PRIDE OF THE NORTH WEST - Insider Media Ltd › webmail › docs › 2016 › north-west-pr… · Property Awards 2016. With 15 hard-fought catego-ries, plus the coveted Property

PRIDE OF THE NORTH WEST

p45-47 Property Awards Preview.indd 45 05/05/2016 12:31


NORTH WEST PROPERTY AWARDS 2016 PREVIEW

Over the next pages, Insideris taking a look at the schemes, professionals

and developers from across the region in the running to win at our prestigious North West Property Awards 2016.

With 15 hard-fought catego-ries, plus the coveted Property Personality of the Year, the ceremony is a sell-out event attracting an audience of more than 1,000 guests.

The judging process for this year’s record-breaking InsiderProperty Awards was stronger and more rigorous than ever

ANDREW DICKMANdirector, DB Symmetry

PHILIP NELLfund director, Hermes Investment

DARREN JONESdirector of economic development, Oldham Council

DEBORAH MCLAUGHLINexecutive director, North West, Homes and Communities Agency

STEVE PARKmanaging director, Warrington & Co

JOHN ATKINSmanaging director, Atkins Property

KAREN HIRSTdevelopment director, regeneration, Salford City Council

before. Two separate pre-judging sessions were held with a series of industry experts giving their verdicts. No votes were cast but their comments were fed into the official judging process.

A record number of entries highlighted the strength of the property industry across the re-gion – a strength that continues to build in all sectors. The judges were left with tough decisions in all the categories and the debate was lively and vigorous.

The only award not picked by the judges was the Property Per-sonality of the Year, which was

chosen after Insider spoke to more than 50 property experts.

More than one company may have been involved in the same deal. In the main, the company named in the shortlist submitted the entry.

So here is the shortlist and well done to all those who have made it! The winners will be announced at a dinner at Man-chester Central on Thursday 12 May – the same day as Insider’s annual Business of Property Conference.

The official Twitter hashtag for the event is #insiderNWprop

Meet the judges

Capita Real Estate

A RECORD-BREAKING YEAR FOR REGIONAL PROPERTY

SPONSORED BY

DRINKS RECEPTIONSPONSORED BY

NETWORKING BOOKLETSPONSORED BY


architecture | heritage | urbanism

working with people

designing buildings

creating places

www.buttress.net

@buttressarch

www.linkedin.com/company/buttressarchitects

advert2.indd 8 14/04/2016 15:57:12p48-63 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 48 05/05/2016 12:32

Quality designs are coming off the drawing boards of the region’s ar-

chitects as they continually raise the bar and deliver impressive buildings with a wow factor.

The breadth of work on display impressed the judges – with showcase projects across the North West. And it’s not just tall buildings attracting attention.

In retail and leisure they include 5plus’s vision for Man-chester Corn Exchange, which has reconnected this heritage asset back to the city, as well as Leach Rhodes Walker’s striking and bold “next generation” of retail parks at Handforth Dean in Cheshire East. The practice

is also working on the ambi-tious Bridge Street mixed-use regeneration vision to transform Warrington town centre.

Successful housing projects were also well represented in the portfolios of stand-out work by shortlisted practices. These included Leach Rhodes Walkers’ Clippers Quay in Salford, a pri-vate rented scheme creating“a new location and destination.”

Buttress Architects’ striking Timekeepers Square is a new development of 36 two, three and four-bedroom houses on a central site in Salford for the English Cities Fund. The site is adjacent to the neoclassical St Philips Church and the Georgian

urban square, which it fronts, and responds to both in its design and planning.

The scheme references its context and the high-quality development sits comfortably within and enhances the her-itage of the conservation area; strengthening the urban setting of the church and establishing the residential community.

The work of 5plus in the resi-dential sector also included Cir-cle Square – its team designed the residential capacity study that supported Bruntwood’s acquisition of the former BBC site in Manchester – and 10-12 Whitworth Street, high-quality, deliverable accommodation

ARCHITECTURE PRACTICE OF THE YEAR

Architecture practices on commercial projects have made big contributions

to developments in terms of design, deliverability and control of costs

SHORTLIST

5PLUS

AEW

BUTTRESS ARCHITECTS

FALCONER CHESTER HALL

FLETCHER-RAE

LEACH RHODES WALKER

POZZONI

SHEPPARD ROBSON

SPONSORED BY

Pozzoni’s Citygate Court, Manchester

architecture | heritage | urbanism

working with people

designing buildings

creating places

www.buttress.net

@buttressarch

www.linkedin.com/company/buttressarchitects

advert2.indd 8 14/04/2016 15:57:12 p48-63 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 49 05/05/2016 12:32

We are delighted to be shortlisted for Architects Practice of the Year for Insider’s Property Awards. Congratulations and good luck to everyone nominated for an award this year. Falconer Chester Hall is an award-winning architectural and interiors practice with an international reputation. We have offices in Liverpool, London and Kuala Lumpur, and will be opening in Manchester soon. Our projects include: The 50,000 sq ft Tower Wharf commercial office building. The first development to be

delivered within the Wirral Waters Enterprise Zone, Birkenhead. Double Tree Hotel by Hilton, a 4* luxury boutique hotel in the heart of Liverpool’s business district. The Listed Heaps Mill complex at southern Liverpool Docks, a PRS development of 800 homes and 12,000 sq ft of leisure and retail units, ranged around a new public space called Baltic Square for Inhabit. Working with Moda Living to design an exciting new residential development, Princes Reach, as part of the regeneration of Princes Dock, Liverpool.

LondonT. +44 (0)203 137 7393

LiverpoolT. +44 (0)151 243 5800

Kuala LumpurT. +(0)603 2698 1181 www.fcharchitects.com

p48-63 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 50 05/05/2016 12:32

www.lrw.co.uk

Multi-award winning North West based Architectural practice

Architecture MasterplanningInterior Design3D/Graphics

Specialists in: Masterplanning Industrial Public Sector Implementation

Hotels Retail Offices Residential

GRAINGER TRUST/AMSTONE VENTURES 614 PRS APARTMENTS, SALFORD – ON SITE

MUSE DEVELOPMENTS £70M TOWN CENTRE REGENERATIONON SITE

MAG PROPERTY AIRPORT CITY 350 BED HOTEL PLANNING APPROVED

Student Residential Airports Leisure MSCP’s

ACCORCANARY WHARF, 38 STOREY NOVOTEL – ON SITE

CPG220,000 SQ FT NEW RETAIL PARK, HANDFORTH – ON SITE

targeted at the private rental market.

The industrial and logistics sector was well represented, showcasing the versatility of architecture practices in the North West.

Fletcher-Rae’s work on the £80m relocation of clothing and homewares retailer Matalan to the former Petrolite site at Know-sley – a 135,000 sq ft headquar-ters plus a logistics facility of more than 600,000 sq ft – was among the stand-out projects. So, too, was its work on Peel’s Port Salford project – a £16m logistics facility for Cullina with its bold external cladding.

Office designs that caught the eye included Pozzoni’s Citygate Court development in Manchester – its contemporary design trans-forming a 36-year-old address and bringing it back to life as dynamic office building.

Pozzoni removed the front façade of the Mosley Street office in its entirety, stripping the building back to its original structure.

A new façade was construct-ed with floor-to-ceiling glazing, minimalist clean lines and a feature frame to the two top storeys. The improvements have dramatically changed the

appearance of the streetscape, and internally glazed elevations flood the building with light.

Falconer Chester Hall’s strong portfolio of work on Merseyside also caught the eye, not least its designs for the £8.6m Tower Wharf commercial office development, which is the first building within the Wirral Waters enterprise zone.

Buttress Architects’ Timekeepers Square

We are delighted to be shortlisted for Architects Practice of the Year for Insider’s Property Awards. Congratulations and good luck to everyone nominated for an award this year. Falconer Chester Hall is an award-winning architectural and interiors practice with an international reputation. We have offices in Liverpool, London and Kuala Lumpur, and will be opening in Manchester soon. Our projects include: The 50,000 sq ft Tower Wharf commercial office building. The first development to be

delivered within the Wirral Waters Enterprise Zone, Birkenhead. Double Tree Hotel by Hilton, a 4* luxury boutique hotel in the heart of Liverpool’s business district. The Listed Heaps Mill complex at southern Liverpool Docks, a PRS development of 800 homes and 12,000 sq ft of leisure and retail units, ranged around a new public space called Baltic Square for Inhabit. Working with Moda Living to design an exciting new residential development, Princes Reach, as part of the regeneration of Princes Dock, Liverpool.

LondonT. +44 (0)203 137 7393

LiverpoolT. +44 (0)151 243 5800

Kuala LumpurT. +(0)603 2698 1181 www.fcharchitects.com


Expert providers in alternative funding.

togethermoney.com

For professional use only.Together is a trading style of each of the undernoted companies, which have their registered o�ce address at Lake View, Lakeside, Cheadle, Cheshire SK8 3GW. Auction Finance Limited is registered in England and Wales - Company Registration Number 04949929. Blemain Finance Limited is registered in England and Wales - Company Registration Number 01185052. Blemain Finance Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in respect of second charge loans secured on residential property. In respect of regulated mortgage contracts, Blemain Finance Limited is an Introducer Appointed Representative of Cheshire Mortgage Corporation Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Bridging Finance Limited is registered in England and Wales - Company Registration Number 03166982. In respect of regulated mortgage contracts, Bridging Finance Limited is an Introducer Appointed Representative of Cheshire Mortgage Corporation Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Cheshire Mortgage Corporation Limited is registered in England and Wales - Company Registration Number 02613335. Cheshire Mortgage Corporation Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority - Firm Reference No 305253. Lancashire Mortgage Corporation Limited is registered in England and Wales - Company Registration Number 02058813. In respect of regulated mortgage contracts, Lancashire Mortgage Corporation Limited is an Introducer Appointed Representative of Cheshire Mortgage Corporation Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Let us work for you and your clients throughout 2016.

Shortlisted for Property Funding Team of the Year at this year’s Insider NW Property Awards.

1284 Insider Ad 297x210mm.indd 1 14/04/2016 11:12p48-63 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 52 05/05/2016 12:32

In just three years, PlaceFirst has made a name for itself as one of the most inclusive

property development companies in the country. Working at the toughest end of the housing market, it is delivering well-de-signed, high-quality, energy-effi-cient homes in some of the most blighted neighbourhoods.

