News Article

New office park takes it to the Max

03/07/2008

THE HERALD (COMMERCIAL PROPERTY)

A massive development project makes the leap from design concept to reality WALKING around the construction site at Maxim, the giant office park being created along-side the A8 at Eurocentral, you need to pinch yourself now and again to believe the scale of what is actually happening. The largest of 10 four-storey office blocks - all rising skywards in succession - has floorplates of 47,000 sq ft - enough for 500 people at a time - larger than anything available in Glasgow or Edinburgh.

Three-quarters of a million sq ft of Grade-A office space has become available in Lanarkshire, the equivalent of around 10 years supply for that part of Scotland. David Hunter, the property expert brought in as chairman of the project, challenges that perspective. He wants us to see it in the broader context of the international businesses it is targeting.

“If you are sitting in New York, making an outsourcing decision between Bangalore, Frankfurt or the UK, then this location is seen as Scotland or Glasgow,” he said. “If this was another country and the development was seen as roughly halfway between its two leading cities, people would get a more realistic sense of perspective.”

Up to 400 people per day are at it hammer and tongs to assemble the whole project in two years, and Maxim is taking shape. Chief executive Karen Campbell revealed that the first tenant would be a retailer rather than an office occupier. Demand for the 15,500 sq ft of retail space on the ground floor of the 60,000 sq ft hub building is such that some want to be in before Christmas.

“We will have a mix of wine bar, brasserie, delicatessen, convenience store, sandwich shop and cash machine, and on the first floor we are looking at a health-screening clinic, an education facility where you can learn French after work, areas for art exhibitions and business networking clubs,” she said.

“There will be lots of decking around the retail area so that people can sit outside.” Campbell said she was close to concluding missives with an expanding children’s nursery operator to take 7000 sq ft of space complete with outdoor play area. “

There will be a number of water features, an events space and an amphitheatre for proms-in-the-park type events,” she said. 

“An 18-hole putting course is being designed by a European pro tour player with the likes of Titleist and Callaway interested in sponsorship” Alongside is the largest building which, at 186,545 sq ft, is another signature feature. 

“This is an oval area for events such as farmers' markets, water shows, netball and volleyball competitions, with the ability to hire that space. There will be an area where we give out blankets and deckchairs of picnics.”

Campbell says there is a real sense of the project being master-planned rather than a mish-mash of different buildings, and occupiers will not find themselves on a construction site for the next 10 years. Two properties will be complete by November, another in January, five more along one side of the main avenue – each 58,000 sq ft – by next summer, and everything will be in place by March 2010. Half the first building is earmarked for a business centre operator, with whom Campbell and agents CBRE and Ryden are in discussion to cater for the small business market.

“The remainder of the buildings have been designed to split from 3000 sq ft upwards and provide high-quality, grade-A specification, with air conditioning, LG7 lighting and a floor-to-ceiling height of 2.9m, giving great natural light,” she said.

“Most have atriums.” The UK’s largest speculative business park will also be the first to provide wi-fi technology across the park and ground-floor reception areas. Other steps are being introduced, such as a second access road at the eastern end of the site and pathways from the six new warehouses behind the offices. This will open the facilities to more of the 3500 people who already work elsewhere at Eurocentral. Filling this labyrinth of office space will not happen overnight, even off a quoting rent of £17.50 per sq ft, which is £10 less than Glasgow and likely to be sweetened further by lengthy enterprise zone-driven, rent-free periods.

“We have the capacity to meet a huge range of occupier requirements,” said Campbell in a masterpiece of understatement."