’s not easy to gain the certification, but it is important to show our clients, peers, and staff what we stand for. Furthermore, it’s even more important to retain it each assessment period comes along.

“Keeping ourselves compliant and holding ourselves accountable helps us to provide the best quality service for our clients, which is paramount to us at Eddisons.”

The process includes understanding operational risk, proving that we know how to mitigate incidents that can occur, and understanding the process of maintaining consistency and compliance during all eventualities of business.

Eddisons is a company that has seen many different trends and innovations but one thing we have – and will always have – is a respect for quality and our future.

Eddisons strikes proptech deal with valuations platform

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Eddisons has signed a partnership deal with proptech firm Valos in a collaboration which is designed to streamline the fast-growing property consultancy’s valuation process and enhance the valuation reports it produces for clients.

The firm has adopted the Valos technology across its 100-strong valuation team in a move which the firm says will drive efficiencies and increase the speed with which valuations are delivered to clients.

The platform automates the routine elements of carrying out valuations, improving accuracy and cutting production time, as well as producing enhanced data, enabling valuers to generate more comprehensive valuations.

Eddisons’ regional director Phil Deakin, who heads the firm’s North West and West Midlands valuation team, said: “Valuation is an important and growing area of our business, with more than 100 people in our team nationally and increasing demand from our clients for the highest quality valuation advice across the commercial and residential sectors.

“As technology plays an increasingly central role in our operations, we are committed to embracing best-in-class solutions to help our valuers and enhance the service we provide to our clients.

“When we evaluated the technology options, Valos emerged as the clear choice and that was down to the breadth of the product. The platform has clearly been built by valuers that understand our core needs, seamlessly combining accurate data in bespoke templates. This will transform the delivery of our valuation services for clients, improving our efficiency, and freeing up time for our valuers to focus on providing informed insight and the best advice.”

Valos co-founder and CEO Alex Kountourides said: “Eddisons are an innovative firm that are renowned for their client-focused approach and we are proud to be working with them and helping them to drive positive change in their valuation work through the incorporation of new technology.

“Of course, valuers remain integral to the valuation process and with Valos I think we have achieved the perfect blend of automation and valuer input to empower and not replace them.”

 

What could Labour’s £28bn U-turn mean for the property sector?

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As it increasingly looks more likely that the Labour Party will form our next government, what will walking back their £28bn Green Prosperity Plan mean to the property market?

Announced in 2021, the programme focused on local and national environmental schemes including the creation of GB Energy – a publicly owned energy company that would prioritise clean power, all generated in Great Britain. Other initiatives included improving home insulation, investing in offshore wind, and updating the National Grid.

This might have been proposed concepts, but these initiatives could massively change how the property sector operates.

Insulation

It was estimated that The Labour Party was to invest £6bn a year into adequately insulating homes across the UK. Now that has been scaled back, after the current government argued it would cost at least double. With these public bouts of misinformation, ordinary people will be discouraged in making the steps to make their houses more sustainable.

Offshore Wind

Labour’s plans to quadruple offshore wind will most definitely be in crisis now the tides have turned inside their party. Offshore wind is a burgeoning energy sector but, without investment, we can’t rely on its development generating any business for the property sector and the surrounding construction industry.

Grid updates

A better National Grid creates more opportunities for infrastructure, and these opportunities can lead to huge property works. Works such as commercial construction and building and development projects would then make way for transport planning, cost consultancy, and lease advisory services.
All these opportunities disappear without investment, and what’s more is we will still have a sub-par power network.

Moving the goalposts

In the months leading up to yesterday’s leak by the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey, the £28bn amount was cut, changed, and moved around – gaining scrutiny over how they would meet these ambitious ideas.

Ambitious it may have been, but with the current government’s rolling back of their green pledges including moving the date for banning petrol back by 5 years, delaying the phasing out of gas boilers, ruling out any taxes on flying and ensuring landlords are exempt from energy efficiency rules.

The Labour Party is believed to be ditching the plan as it didn’t reflect the financial state that the current government would leave in their wake. However, to not prioritise green objectives and wider sustainability goals feels like a more costly decision.

To learn more about Eddisons’ ethos are sustainability and what we are trying to do help you achieve your green goals, go to our Decarbonisation page.

Eddisons’ public sector team adds four new wins to client list

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Leeds-headquartered property consultancy Eddisons has added three local authorities and the national regulatory body for MPs to its list of public sector clients.

Javid Patel, head of public sector 

Since gaining approved supplier status on the Government’s Crown Commercial Service (CCS) estate management services framework in 2021 and on the ESPO public sector professional buying organisation in 2022, the firm’s public sector team has rapidly grown the number of councils and other public bodies in its client portfolio.