Its aim is to turn streets of empty properties across the north into aspirational homes for rent that bridge the gap between home ownership and social housing. And it is delivering those homes in towns and cities including Liverpool, Accrington and Morecambe, where it is working in the resort’s West End restoring grand old buildings that have fallen into sad decline.

PlaceFirst’s target is to build and let 1,000 homes by 2019, and it is working with Liverpool on its empty homes challenges.

The group has also saved the finest Victorian municipal swimming baths in the country in Ashton-under-Lyne, designing a cool digital workspace. It offers more than 6,000 sq ft of flexible, funky office space with break-out spaces and a rooftop terrace that span its length and open to the main pool hall.

Paragon is another rising star. Less than 12 months since opening, the Manchester office of Paragon Building Consultancy – the firm’s first outside London – has become a ten-strong team with turnover exceeding its three-year business plan.

The Manchester team has carried out pre-acquisition build-ing surveys on assets valued in excess of £1bn since May 2015. At One New Bailey in Manchester, the team is project monitoring on behalf of Legal & General, and for Tristan Capital at The Embankment in Greengate. The team also project managed the refurbishment of Dakota House, a 45,000 sq ft office near the airport, and two new Easy Hotels in Manchester and Liverpool.

Metis Real Estate Advisers began life in May 2015 with Dan Davies, Paul Jones, Stephen Tre-genza and Jonathan Mills. It was created to provide independent

advice to occupiers, landlords, investors and developers across the UK. The agency and profes-sional teams specialise in the retail and leisure sectors, and the investment team cover all property types and also provide development funding advice.

It is advising on more than 30 schemes, from large mixed-use developments to small rede-velopments of Grade II listed buildings. Between January and December 2015, Davies and the team had clocked up more than 50 restaurant lettings in the North West. It has also been creating value by reinvigorating underperforming schemes.

Aherne Property had a strong first 12 months. Among its many highlights was the acquisition of Frontier Park in Blackburn for Euro Garages, plus transac-tions for household names that included Boohoo, Silentnight and Hermes Parcelnet.

PROPERTY NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR

A host of newcomers to the property scene are leading the field with

innovation and forward thinking – creating their own Northern Powerhouse

SHORTLIST

PARAGON

PLACEFIRST

METIS REAL ESTATE ADVISORS

AHERNE PROPERTY CONSULTANTS

SPONSORED BY

Ashton Old Baths

One New Bailey

Expert providers in alternative funding.

togethermoney.com

For professional use only.Together is a trading style of each of the undernoted companies, which have their registered o�ce address at Lake View, Lakeside, Cheadle, Cheshire SK8 3GW. Auction Finance Limited is registered in England and Wales - Company Registration Number 04949929. Blemain Finance Limited is registered in England and Wales - Company Registration Number 01185052. Blemain Finance Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in respect of second charge loans secured on residential property. In respect of regulated mortgage contracts, Blemain Finance Limited is an Introducer Appointed Representative of Cheshire Mortgage Corporation Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Bridging Finance Limited is registered in England and Wales - Company Registration Number 03166982. In respect of regulated mortgage contracts, Bridging Finance Limited is an Introducer Appointed Representative of Cheshire Mortgage Corporation Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Cheshire Mortgage Corporation Limited is registered in England and Wales - Company Registration Number 02613335. Cheshire Mortgage Corporation Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority - Firm Reference No 305253. Lancashire Mortgage Corporation Limited is registered in England and Wales - Company Registration Number 02058813. In respect of regulated mortgage contracts, Lancashire Mortgage Corporation Limited is an Introducer Appointed Representative of Cheshire Mortgage Corporation Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Let us work for you and your clients throughout 2016.

Shortlisted for Property Funding Team of the Year at this year’s Insider NW Property Awards.

1284 Insider Ad 297x210mm.indd 1 14/04/2016 11:12 p48-63 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 53 05/05/2016 12:32

01772 769000www.pinkus.co.uk

Lancashire’s Commercial

Property Experts

Follow usMost Active AgentLancashire & CumbriaDeals Winner or Runner Up2009-2015

Danny Pinkus01772 766683

[email protected]

Joe Assalone01772 766685

[email protected]

Mark Harrison01772 766682

[email protected]

Robert Pinkus01772 769000

[email protected]

PROUD TO BE SHORTLISTED FOR CONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR AND PUBLIC SECTOR TEAM OF THE YEAR

the complete solution for all your property needs

Sceptre HouseSceptre Way

Bamber Bridge Preston, PR5 6AW

Tel: 01772 698822 Fax: 01772 628811

Email: [email protected]

> Construction> Development > Design & Build> Civil Engineering> Property Investment> Facilities Management

Blackburn Cathedral QuarterIn partnership with Blackburn with Darwen Council, HCA and Blackburn Cathedral

Tower Wharf

Engineering Building Lancaster University

Eric Right 67257_proof1.indd 1 13/04/2016 12:22


Capita Real Estate

Creating communities, building brands and inspiring workers: those

are the aims of most commercial fit-outs or refurbishments, espe-cially when the battle to attract and retain staff continues to rage and the working environment could be the difference between winning and losing that fight.

Offices are more than just a place where people come to work daily. They are an extension of a company’s identity, ethos and values – a fact recognised by this impressive shortlist.

It includes 127 Portland Street, a 30,802 sq ft office building in West Village – a community of creative businesses. Bruntwood looked to inject a sense of arrival – with ‘thinking space’ for cus-tomers to gather their thoughts before a busy day in the office.

Its communal spaces have floor-to-ceiling curtains, different textures, colours and finishes throughout. Workspaces were stripped back to expose the original features. Exposed bricks, beams and original wooden flooring created the perfect blank canvas for customers.

A 5,200 sq ft duplex on the top floor is linked with an ornate spi-ral staircase and a purpose-built treehouse for meetings. There’s also a slide with a ball pit, a mezzanine level with a games room, a bar and fully glazed meeting rooms.

In Manchester’s central business district, CBRE Global Investors transformed 55 Spring Gardens. What was once dark, dated and “compromised” by low suspended ceiling heights has become a “light, airy, bright and flexible” building. The entrance façade was redesigned and the

reception height doubled to cre-ate “a modern and memorable” feature. A collaborative amenity space for tenants to share was also incorporated”.

A media wall and lounge with innovative use of lighting, audio-visual and sound systems have proved popular with occupiers “promoting communication and creating unplanned encounters”. This main lounge is the show-room for all the occupiers within the broadband-enabled building.

A roof terrace and top floor penthouse has also added to the transformation along with a concierge service that equals anything found in city centre hotels. Half the building was let prior to completion.

In Trafford Park, Regatta Group appointed SpaceInvader and Fletcher Rae Architects to create its new base. In a striking con-version of the company’s existing warehouse, originally built as an arms factory, the company now has a grade A office complete with showrooms and design workshops. The biggest test was to make the 60,000 sq ft floorplate feel “human”.

The landscape includes trees, plants, boardwalks, a wooden pavilion and a central ‘campsite’ where employees can eat, meet and collaborate. The designers took inspiration from Regatta’s ‘great outdoors’ brand.

Claremont’s brief for its refurbishment of United Utilities’ Haweswater House in Warring-ton was to open up the lines of communication in a less formal way and to inspire its people.

A series of ‘sky pods’ – small meeting rooms overlooking the ground floor – is distinctive. There’s a a plethora of informal meeting spaces, allowing teams to discuss projects away from their desks. And branded wall graphics, based on water and people, along with recessed spaces for integrated digital schemes, provides a high-tech way of bringing the brand to life when customers visit.

Exchange Quay is now has“a spirit of modernity and colour”, and OBI Property’s fit-out of 35 Fountain Street for Rentalcars.com was also selected for such a demanding brief, testing times-cales and site restrictions.

COMMERCIAL FIT-OUT/REFURBISHMENT

Standout workspaces are crucial for companies to attract and retain the

best talent. We look at the fit-out and refurb specialists responsible

SHORTLIST

127 PORTLAND STREET (BRUNTWOOD)

55 SPRING GARDENS (CBRE GLOBAL INVESTORS)

EXCHANGE QUAY (HUNTER REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT MANAGERS)

35 FOUNTAIN STREET (OBI PROPERTY)

REGATTA (SPACE INVADER & FLETCHER RAE)

CITYGATE COURT (STYLES & WOOD)

UNITED UTILITIES (CLAREMONT)

SPONSORED BY

55 Spring Gardens


Cost effectivemarketing leads foryour sales campaignsGet instant access to top contacts in your region✝

with Insider’s 2016 Top 500 Companies database.

✝ other regions are available

EMAILADDRESSES

PHONENUMBERS

MAILINGADDRESSES

CONTACT NAMES SECTOR

For more information call 0161 907 9730To request a free sample of the Insider Top 500

www.insidermedia.com/membership/free-sample-form

Check the qualityof the leads for yourselfREQUEST YOURFREE SAMPLE NOWInsider Members benefi t from a further 30% OFF

Top 500 HP.indd 1 17/02/2016 11:10


The strength of the region’s legal sector was evident by there being more sub-

missions for this category than any other.

Manchester was named as the most important city outside London in terms of the number of legal offices and fee-earn-ers, in a report earlier this year. And its law firms were certainly busy working on the large-scale development projects emerging on the city skyline.

Addleshaw Goddard advised on Circle Square, Manchester Business School and Angel Gardens, plus the St Michael’s mixed-use scheme – a joint venture between Beijing Con-struction and Engineering, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Rowsley.

The firm continued its involve-ment at Omega in Warrington, completing on the 690,000 sq ft distribution facility to The Hut Group and 240,000 sq ft to Plastic Omnium, plus a 356,000 sq ft speculative warehouse. The firm also acted for Bruntwood and Select Property Group on the strategic acquisition of the former BBC Oxford Road site in Manchester.

Gateley’s real estate team worked on The Dock Office development at Salford Quays for Liveman Properties and acted on a 119 apartment, 13-storey private rented sector development on Ancoats Street, Manchester, for IDP Group.

Gateley also made headway in Preston, acting for London & Manchester Healthcare on a 100-bed general nursing and dementia care home near the city’s Deepdale football stadium, named Finney House after local hero Sir Tom Finney.

JMW’s highlights included the refinance of the Lime Square De-velopment in Manchester on be-half of Openshaw Regeneration. Across the Pennines, the team advised Stocksbridge Regener-ation on a £40m development mixed-use scheme in Sheffield.

