| yorkshire region
BLACKROCK ACQUIRES STUDENT HOUSING B
lackRock Real Assets has completed the acquisition of a second student
accommodation development site in Sheffield, taking the number of beds in the portfolio of its Europe Property Fund IV (“EFIV”) overall to more than 2,100 across five schemes. The newly acquired Bramall Lane site
adjacent to the existing Sheffield asset acquired by BlackRock Real Estate in 2016, will be developed to provide a further 190 beds under a nominations agreement with Sheffield Hallam University. The scheme will capitalise upon the ‘place-making’ opportunities and operational efficiencies of providing 735 beds across two inter- connected schemes with strong high-street frontage. The property will be developed and operated by long standing partners of the BlackRock Real Estate platform, Victoria Hall Management Ltd/Host. Ground work on site has already begun
and completion is targeted for the start of the 2018/19 academic year. It is anticipated that the private road which separates both schemes, shall be blocked-off from public access and that the two buildings will be connected by a glass canopy. The main
PLATFORM_ ENTERS SECOND PHASE
entrance for the unified building shall be located in the newly acquired scheme, allowing for additional amenity space and bike storage to be provided. The investment represents the eight
acquisition for EFIV across Europe since inception and the second since final close in April 2017. EFIV’s €700 million total commitments have come from a broad range of institutional investors in 16 different countries across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia, and equates to approximately €1.75 billion of capital available to invest. Thomas Müller, Portfolio Manager
within BlackRock’s European real estate business said: “We are very pleased with the progress since the final close and I am particularly delighted to announce this latest acquisition, which is reflective of our strategy to continue the aggregation of our student accommodation portfolio in the UK and Ireland. With well-located schemes in London, Dublin, Leeds and Sheffield we are creating a very attractive portfolio.” BlackRock Real Estate is the dedicated
real estate investment group within BlackRock Real Assets.
CONFIDENCE RETURNS TO SHEFFIELD’S OFFICE MARKET
previous quarter, resulting in an impressive 170,000 sq.ft of office space being occupied and demonstrating a significant uplift in confidence in Sheffield’s office market. This is according to The Sheffield Office Market Pulse, the latest research from national commercial property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) which provides investors, occupiers and developers with detailed insight across the city. Tom Burlaga, who heads up the
T
Agency team at LSH Sheffield, comments: “The professional services sector accounted for the lion’s share of activity in terms of number of deals, but the burgeoning TMT sector saw the largest volume of space taken-up during the quarter – a trend which is currently being witnessed across all of the major Northern Powerhouse cities. “Activity remains focused in the city
centre, with refurbished buildings such as St James House in the Cathedral Quarter experiencing a flurry of new lettings. Q1
94
hree times as many deals were completed in Q1 2017 than in the
2017 saw a number of larger deals complete, with four transactions in excess of 15,000 sq.ft. There are also a good number of larger requirements in the marketplace, suggesting that confidence is returning among the larger corporates. This contrasts with 2016, where the majority of deals were sub- 5,000 sq.ft.” Though grade A office supply across
Sheffield continues to dwindle, the city’s office supply will receive a welcome boost in Q2 2017, finds the research. The city centre currently has just two buildings which are capable of adequately accommodating a requirement of over 10,000 sq.ft. However, the demolition of the former Grosvenor Hotel is close to completion, paving the way for the construction of HSBC’s new 140,000 sq.ft offices and hopefully stimulating further development. Meanwhile, the imminent completion of Acero Works at Sheffield Digital Campus and refurbishment of Steel City House and Westfield House (formerly Milton House) will inject a further 166,000 sq.ft of much-needed grade A/B space into the market.
acquiring a consented city centre site. The build to rent developer and
P
operator completed the purchase of the Sylvester Street site within three weeks of the terms being agreed, with CBRE representing the vendor. The site is located less than a ten-
minute walk from Sheffield train station and next to both The Moor shopping centre and the Sheffield Retail Quarter. The Sheffield Retail Quarter is
undergoing a £480m regeneration, the first phase of which will be completed in 2019. The development is set to bring in an extra 2,500 new jobs with an additional £300m in yearly spending. The Moor shopping centre is less than
a 5-minute walk away and boasts a SWEAT gym, Pizza Express, Zizi, Boots, Debenhams, GBK, and The Light Cinema. The company plans to seek a new
planning consent to increase the number of units from 201 to around 300 apartments. The current consent also offers 46,000 sq.ft of offices. It follows a major new deal with
Invesco to create the UK’s first operational build-to-rent portfolio. The JV, announced on 12 April, covers PLATFORM__’s first five assets, which are circa 75 percent let. This Sheffield project will be the
brand’s first new build development and marks the second phase of the company’s strategy to develop a nationwide portfolio catering for tech-savvy renters seeking affordable luxury. Appetite for regional rental
developments has been growing over the last six months with major schemes announced in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Leeds. Sheffield is expected to see
considerable population growth over the next decade and remains Britain’s eighth largest city. The deal, which is the company’s first
since they entered into their joint venture with Invesco, was carried out on PLATFORM_’s behalf by Lambert Smith Hampton and Travers Smith. Stewart Knight, acquisitions director
at PLATFORM_, said: “This site is in an excellent location and provides a great opportunity for us to raise the bar for city centre living; we have space for 300 well- designed, fully-sized apartments with a considerable amount of amenity and parking. Inward investment in Sheffield is growing and the continued focus on growing the Northern Powerhouse will make the need for high-quality city centre housing even stronger the over coming years.”
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MONTHLY 2017
LATFORM_ will develop a major build- to-rent scheme in Sheffield after
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116
