Permitted development rights for change of use from commercial to residential

DCLG has sent an extremely important letter to Chiefs of Planning across the UK today setting out its proposal to introduce permitted development rights from B1(a) use to C3.

This is part of a package of measures to support economic growth announced by the Government in September 2012 and will come into force in Spring 2013.

The new rights will initially be time-limited for a period of three years, and consideration will be given towards the end of that period as to whether they should be extended indefinitely.

It is stated that "It should be recognised that this measure is seen as an important contribution to assisting the economic well-being of the country".

What will these permitted development rights allow?

They will permit change of use from B1(a) offices to C3 residential. This is subject to a prior approval process covering:

• Significant transport and highway impacts
• Development in safety hazard zones, areas of high flood risk and land contamination

The permitted development rights will only cover change of use: any associaetd physical development which currently requires a planning application will continue to need one.

Consequences

dohertybaines will be able to advice on a more straightforward change of the use of the many buildings in B1 (a) use. The detail of refurbs, layouts and additional development etc will still require consent, but this will now be a far more simple process given that the principle is consented.

The Government is asking for Local Authorities to opt out, and those that can demonstrate the overwhelming significance of commercial use in their borough of parts of their borough will do so, e.g. don't expect the most of the City and other parts of Central London to be included.

We can advice clients who have offices or those looking for redevelopment opportunities that we can deliver them consent for change of use. We can also advise on the suitability of the location and the mix and type of product that will be required to make schemes viable, plus CIL and other contributions, and so on.

For further information, please contact John Fosbraey.

Unit 10 Trade City Business Park

Unit 10 Trade City Business Park, Uxbridge was recently sold to Kudos Music. The mid terrace 3,627 sq ft unit, developed by Kier Property earlier in 2012, and built to a high specification completed earlier this month.

At the moment, out of 13 units, 7 have been sold with a further 4 now under offer.

Please contact Paul Londra for further information.

Double Success for dohertybaines

dohertybaines have successfully let unit 7 Fairway Drive, Green Lane, Heathrow TW4 to Inviron; the installation, maintenance and management of infrastructure firm.  The unit was let on a 6 year lease and was approximately 11,305 sq ft. It was also fully refurbished prior to marketing.

dohertybaines also let unit 15 Airlinks, which was approximately 2,952 sq ft and also fully refurbished prior to marketing. The premises were let to Multilight, on a 5 year lease.

For more information on the above, please contact Paul Londra.

dohertybaines sells The Matrix Building in Aldgate, London EC3 on behalf of Administrators

Asia-based hotel group Dorsett Hospitality International has bought the Matrix Building, London EC3 for £14.05m from Martin Ellis and Les Ross, partners in Grant Thornton UK LLP and joint administrators of No 9 Aldgate Limited.

dohertybaines advised the joint administrators on the sale of the building which is located adjacent to Aldgate underground station. It comprises 47,720 sq ft of offices and is set to be converted into a hotel by the purchasers. The property would become the group's second hotel in London, joining the Dorsett Londin in Shepherd's Bush, which is under construction and expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2014.

John Connolly, Head of UK Developmet for Dorsett Hospitality International which is headquartered in Hong Kong said: "We are delighted to have completed our second acquisition which demonstrates our commitment to the London Hotel market. We are in a unique position by using our internal financial resources to acquire, develop and operate under a single entity. We are actively pursuing further hotel and residential opportunities in Central London."

dohertybaines partner Rob Nelson who advised the joint administrators on the sale of the freehold and long leasehold interests said: "The price achieved reflected the strength of the location and the redevelopment potential which Dorsett Hospitality International has recognised."

2 Ventura Park, Radlett

Dohertybaines has let Unit 2 Ventura Park, Radlett on a new 10 year lease.  The 40,942 sq ft unit was fully refurbished which included a new roof.

Please contact Paul Londra for more information.

SEGRO v dohertybaines 5 a side

They say good games come in threes and this commentator would certainly agree with that.  Following on from Manchester United v Southampton and Arsenal v Liverpool, this was the third installment of the eagerly anticipated trilogy.

The lights shone on Latimer Park, a stones throw from the BBC Outside Broadcast team who wouldn't be covering the event.  No fear, the tie had been built up for months: SEGRO v dohertybaines.  On a balmy evening, the game would be played at temperatures more suited to the Azteca Stadium, Mexico City rather than under the A40 flyover in early September. Kick Off was slightly delayed to 6:15 on police grounds to allow the local youths to be coaxed off the pitch.

The warm up was orchestrated carefully by Chris Mitchell. This consisted of booting the ball as hard as possible past Paul Londra in goal. This was followed by David O'Donovan and Stuart Atkinson enacting one v one scenarios with David finishing well.  Alistair Finn was noted doing some strange stretching exercises and Rob Nelson was on the phone. Michael Haines and Alex Stothard were keeping an eye on the bags and said children. Andy Baines then proceeded to hit the ball hard and low into the corner of the net.  This was an indication of the SEGRO attack to come later on.

Segro arrived in their red strip, black shorts. The average age, around 26. Firstly Martin, then Tom Royston, then Alan Holland.  Richard Smith followed another youngster with terry.  All were studying their opposition's strange warm up routine intently. Would the experienced line up of dohertybaines triumph over the youth of SEGRO marshaled by Alan Holland? All would be revealed shortly.

Michael Haines assisted SEGRO by starting off for the reds before Ben Baldwin and Tony Hines arrived.