Kuits acted on the acquisition of the former Pontin’s holiday camp site just outside Blackpool for housebuilder Persimmon. The practice also acted for Salford property investment company The Ventnor Group in connection with various transactions.

Nabarro acted for Manchester City Council on The Factory, St Johns, a cultural hub and home of Manchester International Fes-tival and in Liverpool for Green Property on its £17m disposal of the city’s India Buildings to an overseas investor.

It also worked on what was de-scribed as the largest ‘out-of-town’ sale in the region – a brownfield site at Handforth, sold by Cheshire East Council and its Engine of the North arms-length company to CPG Development Projects. The sale of the 14-acre plot unlocked a key development site that has the potential for shops, leisure facilities and offices.

Pinsent Masons’ Manchester team also makes the shortlist for assisting Ardstone Regional Office Fund on the acquisition of the Grade II-listed office building Pall Mall Court in King Street. It also advised Aviva on its regen-eration of the Corn Exchange.

Shoosmiths acted for Allied London on the St John’s regen-eration plan; 1 Spinningfields, a 250,000 sq ft office and leisure development in Manchester; and the purchase from Britannia of the Old Fire Station. Student ac-commodation has been another source of work.

Weightmans has been work-ing on a steady flow of city and town centre regeneration pro-jects. In Manchester it continued giving pro-bono advice on all aspects of the development and grant funding of HOME – the cul-tural hub and contemporary arts centre at First Street. The practice was appointed by Manchester City Council in connection with the redevelopment of Oxford Road railway station. In North Wales, the firm acted on behalf of Bangor University and Menai Science Park in connection with the proposed 20.5 acre science park off the A5 on Anglesey.

PROPERTY LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR

Competition is as fierce as ever in the legal world, evidenced by the

sheer number of firms in the running to win Insider’s prestigious award

SHORTLIST

ADDLESHAW GODDARD

GATELEY

JMW SOLICITORS

KUITS SOLICITORS

NABARRO

PINSENT MASONS

SHOOSMITHS

WEIGHTMANS

SPONSORED BY

Old Fire Station


Carillion’s proud North West HeritageBuilding better futures for the North West through a portfolio of projects that touch the lives of thousands of people.

From schools to leisure, entertainment to hotels, sporting arenas to offices, shops, hospitals and residences, Carillion is involved in projects that shape communities.

Carillion has a long and proud history in the North West having delivered some of the region’s most prestigious buildings. Our experience is unparalleled through a host of impressive projects, including the original G-Mex Centre, delivering state-of-the-art facilities for News International in Knowsley, iconic structures such as Beetham Towers in both Manchester and Liverpool, the Printworks, the International Convention Centre and a host of schools across Tameside and Rochdale through the Building Schools for the Future programme with further schools throughout Greater Manchester via the Priority Schools Building Programme.

In more recent years we have delivered some of the region’s exciting and award-winning projects such as One St Peter’s Square and Greater Manchester Police HQ. We have also helped to regenerate entire areas through transformational projects such as the redevelopment of Piccadilly and First Street in Manchester.

We are privileged to maintain our presence in this region, currently delivering the Vision Tameside Integrated Public Sector Building, The Royal Liverpool University Hospital, CitySuites on Chapel Street, Liverpool Football Club’s Anfield Main Stand Expansion and Ask Developments Greengate Project in Salford.

Carillion are creating opportunities for the community and economy, providing local people, residents and businesses with the chance to get involved in redevelopment activities. We proactively look to use local labour and suppliers as well as creating jobs for long-term unemployed, and those from hard to reach groups. We offer apprenticeships and training opportunities to enable the workforce of the future. We work with agencies such as Business in the Community to provide placements for homeless people and ex-offenders which often lead to permanent jobs, helping people to get their lives back on track.

Our future portfolio of projects in the North West is enviable; during 2015 we secured preferred bidder status on more than £160m of projects, financially closing over £55m of these projects in the year. We are currently progressing more than £200m of new projects to start on site during 2016 with a further £200m projects in development for a start later into 2017.

www.carillionplc.com

ADVERTISEMENT


‘On time, on budget and on project’ remains the mantra of successful

contractors. Working closely with developers and architects, those in the North West are building quality, sustainable buildings across the UK. And they’re maintaining strong order books, despite challenging conditions.

Diversity and the ability to break into new markets is another strength that continues to build. This year’s shortlisted companies are working on some varied and challenging devel-opments – from Carillion’s main stand expansion at Liverpool’s Anfield stadium to Willmott Dix-on’s building of St Chrysostom’s Primary School for Manchester City Council.

Carillion is transforming Liver-pool’s main stand into one of the largest all-seater single stands in Europe with 8,500 more seats, taking the stadium’s overall ca-pacity to 54,000. The installation of a 650 tonne, 140 metre-long roof truss onto the stadium was performed by two of the UK’s largest cranes and watched by thousands of people.

Other developments being built by North West contractors outside the region include a satellite testing facility at the RAL National Space Technology Centre in Oxfordshire by Willmott Dixon. The Oldham-based com-pany is also building a home for the Met Office’s supercomputer in Exeter to ensure it remains a world leader for meteorology. Nearer to home it was respon-sible for Oldham’s £15m leisure centre.

Preston-based Eric Wright has embarked on a strategy of seeking a mix of projects with funding from different sources, including higher education, pri-vate sector investment, European Regional Development funding and the Homes and Commu-nities Agency. Its work in 2015 included three landmark projects – Blackburn’s Cathedral Quarter in partnership with Maple Grove Developments; an engineering building for Lancaster University; and Tower Wharf Offices in Wirral for Longmeadow Estates.

Galliford Try looked to expand into new sectors, taking its expe-rience from hotels and student

accommodation into the private residential and private rental sector. That includes Vimto Gar-dens in Salford, a scheme of 83 apartments and 14 townhouses in conjunction with Muse.

The contractor also built the Hotel Football Scheme next to Old Trafford and has secured the contract to build the Hilton Garden Inn at the Lancashire County Cricket Club.

Russells Construction built the 14-storey, 330-bedroom Motel One on London Road in Man-chester’s Piccadilly area for Livia, which is part of the Olympian group.

Wiggett Construction is an-other fast-growing business. Its highlights included remodelling and refurbishing the former Pen-delbury Hospital site in Salford with quality apartments.

The expertise in the North West shone this year. McGoff and Byrne’s unrivalled expe-rience with timber frame con-struction won it multiple projects for Whitbread and the Premier Inn chain, plus the award of a landmark chalet development at Butlins in Minehead.

CONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR

Activity is picking up for contractors after the recession. Here we look at the

ones proving that, to survive and thrive, they need to adapt and innovate

SHORTLIST

CARILLION

ERIC WRIGHT CONSTRUCTION

GALLIFORD TRY BUILDING NORTH WEST

MCGOFF & BYRNE

RUSSELLS CONSTRUCTION

WIGGETT CONSTRUCTION

WILLMOTT DIXON CONSTRUCTION

SPONSORED BY

Oldham Leisure Centre Motel One, Piccadilly

Carillion’s proud North West HeritageBuilding better futures for the North West through a portfolio of projects that touch the lives of thousands of people.

From schools to leisure, entertainment to hotels, sporting arenas to offices, shops, hospitals and residences, Carillion is involved in projects that shape communities.

Carillion has a long and proud history in the North West having delivered some of the region’s most prestigious buildings. Our experience is unparalleled through a host of impressive projects, including the original G-Mex Centre, delivering state-of-the-art facilities for News International in Knowsley, iconic structures such as Beetham Towers in both Manchester and Liverpool, the Printworks, the International Convention Centre and a host of schools across Tameside and Rochdale through the Building Schools for the Future programme with further schools throughout Greater Manchester via the Priority Schools Building Programme.

In more recent years we have delivered some of the region’s exciting and award-winning projects such as One St Peter’s Square and Greater Manchester Police HQ. We have also helped to regenerate entire areas through transformational projects such as the redevelopment of Piccadilly and First Street in Manchester.

We are privileged to maintain our presence in this region, currently delivering the Vision Tameside Integrated Public Sector Building, The Royal Liverpool University Hospital, CitySuites on Chapel Street, Liverpool Football Club’s Anfield Main Stand Expansion and Ask Developments Greengate Project in Salford.

Carillion are creating opportunities for the community and economy, providing local people, residents and businesses with the chance to get involved in redevelopment activities. We proactively look to use local labour and suppliers as well as creating jobs for long-term unemployed, and those from hard to reach groups. We offer apprenticeships and training opportunities to enable the workforce of the future. We work with agencies such as Business in the Community to provide placements for homeless people and ex-offenders which often lead to permanent jobs, helping people to get their lives back on track.

Our future portfolio of projects in the North West is enviable; during 2015 we secured preferred bidder status on more than £160m of projects, financially closing over £55m of these projects in the year. We are currently progressing more than £200m of new projects to start on site during 2016 with a further £200m projects in development for a start later into 2017.

www.carillionplc.com

ADVERTISEMENT


DESIGN AND BUILD FROM THE EXPERTS

█ DEVELOPMENT

█ INVESTMENT

█ COMMERCIAL AGENCY

█ LEASE CONSULTANCY

█ CORPORATE CONSULTANCY

█ STRATEGIC ASSET MANAGEMENT

█ VALUATION

The property advisors...

0161 763 0828 or click on to our website

www.nolanredshaw.co.uk

Follow us on @NolanRedshaw

Design and build can be a lengthy and complex process however, Nolan Redshaw have the expertise to guide you through it.

█ Premises / Site Identification █ Due Diligence █ Negotiating the Best Deal

We work closely with occupiers and developers and have 30 years’ experience.

Please call Paul Nolan or Jonathan Pickles.

Spire Hospital - Manchester

Lower Irk Valley - Manchester

Anfield Regeneration - Liverpool

Planning D

esign Heritage E

conomics S

ustainability E

ngagement

Stephen Bell

Manchester Office Director

[email protected]

0161 233 7676

turley.co.uk @turleyplanning linkedin.com/company/turley

Shaping Better PlacesTurley are proud to be involved in the shaping of this great region.

We are helping to deliver new homes, jobs and essential infrastructure.

Six specialist planning services: One integrated place-shaping offer.


Professional services experts were hard at work in 2015 boosted by the growth in

development activity.Deloitte described the year as

“remarkable” for Manchester – “most visibly in the resurgence of residential activity throughout the city centre.” The firm was in-volved in Renaker Build’s 1 Water Street and Cambridge Street developments, as well as Select Property Group’s CitySuites.

