Estates Gazette Property Podcasts

Office occupiers from London’s traditional markets are increasingly looking towards the City Fringe in search of space and value, according to Belcor agency specialist Rob Elman.

Elman was the UK’s top individual office dealmaker on the Radius Rankings for April in terms of deals numbers. He managed six completions amounting to a combined 12,500 sq ft of space.

He believes City Fringe is still well stocked with the sort of high-quality, characterful office buildings needed to bring workers back, and says occupiers will increasingly look towards it rather than more central areas where rents are at “insane” levels.

Jess Harrold speaks to Freehold co-chairs Kelly Canterford and Scott Parsons about EG's sixth annual LGBTQ+ in Real Estate – Attitudes, Actions and Allies survey, launched in association with the networking organisation.

Together, they discuss the importance of the survey as one of the few sources of actual data about the LGBTQ+ community working in real estate, as well as the opportunity it offers for people to share their stories under the protection of anonymity.

Canterford and Parsons explain why they believe as many people as possible should participate in the survey and share their views before the deadline on 9 June. You can do so at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MYDV692

Forthcoming EPC rules are undeliverable and will need to be rethought, according to Siddall Jones founder and director Ed Siddall-Jones in the latest Voice of the Region podcast.

Speaking in front of a live audience in Birmingham at EG’s Birds Eye View West Midlands event, Siddall-Jones said the current directive to bring all office stock up to a minimum EPC Grade B by 2030 would prove prohibitively expensive for most landlords as rental returns would not justify the investment. He also said ESG is no longer the preserve of larger corporates, with smaller companies already finding it hard to raise finance from banks if EPCs are not at specific levels.

Siddall Jones leads the way in the Radius On Demand Rankings for the West Midlands region in terms of deals numbers, with 174 lettings and occupational sales completed in the last 12 months.

A vibrant city centre, competitive rents and strong connectivity have helped maintain a solid deals pipeline in Leeds and the surrounding region, according to Carter Towler.

Associate director Hazel Cooper and agency surveyor James Jackson spoke to EG in the latest Voice of the Region podcast. Carter Towler is comfortably top of the Radius On Demand Rankings for West Yorkshire for the past 12 months, both in terms of the number of deals done and the amount of space transacted, with 1,019,926 sq ft either let or sold for occupational use across 178 deals.

Both the office and industrial sectors face issues around the supply of new stock, although Jackson says new office developments in Wellington Place and Aire Park are being supplemented by high quality refurbishments of existing space.

There will be a sharp rise in the number of distressed property assets being brought to market this year, according to Watling Real Estate director Jamie Lamond.

Lamond, who is the Radius dealmaker of the month for March with 160,000 sq ft of disposals, says that although the lending markets are structured very differently compared to previous downturns, appointments of administrators and receivers have begun to surge this year and tougher times lie ahead.

He identifies hospitality and the high street as particularly vulnerable, but also expects problems for some assets in the logistics sector as well as London’s office core. However, Lamond believes the situation will not be as profound as the global financial crisis of 2007-2008 due to the weight of money still in the market.

In this episode of the EG Property Podcast, Tim Burke, EG’s deputy editor, sits down with the founders of Vectr7 Investment Partners Mary Criebardis Singh and Dominic Wilson to talk about climate technology investment in the real estate space.

The pair are raising $25m (£19.7m) for the fund, which will invest in companies across Europe with a specific emphasis on greenhouse gas capture or avoidance in the real assets industries, including real estate, infrastructure, transport and utilities.

The fund is targeting cheque sizes of $1m to $3m and will look to invest in around 15 ventures. It has already backed three companies: machine learning powered smart sockets company measurable.energy, hybrid-work management software company Kadence, and local office space and events company Patch.

In this 20-minute discussion, we dive into what the pair hope to achieve with the fund, how we need to redefine how the real assets industry utilises technology to address sustainability issues more widely and the changing nature of investment.

In this EG Property Podcast, we delve into the transformative world of workplace environments, focusing on the EG Power Properties List, powered by HqO.

Listen in as EG editor Samantha McClary sits down with Samuel Warren, senior vice president of sales at HqO, for an in-depth discussion on what it takes for companies to not only make it onto this coveted list but also to achieve the distinguished HqO Best Spaces to Work certification.

The conversation looks at the critical importance of curating superior occupier experiences in today’s competitive landscape and uncovers why HqO has spearheaded the Real Estate Experience platform.

This initiative aims to arm businesses with actionable insights drawn from comprehensive data on how end-users engage with their workspaces. Join us as we question the future of workplace design, investigate the role of data in shaping occupier experiences, and reveal the strategies that companies can employ to transform their spaces into hubs of innovation and productivity.

High streets are awash with opportunity for occupiers willing to take advantage of historically low start-up costs and find new ways of using space, according to Flude surveyor Alice Masterman.

Operating from Flude’s Portsmouth office, Masterman was 2023’s top individual dealmaker in the Radius rankings for the South East region. She transacted 86 deals and more than 150,000 sq ft of space.

Masterman says the relatively high cost of industrial space means many brands which become online-only are now taking advantage of low retail rents and returning to the High Street. She also believes the health sector, from aesthetics to dentistry, is playing an increasingly important role in the overall mix.  

In a recording of 'The Great Workplace Reset' panel, held in partnership with Avison Young and Shoosmiths at MIPIM on 12 March 2024, Samantha McClary asks expert guests what the future holds for our places of work. 

Nuala Gallagher, corporate director, city development at Liverpool City Council; Theo Michell, co-founder & COO, Bywater Properties; Nathan Rees, partner and co-head, real estate investment group, Shoosmiths; and Nick Walkley, principal and UK president, Avison Young, discuss the major questions facing the sector.

Does the central business district still exist? What do people actually want from the places they work? What kind of buildings will we need, and is there still a place for big, shiny towers? How can we get more young people back into town and city centres? And can planning decision-makers keep up with the pace of change?

The industrial sector has begun the year with a degree of caution but activity is hotting up in the small to medium size end of the market as opposed to sheds, according FHP joint founder and director John Proctor.

Proctor is EG’s Dealmaker of the Month for February after finishing the month top of the individual dealmaker Radius Rankings, with 116,155 sq ft of space either let or sold.

He says there are reasons for cautious optimism for the industrial sector, with demand picking up since the turn of the new year, particularly for units up to 50,000 sq ft. He also welcomes the fact that ESG has become intrinsic to the market, extending right the way down to the process of obtaining finance.