Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of industry-relevant headlines from the nationals, all perfectly curated to set you up for the week ahead.
British Land has offloaded its 50% share in Sheffield shopping centre Meadowhall to its partner Norges Bank Investment Management for £360m. The sale – after debt – leaves BL with £156m to plough back into its retail park portfolio, where it sees strong growth.
BL will remain asset manager of the 1.4m sq ft mall, collecting fees.
Norges’ head of UK real estate Jayesh Patel said: “Despite being out of favour, we remain confident in the prime shopping centre sector, where rents and yields have rebased significantly.”
As one investor sells out of a joint venture, another sets up a new one. Helical has sold a £55m stake in 100 New Bridge Street, EC4, to Orion Capital Partners. Together the pair plan to refurbish the 191,000 sq ft office as a more environmentally friendly asset.
Ahead of an AGM later, Harworth’s Lynda Shillaw is feeling confident that the business is going to reach its £1bn value target by 2027 following strong momentum at the start of this year.
“We now have 23.6m sq ft and 12,290 residential plots that have planning consent, are in the planning system or have either allocation or draft allocation, providing de-risked visibility on future projects,” said Shillaw. “With our continued focus on acquisitions, planning and development across our landbank, and our strong financial position, we are well positioned to continue driving growth and value for our stakeholders.”
In people news, former CBRE boss and current chair of the RICS board Martin Samworth has taken up a strategic adviser and NED role at Ringley Group.
Samworth will focus on supporting the growth and development of the group’s stake in the living sectors, the asset management, operational oversight and property management parts of the business.
In particular, he will concentrate on the further evolution of Ringley’s technology capability, which comprises its vertically integrated, end-to-end, living platform PlanetRent.
Elsewhere, Birmingham City Council is adding back to its coffers one auction at a time, with the latest sale through Bond Wolfe raising £2m for the embattled local authority. The effectively bankrupt council has put more than 40 assets – land, buildings and ground rents – up for sale through the auction house since the beginning of the year, netting it more than £6m.
It has also instructed LSH to offload around 100 ground rents over the rest of the year in the hope of raising £20m.
The local authority has some £750m it needs to raise from asset sales.
Time is running out to take part in EG’s annual LGBTQ+ in Real Estate – Attitudes, Actions and Allies survey, which aims to understand more about the continuing progress (or lack thereof) the industry is making on equality, diversity and inclusivity in respect of the LGBTQ+ community.
While the survey is predominantly seeking opinions and experiences from LGBTQ+ professionals working in the UK built environment sector, allies are encouraged to share their views and it is open to everyone, regardless of sexuality.
All survey responses are treated as confidential, unless participants state otherwise, and results will be used to help highlight best practice in the sector – shining a light on “exemplar” firms that are working hard on making the sector a more inclusive place, and laying bare the true experiences of the LGBTQ+ community in real estate.
The survey closes on 9 June.
And just 11 days remain for potential EG Future Leaders to get their entries in to join this year’s cohort. Our wildcard search, generously supported by our partners at Clyde & Co, CBRE, Knight Frank and Nuveen, draws to a close on 31 May.
If you know someone working somewhere across the real estate industry whose voice should be heard, or if you are that person, apply today.
Click here to find out more.
All of the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals:
Norges buys British Land out of Meadowhall
Helical teams up with Orion for City office scheme
Harworth on track to deliver £1bn value
Brum instructs LSH on £20m portfolio
COMMENT: How can we best fund specialised supported housing?
Funding agreed for new 35,000 sq ft Suffolk innovation hub
GB Europe presses ahead with 950,000 sq ft industrial plans
Former CBRE boss joins Ringley Group
Birmingham nets £2m as Bond Wolfe auction raises £25.5m
Have your say: Is real estate a welcoming sector for LGBTQ+ professionals?
Have you got what it takes to join the EG Future Leaders?
Aby Rosen was New York real estate royalty. Is his office empire crumbling (£)
Qatari royal facing UK arrest after failing to turn up to court over £6bn debt (£)
French giant sues to stop Morrisons’ £2.5bn petrol forecourts deal (£)
China launches biggest intervention to revive property market (£)
Company insolvencies rise by almost a fifth (£)
‘Peak Inditex’ and a dream of one size fits all (£)
Economists hopeful inflation will hit target 2% this week (£)
British investor in talks to buy 49% share in Teeside International Airport (£)
Ferrovial plots sale of UK regional airports as Heathrow deal falters (£)
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