Indigo Planning continued with its positive work in the North-ern Quarter and King Street in Manchester. In the last two years it has advised on ten bars and restaurants, including Almost Fa-mous, NoHo, Home Sweet Home and Luck, Lust, Liquor and Burn.

The North West continues to be the beating heart of the UK’s logistics industry.

Deals highlighted in this catego-ry’s shortlist include Cushman & Wakefield’s work in delivering retailer Poundland’s distribution centre at M6 Epic in Wigan.

Global online retailer Amazon’s arrival at Mountpark Airport City in Manchester also made the headlines and underlined the region’s pulling power.

WHR helped broker the deal between Stoford Developments and MAG to acquire the site. The fulfilment centre will open in the autumn, creating 1,000 permanent jobs over three years, as part of the e-retailer’s plans to create 2,500 permanent posts in the UK this year.

King Street continues to rein-vent itself with a focus on leisure and cafe culture and Indigo successfully gained consent for 20-22 King Street, which opened as Quill in October last year. Outside the city it secured permission for up to 220 homes in Congleton for Seddon.

OBI made the shortlist for workplace consultancy and the project management of office fit-outs at Sevendale House in Manchester for several tenants. Its team carried out the same functions on a 38,000 sq ft fit-out of 35 Fountain Street on behalf of Rentalcars.com.

Planning consultancy Turley’s stand-out projects include securing permission for Liverpool

B&M Bargains instructed Sav-ills to acquire distribution hubs as part of its expansion pro-gramme. In early 2015, deals at Onyx350, Runcorn and MW460 in Middlewich were completed providing 810,000 sq ft of new space. A highlight for Savills was the 400,000 sq ft pre-let at Nice Pak on Westwood Way in Wigan, a deal achieved against a back-drop of competition from other developers with existing sites in the right geographical location.

Knight Frank’s logistics and industrial team sold a 148,748 sq ft Aldi distribution centre at Stakehill Distribution Estate near Middleton to Vengrove on behalf of Legal & General for £8.6m. Elsewhere, Knight Frank acted in the disposal of a 152,878

FC’s Anfield stadium expansion. Turley has also provided plan-ning advice and obtained the necessary approvals to enable the development of the Protos Energy Park in Chester.

Its planning team also secured permission from Manchester City Council for the UK’s first high-en-ergy Proton Beam Therapy Centre at the Christie Hospital. The development is scheduled to complete in 2018.

Property consultancy Turner & Townsend was involved in various award-winning schemes that completed in 2015 including Manchester City’s Etihad training campus, where it provided full cost management support, and the Chester Zoo islands project.

sq ft distribution facility on the outskirts of Preston.

Nolan Redshaw acted as joint agents on the successful Crown Business Park in Rochdale. The first phase amounted to 60,000 sq ft over two separate buildings that were pre-sold to Store First. Also, 75,000 sq ft was sold to Robert Scott with 30,000 sq ft set aside for an extension.

Newcomer Aherne Property Consultants’ deals include the acquisition of a 108,000 sq ft industrial unit at Stakehill in Mid-dleton and the 90-acre Frontier Park site in Blackburn.

Colliers was involved in 40 transactions totalling 494,000 sq ft. It secured a series of lettings at Carrington Business Park and various locations for Screwfix.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AND INDUSTRIAL AGENTS OF THE YEAR

The shortlist highlights the teams who have made significant contributions

to developments in terms of planning, design, deliverability and cost control

Sheds are the new rock ‘n roll, here we look at agency teams who

made a real impact on the North West industrial scene in 2015

SHORTLIST

DELOITTE REAL ESTATE

INDIGO PLANNING

OBI PROPERTY

TURLEY

TURNER & TOWNSEND

SHORTLIST

AHERNE PROPERTY CONSULTANTS

COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD

KNIGHT FRANK

NOLAN REDSHAW

SAVILLS

WHR PROPERTY CONSULTANTS

INDUSTRIAL AGENTSOF THE YEAR

SPONSORED BY

PROFESSIONAL SERVICESSPONSORED BY


FUTURE ADVANTAGE

Translating the North West market into real advantage for clients.

Record deals | Biggest lettings | Market insights | Innovative solutions | Specialist advice | Joined up approach

Our Manchester and Liverpool offices offer market leading services to landlords, tenants, developers and investors, in all sectors including: logistics, residential, offices, retail and many more.

That’s what working with CBRE gives you.

cbre.co.uk/Manchester

CBRE100508 Inside Magazine Advert 2016_v04.indd 1 18/04/2016 16:24p48-63 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 62 05/05/2016 12:32

The Manchester city region is poised to take further advantage of the trend

for ‘northshoring’ – attracting inward investment from overseas markets – as London and the South East becomes even more expensive and congested.

Development was firmly on the agenda in 2015 and Bilfinger GVA was instrumental in the the purchase of 8 First Street (160,000 sq ft) for Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund. Bilfinger GVA was lead adviser to Muse and Chester City Council on their speculative City Place scheme (80,000 sq ft) in the heart of the city. And In De-cember the team won a pitch to advise M&G on the leasing of 3 Hardman Square, Spinningfields.

Bilfinger also negotiated on the deal that saw NHS Liverpool CCG take more than 30,000 sq ft of space at The Department on Renshaw Street.

Trident Business Park at Manchester Airport, with lettings of 84,500 sq ft, was one of CBRE’s main transactions – 95 per cent let within nine months of the building being bought and before its refurb was complete. The agency acquired No 8 First Street, Manchester, on behalf of Gazprom and, in Liverpool, Mann

Island is now described as the most well-let grade A new office in the city.

Cushman & Wakefield was instrumental in bringing interna-tional occupiers Syngenta and Ford Credit to the North West, funding developments and encouraging a long-term com-mitment to the region. Its pre-let of 145,000 sq ft at Salford Quays to medical group Bupa (on behalf of developer/landlord Peel Holdings) was one of the largest transactions in the region’s prop-erty market for 15 years.

JLL’s office agency team act-ed on the letting of 42,000 sq ft over four floors at Arndale Tower to law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer on a short to medi-um-term lease, incorporating

flexibility to allow the phased re-location to an 80,000 sq ft office elsewhere in the city shortly.

Savills acted on some of the largest Grade A office transac-tions, with lettings to Addleshaw Goddard at One St Peters Square, and Gazprom and Ford Capital at First Street. It also worked on behalf of PwC and Shoosmiths on their respective acquisitions at No 1 Spinning-fields and XYZ Building.

Canning O’Neill had a strong year, supporting the transfor-mation of Soapworks from a disused factory into an iconic scheme. It is also working on the Manchester Royal Exchange refurbishment.

Edwards & Co also had a busy year conducting 107 deals in Manchester city centre alone. Outside the city it secured a 47,132 sq ft letting at St Peter’s Square in Stockport with Sky.

OBI was involved in 32 per cent of the office space transac-tions in Manchester and was re-sponsible for the record-breaking central Manchester deal of the year: NCC Group at XYZ Building. It also set a new record rent of £34 per sq ft in Manchester at Chancery Place.

OFFICE AGENT OF THE YEAR

Manchester’s pulling power remains strong for agents and its office

market continues to be a real powerhouse on the national stage

SHORTLIST

BE GROUP

BILFINGER GVA

CANNING O’NEILL

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD

EDWARDS & CO

JLL

OBI PROPERTY

SAVILLS

CBRE

SPONSORED BY

One St Peter’s Square

Soapworks, Salford Quays

FUTURE ADVANTAGE

Translating the North West market into real advantage for clients.

Record deals | Biggest lettings | Market insights | Innovative solutions | Specialist advice | Joined up approach

Our Manchester and Liverpool offices offer market leading services to landlords, tenants, developers and investors, in all sectors including: logistics, residential, offices, retail and many more.

That’s what working with CBRE gives you.

cbre.co.uk/Manchester

CBRE100508 Inside Magazine Advert 2016_v04.indd 1 18/04/2016 16:24 p48-63 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 63 05/05/2016 12:32

#Invest in #BrilliantBurnleyBurnley Council is delighted its inward investment team in partnership with Burnley Bondholders has

been shortlisted for the Public Sector Team of the Year at the Insider North West Property Awards

ADVERTISING PROFILE

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Business Support Team at Burnley Council

Tel: 01282 477315 | Email: [email protected]

A strong entry was submitted by the council

showcasing the successful level of inward

investment and jobs created in 2014/15 through

new businesses relocating to the borough, which

levered in £82million of private sector investment.

The entry focused on the joint working of the

council’s Inward Investment Team and Burnley

Bondholders in promoting Burnley’s positive

business environment which has led to an increase

in relocation enquiries and in turn businesses

moving in to the borough.

Several blue chip companies have relocated to

Burnley as a result of the joint working and

promotions, creating 1,300 jobs in the last 2 years,

including Boohoo.com, Exertis, Panaz, Kaman

Tooling, Kavia, Vodafone Automotive UK to name

just a few. Kate Ingram, Burnley Council’s Head of

Regeneration & Planning Policy said: “The team is

delighted to have been shortlisted for this

prestigious award and we are delighted our

successful investment achievements are being

recognised this evening.

“Being shortlisted is a great opportunity to

showcase our success in attracting investment

across the region and sharing our key strengths such

as great connectivity from our central UK location,

our pro-active business support environment, the

lifestyle offer, and our strong partnership working

with local businesses.”

A key feature of the entry was not just the expert

team work to attract new investment but the follow

up Company Contact Programme which sees the

expert support continuing once businesses have

moved into the borough. Our Business Support

Team keep in regular contact with all our key

business to offer ongoing support and support with

business growth, so it’s the whole package which we

hope made our entry stand out.”

Pam Smith, Burnley Council’s Chief Executive, said:

“I’m so pleased for the team, they have worked

extremely hard to establish Burnley as a thriving area

for enterprise, and I’m delighted their work has been

recognised externally. Burnley has established itself

as the place to be for enterprise and we are building

a strong reputation as the go to place for business.

Securing further investment and jobs for the town is

a top priority for us, and the Business Support and

Inward Investment Team are at the forefront of

achieving this success.