The City of Lincoln Council, Portsmouth City Council, Rushmoor Borough Council in Hampshire and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), the body which regulates and administers all MPs’ business costs and pay, have become the latest organisations to appoint Eddisons’ public sector advisory services.

In Lincoln, Eddisons will advise the city council on the Lincoln Western Growth Corridor, providing strategic development consultancy services for 3,200 new homes, a neighbourhood centre, a business park and transport infrastructure to alleviate congestion.

The firm is providing strategic development consultancy and other input for Portsmouth City Council on its flagship City Centre North master plan. Proposals include 2,300 new homes, public green space and space for new community facilities, retail, hospitality and leisure uses, as well as walking and cycling routes.

Eddisons’ property management team has also been appointed by Rushmoor Borough Council to manage the 375,000 sq ft Kingsmead and the Meads shopping centres in Farnborough on a three-year contract. The contract from IPSA will also see Eddisons provide lease advisory services for MPs’ constituency offices across the UK.

Javid Patel, Eddisons’ head of our public sector strategic advisory team, said: “We are really excited to have added these latest clients to our public sector portfolio. Our approach is always to build collaborative relationships and help bring innovation, including using AI technologies, to aid the quality and speedier delivery of our services.”

He added: “Local authorities and other public sector bodies are increasingly looking to Eddisons for new ideas and direction on capital projects and masterplans and we are building a solid reputation for delivering expertise in areas such as residential, commercial portfolios and town centre regeneration.

“We look forward to growing our market share in the public sector still further as part of our wider strategic business plan.”

New Grantham location gives Dutch-owned agri-tech business room to grow

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Photo courtesy of Farm Electronics.

A Dutch-owned crop storage engineering business has started the year in new leased warehouse premises in Grantham, confirms the Lincoln agency office of Eddisons – formerly Banks Long & Co.

The move sees Farm Electronics Ltd, who manufacture ventilation & refrigeration crop storage equipment, consolidate from two sites on Grantham’s Alma Park Trading Estate, to a single building on the other side of the Lincolnshire town at Mallard Business Park on Trent Road.

The new premises, Unit 1, gives the engineering firm 15,898 sq ft of warehouse and office accommodation set on its own, independent site within Mallard Business Park’s wider secure and gated setting.

Mallard Business Park is managed by Grantham Estates, who manage in excess of 200 properties across the East Midlands and Eastern region.

There are four units in total at Mallard Business Park where Farm Electronics Ltd joins operators and distributors from a range of sectors, including stone & porcelain tiling, sewing & crafting, and clothing care tools & accessories.

According to Adam Fryer, Commercial Director, Farm Electronics Ltd, the company had been seeking new premises in which to expand for a while in looking to the end of its lease at Alma Park Trading Estate.

He said, “Our search had been low key for the past couple of years. While not retained as our agent, when Eddisons alerted us to availability at Mallard Business Park and brokered the introduction to Grantham Estates, it became clear that Unit 1 was the obvious location for the next phase of our planned business growth – which already sees us adding two new recruits this month to our current headcount of 13.”

In welcoming Farm Electronics to Mallard Business Park, James Moore, Estates Manager, Grantham Estates, added, “The park’s proximity to the A1 is one of its strongest features and, as such, Unit 1 attracted a number of enquiries after we began to market it last spring.

“However, following Eddisons introducing Farm Electronics to us, it was clear that this firm was in the best position to become the new tenant. That negotiations proceeded swiftly from there and concluded before the end of the year is a testament to the professionalism and focus of all parties involved.”

For any press queries, please contact: William Wall on 01522 544515 or at [email protected].

Another deal done confirmed as the year ends for Huntingdon agency

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Eddisons’ Huntingdon office has confirmed the conclusion of the letting of Collingwood House on Alington Road, Eynesbury, St Neots, Cambridgeshire to a tenant who already has a substantial presence on the estate.

Eddisons was the sole agent acting on behalf of the landlord in the transaction that sees a new lease on the modern, 7,177 sq ft, semi-detached business unit which has offices and workshop/warehouse accommodation.

Matthew Hunt of Eddisons Huntingdon led the agency in the marketing of Collingwood House. Commenting on the deal, he said, “St Neots’ Eynesbury commercial district is a long-established business area. Its accessibility to and from the A1 & A428 is key to its appeal.

“It is popular with operators in a range of business sectors and it is not unusual for occupiers with a presence on the estate already, to secure additional premises there when they come forward.

“We are currently instructed on units similar to Collingwood House in St Neots.”

For more information on commercial property to let in the St Neots and surrounding area, contact Matthew Hunt at Eddisons’ Huntingdon office on 01480 451578, [email protected] or through eddisons.com.