The first few minutes were characterised by careful moves by both teams but the defences were on top. Neither keeper being tested in the earlier skirmishes. Unfortunately this was not going to be replicated throughout the match.  Dohertybaines were first to settle bringing a brace of smart saves from Tom Royston in the SEGRO goal.  With the scores still at 0-0, 15 minutes in, the audience were beginning to think that this one could go to penalties. They were wrong. Dohertybaines were caught up field and SEGRO broke at pace, down their left wing. A nice one-two movement set up by Tony Hynes for the shot which he dispatched with aplomb. This was a move that SEGRO were to plunder mercilessly throughout the match while dohertybaines threw men forward in the vain hope of leaving the scores.

The second SEGRO goal came from the same side and a similar movement, this time at the far post, rifled in.  2-0 and dohertybaines looked shell shocked. Some substitutions were made, notably with Alex Stothard coming on to add youth to the dohertybaines line up.  It seemed to work. A well worked move by Stuart and Andy, allowed Andy sight on goal.  He powered home the ball to make the scores 2-1. Hope springs eternal for dohertybaines. Andy then made space for himself to shoot again but this time he hit the crossbar and the ball went out. Some might say 2-2 and game on, but it was still 2-1 and this may have been the wake up call for SEGRO. They pounced swiftly to quell the uprising and finished well yet again; 3-1, knocking any momentum out of the rigid pass and move game and asking questions of the dohertybaines zonal marking system.

The weary legs of the dohertybaines team were changed again but this had little effect as SEGRO continued to break forward and hammer in shots on goal. All three keepers put in good shifts helping to keep the scores respectable along with a rearguard action from Nelson, Finn and Haines making several good late interceptions.

However, a flicker of light shone through the westway dual carriageway and onto Chris Mitchell who decided enough was enough.  He made good progress on the dohertybaines right wing, and took it upon himself to shoot from distance, GOAL! and probably the best one of the night. Two goals for dohertybaines and double what Jurgen Grobler the german rowing coach had predicted.

There was a late flurry of shots from David and Chris but the dogged defence from SEGRO kept dohertybaines at bay.

After another trio of good strikes from SEGRO, that was that. David suggested next goal wins, but SEGRO got that anyway! The game finished 10-2 which was no disgrace as SEGRO are the current IAS champions and have a Monday night 5 a side club allowing them to hone their routines and set pieces. We have a Monday night curry club!

A great sporting occasion played in the manner and spirit of the Olympic backdrop.

Then all of the elgin for a well deserved pint of organge and lemonade/strong continental lager and the largest porkie/scotch egg platters many had ever seen.

Paul Londra

Unit 8 Chiltonian Estate, Lewisham

dohertybaines have let the remaining unit at Chiltonian Industrial Estate, Lewisham to We Buy Any Car.

The end of terrace unit was approx 2,200 sq ft and results in the estate being fully let.

For more information, please contact Paul Londra.

Empty rates avoidance ruled OK

A landmark high court ruling has this week effectively legalised "imaginative" empty rates avoidance tactics.

The judgment will be welcomed by landlords and occupiers suffering with the burden of the so-called Bombsite Britain tax.

The case involved the use of just 0.2% of the floorspace of a 140,000 sq ft shed in Rowleys Green, Coventry, being used to store documents.

On Thursday, Judge Jarman QC ruled that cash and carry chain Makro's use of the warehouse to store 16 pallets of documents between November 2009 and January 2010 was enough to trigger a six-month empty rates grace period once the files were removed.

Gareth Buckley, a partner at WHR Property Consultants, which acted for Makro, said: "The decision reaffirms the legitimacy of the intermittent occupation strategy that has been implemented by law-abiding ratepayers to manage their empty rate liability."

CBRE's head of rating, Tony Dann, said the ruling would give landlords more confidence to use the mitigation tactics and that if councils tried to object they "wouldn't have a leg to stand on".

Gerald Eve's head of rating, Jerry Schurder, said the tactics could reduce a business's empty rates liability by up to 80% a year.

The ruling will be a blow to the government, which is handing out around £1bn in empty property rate relief a year as a result of avoidance tactics, and provides further ammunition for the tax to be repealed.

British Property Federation director of finance Peter Cosmetatos said: "Empty rates is an unfair and unproductive tax, so it is hardly surprising that businesses are taking legal, if imaginative, steps to mitigate its effects. What is really disappointing is the government's failure to implement even narrowly targeted ways to alleviate the harm caused by empty rates - until it does, many businesses will feel obliged to divert resources into limiting the damage."

There have been fresh calls in recent months for the government to scrap empty property rates. In May, an Estates Gazette investigation revelealed councils alone pay around £50m a year in empty rates.

Last month, chancellor George Osborne agreed to review empty rates legislation on the back of EG's investigation and tasked MP Julian Sturdy to work up proposals for how it could be changed.

For further information, contact Fiona Shorey fshorey@dohertybaines.com

More deals for SEGRO on A40 Portfolio

Units 4 & 11 Victoria Industrial Estate, Park Royal, W3 have recently completed.

Unit 4, 10,463 sq ft was let to Red Creative for a term of 5 years.

Unit 11, 4,089 sq ft has also been let on a 10 year lease.

For further information, please contact Michael Haines.

Unit 260 Parkbury, Old Parkbury Lane, Radlett AL2 2DB

dohertybaines have recently let Unit 260 Parkbury, Old Parkbury Lane, Radlett AL2 2DB to Complex Cleaning on a 15 year lease.

The modern 8,454 sq ft end of terrace unit was let by dohertybaines on behalf of SEGRO the landlords, and means the terrace is fully let.

For more information, please contact Paul Londra.