Adding: “It’s wonderful to see Burnley being

recognised by external organisations across the

region and the UK. Our awards speak for themselves,

winning the Most Enterprising Area in the UK in 2013,

ranked in the top 5 North Boom towns set to thrive

last year, and leading the region in private sector jobs

growth, we are truly carving out an excellent

reputation for attracting and supporting business.”

Mark Crabtree OBE, Chair of Burnley Bondholders

said: “The team at Burnley council are a delight for

businesses to work with – enterprising, capable and

open in communication from top to bottom of the

organisation. The “can-do” attitude is the source of

their success in working with the private sector, and

the results are there for all to see. They richly deserve

to win this award.”

Burnley Bondholder, Fagan & Whalley, dressed parts of their fleet with Burnley’s brand to spread the message across UK and Europe

“I’m so pleased for the team, they have worked extremely hard to establish Burnley as a thriving area for enterprise.” PAM SMITH

Burnley has just been awarded £1.7 million

to kick start the building of the towns latest

enterprise parks - the multi-million pound

‘Vision Park’ in Burnley’s Knowledge Quarter.

Infrastructure works for the Vision Park beside

the college and university campus will be

funded by the Lancashire Enterprise

Partnership (LEP). The state-of-the-art 5 acre

park aims to attract Advanced manufacturers

and digital industries.

Burnley Council 67243.indd 1 18/04/2016 11:53p64-73 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 64 05/05/2016 12:33

Inward investment is the name of the game for local councils and competition is fierce.

The partnership approach is beginning to pay off and forging close links with private business a growing priority for town halls across the North West.

Burnley formed its public/pri-vate sector partnership Burnley Bondholders in 2009 – and it has put the East Lancashire town firmly on the map. The bondholder scheme sets Burnley apart from other towns and cities, bringing together more than 150 private sector businesses with the public sector to contribute funds and ideas to promote Burnley as a place in which to invest and do business.

The scheme has also created a substantial budget, through funding contributions from the private sector, to market Burnley to potential inward investors and help grow the local economy.

A partnership approach is also breathing life into neigh-bouring Blackburn’s town centre. Blackburn with Darwen Council, Maple Grove Developments, the Homes and Communities

Agency and Blackburn Cathedral have all come together to create The Blackburn Cathedral Quarter. The result is a vibrant mixed-use quarter with the cathedral at its heart. Eight acres of underused land near the railway station were brought back into use in the first £25m phase of develop-ment. Once fully occupied, this first phase will provide Blackburn with more than 400 jobs.

Wigan Council’s inward investment team also makes the shortlist for its work, including the building a new home for Nice-Pak International. The company was already based in Wigan but looking to expand and build a manufacturing facility

There was competition from other councils in the North West to take on the proposal but the team worked closely with Nice-Pak to ensure the company remained in the borough.

The challenge was finding a site big enough to meet the needs of the business and ena-ble the development.

Westwood Development Park emerged as the front-runner, and will provide quick access to

the M6 when the council builds a new link road this year. This commitment to improving the road infrastructure was crucial in satisfying Nice-Pak’s concerns about the site’s viability. The council also supported the company’s application to the Regional Growth Fund to fund the relocation.

The 400,000 sq ft building is symbolic of the push for growth and jobs creation that is under way in the borough. The same inward investment team also played a central role in bringing Poundland’s new North West distribution hub to Wigan Bor-ough, creating up to 800 jobs in the coming years.

Edge Hill University com-pletes this year’s shortlist for its approach to its Eastern Campus developments. These include a variety of award-winning projects, including the Creative Edge building. The Eastern Campus has been developed on 120 acres of former agricultural land and provides a mixture of resi-dential, academic space, sports facilities, a new entrance and car parking.

PUBLIC SECTOR TEAM OF THE YEAR

This category celebrates projects undertaken by public sector bodies and

local authorities. The entries highlighted some innovative approaches

SHORTLIST

BURNLEY COUNCIL/ BURNLEY BONDHOLDERS

EDGE HILL UNIVERSITY

BLACKBURN WITH DARWEN COUNCIL/HOMES AND COMMUNITIES AGENCY/ MAPLE GROVE

WIGAN COUNCIL

SPONSORED BY

Edge Hill’s Eastern Campus

#Invest in #BrilliantBurnleyBurnley Council is delighted its inward investment team in partnership with Burnley Bondholders has

been shortlisted for the Public Sector Team of the Year at the Insider North West Property Awards

ADVERTISING PROFILE

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Business Support Team at Burnley Council

Tel: 01282 477315 | Email: [email protected]

A strong entry was submitted by the council

showcasing the successful level of inward

investment and jobs created in 2014/15 through

new businesses relocating to the borough, which

levered in £82million of private sector investment.

The entry focused on the joint working of the

council’s Inward Investment Team and Burnley

Bondholders in promoting Burnley’s positive

business environment which has led to an increase

in relocation enquiries and in turn businesses

moving in to the borough.

Several blue chip companies have relocated to

Burnley as a result of the joint working and

promotions, creating 1,300 jobs in the last 2 years,

including Boohoo.com, Exertis, Panaz, Kaman

Tooling, Kavia, Vodafone Automotive UK to name

just a few. Kate Ingram, Burnley Council’s Head of

Regeneration & Planning Policy said: “The team is

delighted to have been shortlisted for this

prestigious award and we are delighted our

successful investment achievements are being

recognised this evening.

“Being shortlisted is a great opportunity to

showcase our success in attracting investment

across the region and sharing our key strengths such

as great connectivity from our central UK location,

our pro-active business support environment, the

lifestyle offer, and our strong partnership working

with local businesses.”

A key feature of the entry was not just the expert

team work to attract new investment but the follow

up Company Contact Programme which sees the

expert support continuing once businesses have

moved into the borough. Our Business Support

Team keep in regular contact with all our key

business to offer ongoing support and support with

business growth, so it’s the whole package which we

hope made our entry stand out.”

Pam Smith, Burnley Council’s Chief Executive, said:

“I’m so pleased for the team, they have worked

extremely hard to establish Burnley as a thriving area

for enterprise, and I’m delighted their work has been

recognised externally. Burnley has established itself

as the place to be for enterprise and we are building

a strong reputation as the go to place for business.

Securing further investment and jobs for the town is

a top priority for us, and the Business Support and

Inward Investment Team are at the forefront of

achieving this success.

Adding: “It’s wonderful to see Burnley being

recognised by external organisations across the

region and the UK. Our awards speak for themselves,

winning the Most Enterprising Area in the UK in 2013,

ranked in the top 5 North Boom towns set to thrive

last year, and leading the region in private sector jobs

growth, we are truly carving out an excellent

reputation for attracting and supporting business.”

Mark Crabtree OBE, Chair of Burnley Bondholders

said: “The team at Burnley council are a delight for

businesses to work with – enterprising, capable and

open in communication from top to bottom of the

organisation. The “can-do” attitude is the source of

their success in working with the private sector, and

the results are there for all to see. They richly deserve

to win this award.”

Burnley Bondholder, Fagan & Whalley, dressed parts of their fleet with Burnley’s brand to spread the message across UK and Europe

“I’m so pleased for the team, they have worked extremely hard to establish Burnley as a thriving area for enterprise.” PAM SMITH

Burnley has just been awarded £1.7 million

to kick start the building of the towns latest

enterprise parks - the multi-million pound

‘Vision Park’ in Burnley’s Knowledge Quarter.

Infrastructure works for the Vision Park beside

the college and university campus will be

funded by the Lancashire Enterprise

Partnership (LEP). The state-of-the-art 5 acre

park aims to attract Advanced manufacturers

and digital industries.

Burnley Council 67243.indd 1 18/04/2016 11:53 p64-73 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 65 05/05/2016 12:33

MANCHESTER’S LARGEST INDEPENDENT, MULTI-DISCIPLINARY PROPERTY CONSULTANCY

STRONGER AS WE EVOLVE

OFFICE CONSULTANCYINDUSTRIAL CONSULTANCYINVESTMENT CONSULTANCYROADSIDE CONSULTANCY

0161 228 1001WHRPROPERTY.CO.UKThe Lexicon, 10 Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NT

PROJECT & BUILDING CONSULTANCYBUSINESS RATES ADVICELEASE CONSULTANCYASSET & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

WHR advises throughout the property cycle offering clients a full and seamless service


A growing appetite for the North West investment market from overseas

made 2015 a year of opportunity.And as a result some trophy assets exchanged hands.

These include two of Man-chester’s largest opportunities – 3 & 4 Piccadilly Place and One St Peter’s Square – brought to market by GVA Bilfinger. Its team was also active on the banks of the Mersey, with the acquisition of the Port of Liverpool building by overseas investors.

Cushman & Wakefield was also involved in the landmark Merseyside deal. The Port of Liv-erpool building, which attracted global interest, eventually sold for more than £27m after several rounds of bidding. However, the agency’s largest deal was the sale of Houndshill Shopping Centre, which sits in the shadow of Blackpool Tower for Blackstone & Catalyst Capital. The centre had a disposal value of £105m.

The largest transaction by the CBRE team in Manchester was the acquisition of 2 St Peter’s Square on behalf of Deutsche. The team also secured a sale

25 per cent in excess of the ask-ing price of 101 Barbirolli Square in the city centre on behalf of Aberdeen Asset Management.

JLL advised Legal & General Capital on the acquisition of a 50 per cent interest in the Peel Group’s MediaCityUK scheme at Salford Quays, which is valued at £503m.

Savills acted for the Peel Group to identify a long-term strategic partner and targeted the most active overseas buyers as well as traditional UK institu-tional investors.

JLL was also involved in the acquisition of Manchester’s First Street development by European

real estate investor Patrizia Immobilien. The investment has accelerated the development of First Street as an important mixed-use business quarter.

Knight Frank was active in all sectors. It acted for Credit Suisse Asset in the sale of 3 Hardman Square in Spinningfields by M&G in a £91.7m deal. And its team was also involved in the £17m sale of India Buildings in Liverpool by Green Property to a private purchaser.

WHR was especially active in the Manchester investment mar-ket, undertaking 12 city centre transactions, including the sale of 76 King Street.