Growing Bradford care business invests in new HQ and training centre

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Tempcare Personnel, the Bradford-based agency that provides nurses, care and support workers for hospitals and care homes across the UK, is to relocate its headquarters in the city to newly acquired offices on Teasdale Street, off Wakefield Road, two miles south of the city centre.

Property consultancy Eddisons sold the former BHT nursery and childcare site to the firm, which plans to redevelop the property to create offices as a base for its growing management team, as well as a state-of-the-art training centre for clinical and care workers.

Tempcare director Aaron Munaiwa said: “The new site will be ideal for us and we’re looking forward to moving across early in 2024, once the redevelopment works are completed.

“As well as our core team of office-based staff, which is currently 10 people, with new hires planned for next year, we are incorporating a skills and training centre in the building, which will be used to train nursing and care staff working for Tempcare as well as for other healthcare agencies in the region.

“Demand is escalating for well-qualified, experienced nursing and care staff and our new facility will help us ensure more rigorously-trained and skilled workers are available to fill that need across the country’s care homes and healthcare sector. We are always on the lookout for new talent and currently have around 150 staff working for us.”

The move to its new offices will see Tempcare, which also has offices in Wolverhampton, relocate from its current rented premises at Bradford Chamber Business Park to the new two-storey headquarters in a £350,000 investment for the firm.

Eddisons associate director Matt Jennings added: “We’re really pleased to have sold the Teasdale Street property to Tempcare.

“It is always rewarding to be able to help a successful Bradford business achieve further growth, generating new jobs in the city and helping to solve staffing shortfalls in the vitally important care and healthcare sectors.”

Eddisons has sold the former nursery and childcare building on behalf of the childcare and early years education charity BHP Early Education and Training, which was founded in Bradford in 2003.

Leeds-headquartered Eddisons is one of the UK’s fastest growing multi-disciplinary property consultancies. Established in 1844, the firm employs more than 400 people across a network of over 30 offices.

Eddisons acquires SDL Property Auctions

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Property consultant Eddisons has strengthened its auction business with the acquisition of SDL Property Auctions.

Led by Managing Director, Andrew Parker, SDL Property Auctions provides auction services for residential and commercial property across all regions of the UK, offering around 2000 lots a year at their monthly live-streamed auctions.

This acquisition sees Eddisons expand its existing auction business and the plan is to integrate SDL Property Auctions under the Eddisons auctions brand post-acquisition, alongside the Pugh & Co and Mark Jenkinson brands.

Their team of 46 employees will now integrate with Eddisons’ existing network of 30 UK offices. On a combined basis it is expected that over 3000 lots shall be offered nationally, making Eddisons one of the largest property auctioneers by volume.

Announcing the acquisition, Anthony Spencer, Managing Partner of Eddisons said:

“I am very pleased to welcome the SDL Property Auctions team to Eddisons. The acquisition significantly increases the scale of our auction business and I look forward to working with Andy and the team in the future. This is the fourth acquisition of the year for Eddisons and we continue to seek further opportunities for expansion across the UK.”

Commenting on the acquisition, Andrew Parker, Managing Director of SDL Property Auctions, said:

“Through our team of talented people who place our clients’ interests at the forefront of everything we do, SDL Property Auctions has developed an award winning reputation for selling property by auction. We are excited to be joining Eddisons and I look forward to working with like-minded individuals to develop the opportunities that the deal presents.”

Welbeck Court is well on track for spring 2024

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Eddisons’ Peterborough team reports that Welbeck Court, the new-build industrial scheme on Welbeck Way in the city’s Woodston commercial district, is well underway with the units on schedule for occupation in spring next year.

Welbeck Court is a development of 10 brand new, high-specification light industrial/business terraced units by Barnack Estates UK Ltd and where Eddisons is acting as the sole agent.

The units range in size from 1,300 sq ft to 3,225 sq ft, with three of the mid-sized units offered for freehold sale and the remaining seven offered to let.

All units are of steel portal frame construction with eaves height of 6 metres, electric loading doors and LED lighting. Each unit has an office and has its own reserved parking.

The agent advises there are good levels of fibre connection and, subject to build stage, optional extras could include installation of a heating & cooling system and solar panels.

Gavin Hynes, Director, Eddisons Peterborough added, “With the roofs and cladding on the units by the final month of this year, we’re happy to report good levels of interest at Welbeck Court.

“It’s the end of another year where the industrial sector has remained strong in Peterborough. All indications point to this continuing next year when Welbeck Court will be completed and playing its part in the city’s commercial appeal to investors and occupiers alike.”

For more information about the units at Welbeck Court, Woodston, Peterborough, contact Gavin Hynes at Eddisons, 01733 897722, [email protected] or through eddisons.com.