News Article

Air Systems Deal Breathes Life Into Sector

04/12/2008

THE HERALD - COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
AIR SYSTEMS DEAL BREATHES LIFE INTO SECTOR

Two major rental deals accounting for 120,000 sq ft of space boost market, says Bob Serafini  Two big west of Scotland industrial lettings this week brightened the mood of the property sector, with Aggreko, the Glasgow based supplier of temporary power, temperature control and compressed air systems, most recently powered the national stadium and broadcast centre for the Beijing Olympics. Ahead of construction of its new £20m manufacturing site at Dumbarton, the firm has agreed a three-year deal for 70,000 sq ft at Westway in Renfrew. 

In a deal brokered by DTZ and joint agent Jones Lang LaSalle for landlord Moorfield Group, with Cushman and Wakefield advising the new tenant, the firm will pay a rent of £3.70 per sq ft for Block G, but with a delayed entry to suit current occupier, film company RDF Media Group. This unusual property built by Babcock in the 1980s, has eaves height ranging between 20 and 30 metres, with two cranes capable of lifting 500 tonnes.

Aggreko's head of property Andy Fairgrieve said: "Finding a suitable facility with a large overhead crane capacity was a big factor in the decision making process.  This additional short-term space will enable us to meet our manufacturing needs until our new site is up and running." 

Ross Sinclair of DTZ said: "While a letting of this scale is a great achievement in itself, it has been structured to allow the current tenant occupation until the first quarter of the next year. The deal therefore allows the landlord a secure income stream with a nominal void between occupiers and is a satisfying result for Westway." 

Colin Lawrence-Waterhouse of C&W said: "Identifying a short-term option that fell within Aggreko's location parameters but met their specification in terms of eaves height and overhead craneage was difficult, but we are pleased with the outcome and can now focus our attention on identifying a permanent facility that will be fully operational by 2012." 

Mark Holmes of Moorfield said the Renfrewshire park had already this year acheived lettings totalling 180,000 sq ft to Doosan Babcock and Malcolm Logistics, while Smurfit had renewed its 60,000 sq ft and Star Refrigeration taken a 10-year lease on 33,500 sq ft.

"Over the past six months we have concluded leases on more than 320,000 sq ft and our overall occupancy at Westway is at its highest level during our period of ownership.  Our flexible accommodation close to the M8 motorway and Glasgow airport has achieved a diverse range of occupiers from distribution, office, manufacturing, storage and parking." 

An unusual deal in Lanarkshire will see Wincanton rent 53,434 sq ft of new warehousing at Centralpoint, Eurocentral, to store reconnaissance photographs from the Second World War and other documents for its customer, the National Archives.  The supply chain provider's records management business has taken a 15-year lease on the Apollo building at a rental of £5.50 per sq ft.  The company will carry out an extensive specialist fit-out of the new facility to cater for a wide variety of documents and media.  

John Fowler, managing director of Wincanton Records Management, said:

"Eurocentral is a great location and one that will enable us to introduce a new level of service to customers across the Central Belt.  We are to launch records management, off-site data protection, secure transportation and scanning."

  Karen Campbell, chief executive of TAL CPT Land Development, the company behind both the Centralpoint scheme and adjoining Maxim office park, said the signing followed by the letting of the nearby 41,266 sq ft Athena to engineers and employees of both would benefit from access to the adjoining  retail facilities.

Alan Gilkison of Ryden said: "It is encouraging to secure a second high-profile tenant immediately following completion, and in my option this is validation of the product."