INVESTMENT AGENTS OF THE YEAR

The spotlight is on North West property as overseas and domestic investors

capitalise on its reputation. These are the agents making their mark

SHORTLIST

BILFINGER GVA

CBRE

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD

JLL

KNIGHT FRANK

WHR PROPERTY CONSULTANTS

SAVILLS

SPONSORED BY

Port of Liverpool building

MediaCityUK, Salford Quays

MANCHESTER’S LARGEST INDEPENDENT, MULTI-DISCIPLINARY PROPERTY CONSULTANCY

STRONGER AS WE EVOLVE

OFFICE CONSULTANCYINDUSTRIAL CONSULTANCYINVESTMENT CONSULTANCYROADSIDE CONSULTANCY

0161 228 1001WHRPROPERTY.CO.UKThe Lexicon, 10 Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NT

PROJECT & BUILDING CONSULTANCYBUSINESS RATES ADVICELEASE CONSULTANCYASSET & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

WHR advises throughout the property cycle offering clients a full and seamless service


£15 million loan

northwestevergreenfund.co.uk

CBRE Contacts

CBRE is the Investment Advisor to the North West Evergreen Fund. CBRE’s role is to source and evaluate potential investments for the fund, as well as manage and monitor the developments over the investment life-cycle.

Andrew Antoniades, ACA

Directort: +44 207 182 2587e: [email protected]

William ChurchDirectort: +44 207 182 2867e: [email protected]

£5 million loan £10 million loan

Development Finance in the North West

The XYZ Building, Manchester City Place, Chester Logistics North, Bolton

Evergreen provides development debt funding for commercial property & regeneration projects in NW England.

• Funding currently stands at £60m.

• Office, industrial, hi-tech manufacturing and logistics.

• Greater Manchester, Cumbria, Cheshire and Lancashire.

• Ideal loan size £4m - £12m (higher in club loans).

If you are a developer whom requires funding for eligible schemes or require any further information please contact CBRE.

7190_Evergreen_Advert_A4.indd 1 15/04/2016 12:32p64-73 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 68 05/05/2016 12:33

Insider’s shortlist in this section is made up of three very different funding teams that

have one thing in common: they continue to work hard to get results for the region.

Evergreen is a public sector fund managed with a private sector approach delivering spec-tacular projects.

Nationwide – the world’s biggest building society – has maintained its strong commit-ment to providing funding and is growing regionally. Its mutual business model shows there is a different way of doing business which resonates with customers.

All profit is reinvested in the business for long-term benefit. Nationwide helped to fund new projects across the North West in 2015 and provided acquisition loans to blue-chip and high-net-worth investors.

Together is also proactive in the region, working with entrepreneurs right through to residential and commercial prop-erty investors. It has an extensive network of professional intro-ducers, including accountants, solicitors, banks and independ-ent financial advisers.

Together is often able to help where a “mainstream lender”can’t. For example, if the timescales are too tight, or on a non-standard property or devel-opment where fast and flexible short-term finance is needed.

The firm helped one client who needed more than £2m to refinance a portfolio of North West properties because a lender was unable to meet the timescales. Together instructed valuation and legals within 24 hours and funds were delivered within just three weeks.

Together enjoyed what it

describes as “phenomenal growth” in 2015 in all areas of its business, more than doubling new lending in the 12 months to June.

With loan book and profits also increasing by a third during that period, the firm was listed among the top five most prof-itable companies in the region, in a report from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Together now employs 428 staff at its head office at Cheadle Royal Business Park and its growth continues.

During 2015, Evergreen funded a variety of high-profile projects in the North West.

Its loans on schemes in Spinningfields unlocked the XYZ building and No1 Spinningfields, providing speculative Grade A office space in Manchester city

centre for businesses to relocate or grow.

And a loan on behalf of Evergreen and the Greater Man-chester Combined Authority, to develop the infrastructure for Harworth Estate’s Logis-tics North site, opened up the development of this highly suc-cessful and regionally important scheme.

Evergreen sponsors a range of development opportunities where there is a clear benefit to employment, regeneration, environmental and economic prospects – and Logistics North ticks all those boxes.

Its success means Harworth is now looking to develop the remaining 2.3 million sq ft on a phased basis, to provide a mix of different sized manufacturing and business units.

PROPERTY FUNDING TEAM OF THE YEAR

Funders are working hard and being inventive with their business model

to get developments underway. So who is putting money into the region?

SHORTLIST

NATIONWIDE

EVERGREEN FUND

TOGETHER

SPONSORED BY

XYZ building, Spinningfields

£15 million loan

northwestevergreenfund.co.uk

CBRE Contacts

CBRE is the Investment Advisor to the North West Evergreen Fund. CBRE’s role is to source and evaluate potential investments for the fund, as well as manage and monitor the developments over the investment life-cycle.

Andrew Antoniades, ACA

Directort: +44 207 182 2587e: [email protected]

William ChurchDirectort: +44 207 182 2867e: [email protected]

£5 million loan £10 million loan

Development Finance in the North West

The XYZ Building, Manchester City Place, Chester Logistics North, Bolton

Evergreen provides development debt funding for commercial property & regeneration projects in NW England.

• Funding currently stands at £60m.

• Office, industrial, hi-tech manufacturing and logistics.

• Greater Manchester, Cumbria, Cheshire and Lancashire.

• Ideal loan size £4m - £12m (higher in club loans).

If you are a developer whom requires funding for eligible schemes or require any further information please contact CBRE.

7190_Evergreen_Advert_A4.indd 1 15/04/2016 12:32 p64-73 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 69 05/05/2016 12:33

TO LET - Industrial / Warehouse Units

North West Warehouse Requirement?

Towngate Business CentreEverite Road, Widnes, WA8 8PT

A Towngate Plc Property Widnes

16,000 – 75,000 Sq Ft

www.towngate.plc.uk

• Other yards & hardstanding areas available separately

• Flexible rents and competitive terms

• 24 hour security

CGI Image

Paul [email protected]

Darren [email protected]

Andrew [email protected]

• Close to the A562

• Excellent access M62/M57 & M56

• Ideally located for Widnes/Runcorn, Liverpool, Warrington and the wider UK Network

Unit 1 - Modern distribution facility - 75,023 sq ft


From creating a neighbour-hood with a real sense of place to spearheading the

North West’s impressive logistics drive, commercial developments continue to provide big econom-ic benefits across the region.

Big sheds are ‘the new rock and roll’ – eye-catching, dramatic job creators. The logistics sector may have its Midlands Golden Triangle, but the North West is its heartbeat.

Logistics North is the largest live industrial development. Spanning 800 acres next to junction 4 of the M61 in Bolton, Harworth Estates has overseen its transformation from a surface mine to a nationally significant location for distribution and manufacturing.

Granted planning consent for four million sq ft of commer-cial space in December 2013, Logistics North has the potential to create £350m of Gross Value Added and 7,000 jobs to the region once it is fully developed.

There is little doubt that 2015 was a bumper year for the de-velopment as space for leading distribution companies and

manufacturers remains at a premium across the region.

Crowne Business Park is another successful development from Barnfield Construction. The first phase of the scheme, based in Rochdale, was 60,000 sq ft across two buildings pre-sold to Store First. A further 75,000 sq ft was sold to Robert Scott with space set aside for a 30,000 sq ft extension. A third phase of 25,000 sq ft of space is yet to be built. The site can accommodate another 50,000 sq ft with unit sizes ranging from 3,000 sq ft to 20,000 sq ft.

Away from the world of logistics, the regeneration of Manchester’s First Street area has been an ambition of Ask and the city council for a decade.

Manchester is seeing that vi-sion come to life as real progress is made in creating a distinctive new neighbourhood. In the first eight months of trading, HOME has attracted almost 620,000 visitors – significantly ahead of its first-year target. With signif-icant food and beverage sales and 174 jobs already created, First Street’s anchor tenant is proving to be a huge success.

The Innside hotel met its ex-pectations in terms of occupancy rates for the first seven months to the end of 2015 with strong interest from corporate, leisure and business groups.

The completion of First Street North coincided with the Number One office building filling up. The next phase underway is a 170,000 sq ft grade A office building and has been partly pre-let to Gazprom.

Elsewhere, Tower Wharf is hugely important, marking the start of work to open up the Wirral Waters – a regeneration project that will have a dramatic impact on Merseyside and its immediate neighbourhood. It has been described as a ‘strategic flagship development’, and is the new home of one of Wirral’s leading employers – helping to secure its future in the area and serve as a statement of confi-dence in a new enterprise zone.

COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

From Manchester’s cultural hub HOME to industrial hubs such as Logistics

North, Insider hears from the teams responsible for big developments

SHORTLIST

CROWNE BUSINESS PARK

FIRST STREET

LOGISTICS NORTH

TRIDENT BY PROPERTY ALLIANCE GROUP

TOWER WHARF

SPONSORED BY

First Street, Manchester

Tower Wharf, Merseyside

TO LET - Industrial / Warehouse Units

North West Warehouse Requirement?

Towngate Business CentreEverite Road, Widnes, WA8 8PT

A Towngate Plc Property Widnes

16,000 – 75,000 Sq Ft

www.towngate.plc.uk

• Other yards & hardstanding areas available separately

• Flexible rents and competitive terms

• 24 hour security

CGI Image

Paul [email protected]

Darren [email protected]

Andrew [email protected]

• Close to the A562

• Excellent access M62/M57 & M56

• Ideally located for Widnes/Runcorn, Liverpool, Warrington and the wider UK Network

Unit 1 - Modern distribution facility - 75,023 sq ft



Many of the biggest and most active develop-ers have been behind

regeneration projects across the North West in 2015. Their activity sends out a strong message: that the property revival is built on strong foundations.

Ask’s development of First Street in Manchester has had its share of headlines. The 17-acre site can accommodate more than two million sq ft of new development with an end value totalling £500m.

Three core zones are evolving, the first of which at the Northern end of the estate completed in May 2015. This leisure phase created 500,000 sq ft of new space including an international centre for contemporary visual arts, theatre and film and a 208-bed hotel, as well as a public square – Tony Wilson Place – and student accommodation.

All elements of First Street North are operational. At First Street Central, Number 8 First Street is underway and a private rented sector (PRS) scheme at First Street South has been submitted for planning. The highlight of the year for Ask was the sale of the First Street Estate to Patrizia UK, the UK arm of a German-listed company.

Mulbury has cemented its position as a specialist hous-ing developer ready to take on difficult sites. A mixed-use housing and retail scheme on the site of the former Walton Hospital in Liverpool had been vacant for more than five years and there were complex legal, planning and technical chal-lenges to overcome. Mulbury secured planning permission last summer, as well as completing

the purchase and sale of the land to housing organisation Riverside. The scheme will create 125 homes for shared equity sale and affordable rent on behalf of Riverside; a further 70 homes will be built for open market sale.

