Sector Focus


Property


Transforming derelict sites into communities


Anything but boring: the property at 28-30 Bore Street, Lichfield


Deal brokered on historic building


A historic Grade II listed building, converted into offices and shops, in Lichfield city centre has been acquired in a £875,000 deal brokered by Burley Browne. The three-storey Georgian


building at 28-30 Bore Street was marketed by Burley Browne on behalf of the Standard Life Trustees Company. The freehold has been acquired by private investors, who will occupy a proportion of the office accommodation. Associate director Ben Nicholson


said: “We had a huge amount of interest in this historic property, with viewings comfortably into double figures, which led to several strong offers. Ultimately, it was sold for the asking price which was a great result for our client, reflecting current market conditions and the strong demand for freehold opportunities. This sale clearly demonstrates that it is not all doom and gloom when it comes to the office market.” The building also has two


occupiers in the ground floor retail units, producing rental income of £30,000 per year with agreed incremental increases during the term of the leases.


Derelict industrial sites across the region are to be used to build hundreds of new homes and commercial properties, funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). The organisation is to spend more than £51m on the


project, made up of £24m from the Government’s National Brownfield Housing Fund and the rest from money made available in a funding package for new housing which was agreed three years ago. The £24m came after a competition involving


eight other combined authorities, and the cash will be used to unlock stalled sites for development and speed up the delivery of new housing schemes, including affordable homes.


‘This shows how supportive the Government is of our work’


Among areas benefiting will be the former MG


Rover site at Longbridge, which has already seen substantial redevelopment. West Midlands mayor Andy Street said: “That we’ve managed to secure more than half of the


National Brownfield Housing Fund that was designed to be for eight combined authorities across the country shows the strength of our bid, our excellent delivery record, and our expertise in unlocking challenging sites. “The £24m comes on top of the £27m we have


also been awarded as part of the latest payment from our 2018 Land Fund, meaning the West Midlands received £51m of the £67m announced by the government. “This shows how supportive the Government is of


our work as we look to continue to regenerate old derelict industrial land – such as the former MG Rover site in Longbridge. “With a further £60m of already-announced


housing money also confirmed to be on its way to the West Midlands in the coming weeks, the New Year has the potential to be a very good one for our future housing plans. “We must keep up the momentum as housebuilding and brownfield land remediation will have a key part to play in our economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.”


Underwear firm moves to new HQ


A fast growing underwear company has agreed the largest out-of-town letting for nearly a decade at Solihull’s M42 corridor. The firm is Lounge Underwear,


which has made IM Properties’ 53,882 sq ft 1 Blythe Gate its new UK headquarters. Blythe Gate is at Blythe Valley


Park, where Lounge already has a 37,000 sq ft warehouse building, Connexion. The firm moved into that in 2019. Lounge was founded four years ago by Melanie and Daniel


Marsden, and have seen sales soar, including a leap in turnover of more than 250 per cent to £50m in their latest financial year. Jack Humphreys, chief operating


officer at Lounge, said: “Considering the company is only five years old, the number of moves we have already had to undertake to facilitate our growth is insane, which is a great problem to have. “We plan to turn 1 Blythe Gate


into the office of all offices. We originally chose Blythe Valley for its


Prosperity expands into homes


A residential property developer that specialises in building and selling buy-to-let apartments to a global investor audience has expanded into the residential homes market. Prosperity Group, which is


headquartered in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, has launched Prosperity Homes that will focus on developing affordable and desirable homes for owner-occupiers. It has launched its first housing


development this month, introducing a 300-home development that will be built on a 30-acre site in Downham Market, West Norfolk, after acquiring the land for an undisclosed sum from Koto Limited. Outline planning has been


granted for 300 homes, comprising 78 CHAMBERLINK February 2021


one-bed maisonettes, and two, three and four-bedroom family homes, 60 of which will be affordable homes. A reserved matters application has now been submitted. Prosperity CEO Joe Billingham


said: “Our group ethos is centred on a commitment to providing high-quality properties and we’ve developed a solid reputation for bringing profitable pre-built and off-plan property investments to market. “Now we’re pleased to be able to


offer this to both the investor and owner-occupier markets through Prosperity Homes. “This is a welcome addition to


the developments team, which has built and delivered more than


3,000 homes across the UK since 2007 and to our sales arm, Prosperity Wealth, which comprises industry experts who build wealth for clients via secure high yielding buy-to-let property. “The launch of Prosperity Homes


is an exciting new chapter for our business and will enable us to build and deliver attractive homes for modern day living. We are committed to developing on high- quality sites that are located in areas with good amenities, schooling, transport links, recreation and leisure venues.” Founded in Birmingham in 2007,


Prosperity has a portfolio of 39 new-build and conversion projects with a gross development value (GDV) of more than £420m.


connectivity, amenities and focus on wellbeing. The quality of 1 Blythe Gate will to enable us to create a new lifestyle hub to showcase our business, provide space for product innovation and expand the Lounge family, which should double to 200 employees next year.” Rob Hemus, asset director at IM


Properties, said: “We’ve always been supportive of innovative brands such as Lounge and we’re delighted to assist them in their continued expansion.”


Exciting new chapter: Joe Billingham


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