Advising the client and negotiating with local authorities helped provide a state-of-the-art multi-use games area for Queen’s Park Community School.

Queen’s Park Community School appointed Eddisons to deliver project management and contract administration services for this exciting project for the School. Multi-use games area (MUGA) pitches are becoming the top choice for organisations looking for a durable, safe option that has multiple uses for sports and play.

The client had received planning permission to go ahead, subject to a number of planning conditions. Once we had appointed Blakedown Sport and Play as contractor, the project team, headed by Ryan Lambert, made an application to Brent Council to discharge all conditions.

One of the largest challenges was that of neighbours objecting to the works because of potential disruption to daily life. Understandably, approval then took longer than normal as each planning condition had to be considered. These conditions are put in place to protect the people, buildings, and infrastructure that exists where the project is planned for. Fortunately, the council accepted our application and work was able to forge ahead.

We worked closely with Blakedown Sport & Play throughout the project to ensure the pitch was completed on time, in budget and created as little disruption to everyday life within the surrounds of Queen’s Park Community School as possible.

With hard work and consistent communication between all parties involved, the school was able to safely continue running during construction and the whole community can benefit – from pupils having a great facility, to external parties renting the space for their own use.

It was a fantastic experience to work with Queen’s Park Community School and Blakedown Sport and Play, on such an interesting and worthwhile project.

We were delighted to lend a helping hand to the brilliant Cooking Champions charity last week as part of our ongoing relationship with Enfield Council.

Our Central London team – Andrew Glover, Peter Wiggins, Rodney Unsworth and Reece Andrade – rolled up their sleeves on Tuesday for an experience they would not forget in a hurry.

Andrew chose to volunteer at Cooking Champions as he recognised that the charity was doing a job unlike no other in the North London borough. Primarily a foodbank, the charity also supports vulnerable people in providing education and training – using the power of food to unite!

A key decider for Andrew and the team to volunteer at Cooking Champions was the belief that this service was providing a great relief to others, and something that would be sorely missed in its absence.

“They’ve got some really good people around them… what really surprised me was how much they have achieved with the small amount of help they have had.” – Andrew Glover, Director, Central London

Our team has committed to a series of shifts involving unloading donations, packing food parcels for delivery, preparing produce for the cooking classes, and picking up food donations from fellow food charity, the Felix Project.

Additionally, Eddisons has also been able to support Cooking Champions in finding contractors to complete odd jobs around St Matthew’s Church, where they are based, for no charge. Selfless tasks like this help charities like Cooking Champions grow and glow, and we’re so thankful to the handymen, investors, and volunteers who we have approached for extra help.

Along with helping with cost of buying produce for the foodbank, Eddisons is also putting money towards extending their services that are used by so many. Classes for men over 50, ‘open kitchen’ opportunities for unemployed people to use Cooking Champions’ facilities, free hot meals and food parcel outreach are just some of the options offered to the Enfield community.

Cooking Champions receives lots of food donations from local businesses and residents and are also funded by a catering company which runs alongside the charity whose profits go directly to operating and managing the enterprise. Cooking Champions has something going on almost every day and long may it continue.

Clare Donovan, founder of Cooking Champions, comments:

“We are so grateful for the support Eddisons has given us, it has already made a big difference.

“Our charity started as an emergency response to COVID, unfortunately the need for our services is greater than ever. The simple, yet appalling, fact is that people cannot afford to feed their families during this cost of living crisis. It is commonly reported by our recipients that they skip meals. This obviously has huge implications for their physical and mental health.

“We are working hard to provide multiple strategies to address the short term emergency situation (our food bank and free community meals) but also the longer term which includes cooking lessons and healthy eating workshops. Volunteering to support any of these projects really does improve the quality of people’s lives.”

Thank you to Clare Donovan and the team for welcoming us into your amazing space!

Eddisons’ commercial agency office in Kettering has confirmed that it has secured two new retail occupiers, on new leases, for units in an established shopping district in Corby, Northamptonshire.

Acting on behalf of the landlord at Charter Court in the Oakley Vale District Centre in Corby, Eddisons has let Unit 14 and Unit 12 – both 700 sq ft retail premises – to Tanners Lane, a tanning salon, and Butterwick Bakery who bake and sell premium confectionery and sweet treats.

Tanners Lane has its original salon in Kettering and its new Charter Court premises – which will trade as ‘Tanners Lane Corby’ – gives the business a second Northamptonshire location.

Tanners Lane Corby is due to open in time for the high summer season, in 5 to 6 weeks, following a full salon fit out of the unit.

Butterwick Bakery is already open for business at its new Charter Court shop which chalks-up the eighth retail outlet in the East Midlands – including another Corby location on Rockingham Road – for this family-owned bakery business.

The bakery business was established in 2017 and was originally a home-kitchen based operation. But such has been the growth of the business since the pandemic, that it now employs over 60 members of staff across its regional chain of outlets which are all supplied by freshly baked goods from its large bakery in Corby.

Amanda Lawrence, Agency Surveyor at Eddisons, negotiated the leases for the two units and is now instructed to let two further units at Charter Court where the current occupier will be vacating.

Speaking about the recent lettings success at Charter Court, Amanda said, “The Oakley Vale District Centre is a well-established trading location that has a number of national and independent traders and service providers.

“It has solid footfall in attracting loyal local shoppers, as well as passing visitors to the area.

“To see the latest units we’ve let being occupied by growing local business is indicative of the ongoing success of retailers whose offer and in-person experience cannot be replicated online.”

For more information about the forthcoming units to let at Charter Court or the availability of retail units in & around Corby, Kettering & Northampton, contact Amanda Lawrence at Eddisons, tel: 01536 483400, [email protected] or through eddisons.com.

The Huntingdon agency of Eddisons points to the take-up of a scheme of four new-build workshop units with offices in the market town of St Ives as indicative of demand for high quality business premises in this part of Cambridgeshire.

The four units – two of 1,657 sq ft and two of 2,809 sq ft – are the first of a two phase development at Meridian Court at Compass Point, an established commercial location in the Cambridgeshire market town.

Launched at the end of last year by Eddisons, who was the sole agent under instruction, as being available for occupation in spring this year, two units have been sold to owner-occupiers, one unit to a private investor (who then instructed Eddisons on the subsequent successful letting) and the last of the units is currently under offer to another private investor.

One of the owner-occupiers, The Cambridge Sign Company, is now trading from its new base at Unit 2 Meridian Court, following a move from smaller premise in the nearby village of Somersham.

The Cambridge Sign Company is an award-winning business specialising in all aspects of commercial building, vehicle and promotional signage and has a client base split evenly between the local eastern region and the rest of the UK.

Its ninth year of trading sees the company with a current headcount of seven. And with plans for further recruitment and investment in new equipment to meet an increased customer base, Director Nick Dowell saw the need to move to larger, purpose-built commercial premises.

He explains, “The upscaling of our business in the past few years and our plans for future growth instigated a search for new premises.

“We needed premises in a location that would not only be an acceptable commute for our employees through good local road access, but that would also give excellent onward road access to all points across the region and the rest of the country.

“Meridian Court at Compass Point ticked these boxes for us, as well as offering quality new-build premises with parking – and all not too far from the company’s original home-base.”

Eddisons’ agency team in Huntingdon is anticipating keen interest in the next phase of Meridian Court which is due to launch later this year.

For information about the business units at the forthcoming phase of Meridian Court, Compass Point, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, contact Matthew Hunt at the Huntingdon office of Eddisons, tel: 01480 571578, [email protected] or through eddisons.com.