Mulbury also gained per-mission in September 2015 for an apartment scheme on the edge of Manchester’s Northern

Quarter. The plot on the corner of Port Street and Great Ancoats Street will be Mulbury’s first PRS scheme. The apartments will range from 400 sq ft studios through to 900 sq ft three-bed-room apartments.

The company is also trans-forming former industrial land into affordable housing in Liver-pool’s Wavertree district.

Muse’s North West portfolio includes developments across residential, commercial, retail and leisure sectors. The devel-oper reached milestones for the £650m Salford central regen-eration scheme it is developing in partnership with the English Cities Fund. Work progressed

on One New Bailey, a 125,000 sq ft speculative office building. International law firm Freshfields will take 80,000 sq ft.

In December, Muse finished One City Place, a six-storey, 70,000 sq ft speculative office building – the first of seven pro-posed at Chester’s new £100m Business Quarter. Muse also se-cured permission for a residential

and commercial development at the strategic Basford East site, to the south of Crewe. The scheme includes 325 family homes and commercial space.

Real Estate Group had a very busy and productive 2015. Projects included a mixed-use 7,500 sq ft scheme in Horwich and a luxury residential scheme in Bowdon. The developer is also creating 41 luxury apartments at Alexandra House in the heart of The Downs conservation area on the Altrincham/Hale border.

The highlight of the year was the sale of its Northern Quarter property, Jewel House in Man-chester, a leisure and apartment development.

DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR

Developers are sending a positive message about the revival of the

property industry, regenerating towns and cities across the region

SHORTLIST

ASK REAL ESTATE

MULBURY

MUSE DEVELOPMENTS

REAL ESTATE GROUP

ALLIED LONDON

SPONSORED BY

Mulbury PRS scheme, Port Street


O� ce enquiries

Photo: Jon Thompson

Restaurant enquiries

Now available for lettingsO� ces from 4,462 to 27,966 sq ft with on-site car parking

Restaurant units 3,112 sq ft and 3,695 sq ft

Find out more at: CathedralQuarterBlackburn.com

Blackburn’s new premier o� ce, hotel and restaurant quarter

EUROPEAN UNIONInvesting in Your FutureEuropean RegionalDevelopment Fund 2007-13

15095 BwD Cathedral Square A4 Advert_AW3.indd 1 15/04/2016 14:51p74-79 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 74 05/05/2016 12:33

High-profile investments in the North West by overseas players in 2015

sent out a message that the re-gion was well and truly open for business. They included Sigma Capital Group’s £1bn agree-ment with Gatehouse Bank from Kuwait, exciting commentators and politicians alike. The deal will mean hundreds of family homes across the north and vital regen-eration projects in its cities.

Ask Real Estate’s First Street development is already creating a new community in in Manchester. In May 2015, Ask concluded the sale for an undisclosed sum to the UK arm of German firm Patrizia. The sale coincided with the completion of the First Street North phase.

Patrizia UK has been investing in high-growth locations across the UK and has assets under management of more than £1bn. Driven by the attractive econom-ic and demographic conditions, and the growing trend for urban-isation, First Street was “an ideal first investment” for its planned

UK private rented sector (PRS) fund, providing a platform for the next phases of office, retail and residential development.

M&G Real Estate’s investment in Logistics North showed that the region’s logistic sector is in rude health – and the growing confidence in its future. Logistics North is the largest live indus-trial development at 800 acres. Located next to junction 4 of the M61 in Bolton, Harworth Estates has turned it into a distribution and manufacturing location of national significance.

Granted planning consent for four million square feet of commercial space in December 2013, Logistics North has the potential to add £350m of Gross Value Added and 7,000 jobs to the region.

The keynote deal in 2015 was the decision by M&G Real Estate to fund 400,000 sq ft of prime logistics space ready for occupation towards the end of 2016 – or more than 13 per cent of all logistics space committed in the North West in 2015.

Then there was global online retailer Amazon’s arrival at Mountpark Airport City in Manchester. WHR was instru-mental in brokering the deal between Stoford Developments and MAG to acquire the site. It also provided development and occupational advice, to assist in securing forward funding from Mountpark, then advise on a pre-let with Amazon.

Amazon has taken a ware-house at Airport City of 271,000 sq ft, which is nearing completion but will be extended internally with mezzanine floors to in-crease the size to 1 million sq ft. The facility will include a 42,800 sq ft office and a 600-space car park. Airport City’s £100m Global Logistics site has outline planning permission for the development of 1.4 million sq ft of logistics space. The deal gives Amazon close access to its suppliers and 22 million potential customers within a two-hour drive of the airport.

Global information assurance specialist NCC Group’s deal to take 60,000 sq ft at XYZ Building in Manchester also makes the shortlist. The business wanted to make a “statement” by relocating to a building aligned with its cul-ture and to promote innovation.

JLL’s national investment team in Manchester advised Legal & General Capital on the acqui-sition of a 50 per cent interest in Peel Group’s MediaCityUK scheme at Salford Quays, valued at £503m. Savills acted for Peel Group on the sale.

LGC acquired a 50 per cent interest in the corporate holding vehicles, while the Peel Group retained responsibility for the asset management of the estate and the development manage-ment of future plots.

PROPERTY DEAL OF THE YEAR

The North West is open for business as the following high-profile deals showSHORTLIST

SALE OF FIRST STREET ESTATE TO PATRIZIA (ASK REAL ESTATE)

LEGAL & GENERAL CAPITAL ACQUISITION OF 50 PER CENT STAKE IN MEDIACITYUK (JLL/SAVILLS)

M&G REAL ESTATE’S INVESTMENT IN LOGISTICS NORTH (HARWORTH ESTATES)

NCC GROUP TAKING 60,000 SQ FT AT XYZ BUILDING (OBI)

THE SALE OF TOWERS BUSINESS PARK TO LONESTAR FUNDS & HUDSON ADVISORS (PROPERTY ALLIANCE GROUP)

SIGMA CAPITAL GROUP’S £1BN AGREEMENT WITH GATEHOUSE BANK

AMAZON AT MOUNTPARK, (WHR PROPERTY CONSULTANTS)

SPONSORED BY

Sigma Capital: investing in housing

O� ce enquiries

Photo: Jon Thompson

Restaurant enquiries

Now available for lettingsO� ces from 4,462 to 27,966 sq ft with on-site car parking

Restaurant units 3,112 sq ft and 3,695 sq ft

Find out more at: CathedralQuarterBlackburn.com

Blackburn’s new premier o� ce, hotel and restaurant quarter

EUROPEAN UNIONInvesting in Your FutureEuropean RegionalDevelopment Fund 2007-13

15095 BwD Cathedral Square A4 Advert_AW3.indd 1 15/04/2016 14:51 p74-79 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 75 05/05/2016 12:33

Sir Howard backs Invest in WiganA creative viral video made to raise Wigan Borough’s profile as a destination for investment has been

backed by one of the major players in the Northern Powerhouse and attracted almost 300,000 views so far

ADVERTISING PROFILE

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT OPPORTUNITIES FOR INVESTINGAND DOING BUSINESS IN WIGAN BOROUGH CONTACT:Tel: 01942 489190 | Email: [email protected] | Web: www.wiganworks.com

The ‘Invest in Wigan’ video, created by the Wigan

Works campaign to boost investment and jobs in

Wigan over the coming years has received the

backing of Manchester City Council chief executive

Sir Howard Bernstein – a key player in the creation

of a Northern Powerhouse.

It has also been backed by bloggers and digital

commentators nationally and internationally with

one, Creative Review, describing it as “genius” to

its 1.2 million Twitter followers. You can watch the

video via: https://youtu.be/YpK8scHX93UWigan

Sir Howard said: “We are showcasing Greater

Manchester on an international stage and all boroughs

are working together in order to secure new

employment and investment opportunities. “There

are huge growth opportunities ahead for freight,

distribution and logistics in Wigan Borough and

the employment potential is enormous.

“Invest in Wigan is a powerful message and I’m

happy to be able to play my part by spreading the

word about all that Wigan Borough has to offer.”

The video features a satellite super computer

which has spent two years orbiting the earth to

detect the world’s next major business hotspot

and delivers its final conclusion: “Invest in Wigan!”

Its conclusion on Wigan being the next big global

growth hotspot is broadcast on national TV networks

and greeted with delight by international stock

markets as well as investors and developers who are

now rushing to invest in Wigan.

Hyperbrain cites a wide range of reasons why

Wigan is a great choice for business including:

• Great road and rail connections, access to two

major growth corridors on

the M6 and M61 and close

proximity to numerous other

motorways as well as

Liverpool and Manchester

• High quality land ready for

development

• High quality of life with

low cost of living

• A key player in Greater

Manchester devolution

Councillor David Molyneux,

cabinet member for

regeneration, said: “While our

Hyperbrain video is funny, our

team at Wigan Council are

deadly serious when it comes to attracting

business to Wigan Borough. “Wigan is open for

business and our Wigan Works campaign shows

we are very business-minded.”

Councillor Molyneux said that while Hyperbrain

may be fictitious, the qualities Wigan has as a place

to invest are very real. He said: “Wigan is a prime

location for access to the North of England for

logistics and distribution as the new Poundland

and Nice-Pak development wins show.”

M6EPIC110+ is set in a site area of 6.27

acres/2.54 ha. There is potential to expand the

warehouse by a further 70,000 sq ft totalling

180,000 sq ft within the adjacent site area.

Junction 25 of the M6 is only 2.5 miles away (5

minutes) and the M6/M62 interchange 5.5 miles

(10 minutes).

Wigan Pier Quarter - Retail and leisure

development, Wigan Town Centre. The first phase

is a 2.5 acre brownfield site nestling between the

River Douglas and Wigan Pier and next to the

Today’s Community Church and Trencherfield Mill.

The second phase will involve the development of

the area alongside the canal including the historic

buildings at the water’s edge; The Orwell, the

museum and the former education centre.

Wigan Council are encouraging investors to come

forward, for both phases, with their development

ideas regarding the heritage buildings and the land.

Three things that you didn’t know about business

in Wigan:

• Wigan has the largest employment in the

manufacturing sector in Greater Manchester

outside of Manchester

• Wigan has the largest GVA in the Science &

Research & Development Sector in GM outside of

Manchester

• Wigan hosts the biggest business Expo in the

North West. This year’s Wigan Expo takes place on

Friday 7th October. See www.wiganbusinessexpo.

co.uk to book.

“We also have a wide range of employment sites available now for businesses to relocate to or to help them expand.”

Screenshot from the Invest in Wigan viral video

Wigan Council.indd 1 14/04/2016 14:21p74-79 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 76 05/05/2016 12:33

Two Manchester-based dealmakers at the very top of their game made it onto

the shortlist for this prestigious awards category.

Dan Davies of Metis Real Estate Advisors and Will Lewis of OBI Property operate in different sectors of the market, but both get results.

Leisure agent Davies, who co-founded Metis, has been involved in the majority of new restaurant openings over the past year.

Acting on behalf of Aviva Investors and Queensberry Real Estate, he helped to create a new food and drink destination at Manchester’s Corn Exchange, which welcomed an impressive 17 venues.

In Hanover Street in Liverpool One, he worked to transform the former Homewares Store – helping to create a multi-level scheme on more than 25,000 sq ft of space over three floors.

Davies secured pre-lets for all the space to occupiers who were new to the city.

And in Chester, acting on behalf of Bride Hall, Davies ad-vised on the former Habitat and Multiyork premises on Pepper Street, which had been empty for some time. The result is a new food and drink quarter in the heart of the city.

Will Lewis is a founding director of OBI Property. He has built a strong client base which includes international investors, developers, landlords and large occupiers.

Manchester’s 35 Fountain Street had been vacant for two years when Lewis was appointed as joint agent with CBRE to lease 45,000 sq ft of empty space. Within two months of being in-structed, he placed five of the six floors under offer to fast-growing tech company Rentalcars.com. Soon after, the building became fully let.

Lewis was also instrumental in OBI’s workplace consultancy working with Rentalcars.com to produce an acclaimed work-space fit-out.

In June 2015, acting on behalf of IVG Group, Lewis completed the sale of 35 Fountain Street to CBRE Global Investors for £16.1m, reflecting a net initial yield of 5.5 per cent.

Earlier in the year, acting on behalf of Allied London, Lewis secured the 50,000 sq ft pre-let to accountancy firm PwC at No 1 Spinningfields in Manchester. He presented to a mix of banks and mezzanine funders to secure the money required to build the £170m asset.

Lewis also advised NCC Group on what’s described as the largest leasehold transaction in Manchester city centre during the year. The FTSE-listed global information assurance specialist took 60,000 sq ft in the XYZ Building, also in Spinningfields.

NORTH WEST PROPERTY DEALMAKER OF THE YEAR

Following a bumper year of investment deals and activity across the

North West, this award recognises the individuals behind the headlines

SHORTLIST

DAN DAVIES METIS REAL ESTATE ADVISORS

WILL LEWIS OBI PROPERTY

SPONSORED BY

Dan Davies Will Lewis

Sir Howard backs Invest in WiganA creative viral video made to raise Wigan Borough’s profile as a destination for investment has been

backed by one of the major players in the Northern Powerhouse and attracted almost 300,000 views so far

ADVERTISING PROFILE

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT OPPORTUNITIES FOR INVESTINGAND DOING BUSINESS IN WIGAN BOROUGH CONTACT:Tel: 01942 489190 | Email: [email protected] | Web: www.wiganworks.com

The ‘Invest in Wigan’ video, created by the Wigan

Works campaign to boost investment and jobs in

Wigan over the coming years has received the

backing of Manchester City Council chief executive

Sir Howard Bernstein – a key player in the creation

of a Northern Powerhouse.

It has also been backed by bloggers and digital

commentators nationally and internationally with

one, Creative Review, describing it as “genius” to

its 1.2 million Twitter followers. You can watch the

video via: https://youtu.be/YpK8scHX93UWigan

Sir Howard said: “We are showcasing Greater

Manchester on an international stage and all boroughs

are working together in order to secure new

employment and investment opportunities. “There

are huge growth opportunities ahead for freight,

distribution and logistics in Wigan Borough and

the employment potential is enormous.

“Invest in Wigan is a powerful message and I’m

happy to be able to play my part by spreading the

word about all that Wigan Borough has to offer.”

The video features a satellite super computer

which has spent two years orbiting the earth to

detect the world’s next major business hotspot

and delivers its final conclusion: “Invest in Wigan!”

Its conclusion on Wigan being the next big global

growth hotspot is broadcast on national TV networks

and greeted with delight by international stock

markets as well as investors and developers who are

now rushing to invest in Wigan.

Hyperbrain cites a wide range of reasons why

Wigan is a great choice for business including:

• Great road and rail connections, access to two

major growth corridors on

the M6 and M61 and close

proximity to numerous other

motorways as well as

Liverpool and Manchester

• High quality land ready for

development

• High quality of life with

low cost of living

• A key player in Greater

Manchester devolution

Councillor David Molyneux,

cabinet member for

regeneration, said: “While our

Hyperbrain video is funny, our

team at Wigan Council are

deadly serious when it comes to attracting

business to Wigan Borough. “Wigan is open for

business and our Wigan Works campaign shows

we are very business-minded.”

Councillor Molyneux said that while Hyperbrain

may be fictitious, the qualities Wigan has as a place

to invest are very real. He said: “Wigan is a prime

location for access to the North of England for

logistics and distribution as the new Poundland

and Nice-Pak development wins show.”

M6EPIC110+ is set in a site area of 6.27

acres/2.54 ha. There is potential to expand the

warehouse by a further 70,000 sq ft totalling

180,000 sq ft within the adjacent site area.

Junction 25 of the M6 is only 2.5 miles away (5

minutes) and the M6/M62 interchange 5.5 miles

(10 minutes).

Wigan Pier Quarter - Retail and leisure

development, Wigan Town Centre. The first phase

is a 2.5 acre brownfield site nestling between the

River Douglas and Wigan Pier and next to the

Today’s Community Church and Trencherfield Mill.

The second phase will involve the development of

the area alongside the canal including the historic

buildings at the water’s edge; The Orwell, the

museum and the former education centre.

Wigan Council are encouraging investors to come

forward, for both phases, with their development

ideas regarding the heritage buildings and the land.

Three things that you didn’t know about business

in Wigan:

• Wigan has the largest employment in the

manufacturing sector in Greater Manchester

outside of Manchester

• Wigan has the largest GVA in the Science &

Research & Development Sector in GM outside of

Manchester

• Wigan hosts the biggest business Expo in the

North West. This year’s Wigan Expo takes place on

Friday 7th October. See www.wiganbusinessexpo.

co.uk to book.

“We also have a wide range of employment sites available now for businesses to relocate to or to help them expand.”

Screenshot from the Invest in Wigan viral video

Wigan Council.indd 1 14/04/2016 14:21 p74-79 NEW Property Awards Preview.indd 77 05/05/2016 12:33

Granary Square, King’s Cross


It is one of the most eagerly an-ticipated events in the regional calendar – just who will be

asked onto the stage to receive Insider’s Property Personality of the Year?

This is the category that doesn’t have a shortlist. The latest winner of this prestigious honour was chosen after Insider spoke to 50 of the region’s prop-erty experts. They were asked to name the person who, in their opinion, has made the greatest contribution to the property industry.

The chosen one will take their place on a veritable Who’s Who list of property industry personal-ities in our Hall of Fame.

It’s a list filled with big per-sonalities; some of the biggest champions of the region whose work, drive and vision has forged the regeneration of towns and cities across the North West and

created such a vibrant property sector.

They include Sir Howard Bernstein, chief executive of Manchester City Council, who is the only winner whose name appears twice on the honours board. A pivotal figure in the regeneration of the city, he received the honour in 2000 and followed that up with a second award five years later. The city council’s leader Sir Richard Leese joined him in the Insider Hall of Fame in 2012.

The honour has been given to a wide mix of people over the years. All have played a big part in the continued development of the sector in the North West through good times and bad.

The inaugural winner, back in 1999, was Peter Hynd, the founder of Neptune Develop-ments in Liverpool. He’s still going strong on Merseyside.

Other notable winners over the years include the Whittaker Fam-ily, who lifted the honour in 2008 for the work that Peel Holdings has done across the region.

Tom Bloxham, founder of regeneration company Urban Splash, and a familiar face on the property scene, is another notable winner. He picked up the award in 2004.

The start of the present decade saw George Downing, who has played a significant role in the regeneration of Liverpool, receive the coveted prize.

Last year, Argent’s managing partner David Partridge took his place in the hall of fame as he accepted the award in front of a packed audience. He says: “It was an honour to be recognised in such a way. It was good to see the North West property in-dustry back firing on all cylinders. The confidence was palpable.”

PROPERTY PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR

BIG ON PERSONALITY!HALL OF FAME

1999 PETER HYND NEPTUNE DEVELOPMENTS

2000 SIR HOWARD BERNSTEIN MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL

2001 CHRIS OGLESBY BRUNTWOOD

2002 MIKE INGALL ALLIED LONDON PROPERTIES

2003 KEN KNOTT ASK DEVELOPMENTS

2004 TOM BLOXHAM URBAN SPLASH

2005 SIR HOWARD BERNSTEIN MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL

2006 DAVID RUSSELL PROPERTY ALLIANCE GROUP

2007 BRENDAN FLOOD MODUS

2008 THE WHITTAKER FAMILY PEEL HOLDINGS

2009 PETER EMERSON JONES EMERSON GROUP

2010 GEORGE DOWNING DOWNING

2011 MICHAEL OGLESBY BRUNTWOOD

2012 SIR RICHARD LEESE MANCHESTER CITY COUNCIL

2013 DAVID PRINGLE NOMA

2014 MATT CROMPTON MUSE DEVELOPMENTS

2015 DAVID PARTRIDGE ARGENT

SPONSORED BY

Sir Howard Bernstein Chris Oglesby Matt Crompton Tom Bloxham

Granary Square, King’s Cross


Supporting the North West property sector for more than 20 years.

We are the region’s leading team of specialist property PR consultants, journalists and digital experts. If you would like advice on how you can build your brand or successfully launch your scheme in an increasingly competitive property market, then please get in touch. We’d love to talk to you.

Tel: 0161 236 1122 Email: [email protected] www.rdpr.co.uk


Documents

PRIDE OF THE NORTH WEST - Insider Media Ltd › webmail › docs › 2016 › north-west-pr… · Property Awards 2016. With 15 hard-fought catego-ries, plus the coveted Property