If fortune favours the brave, then 2007 will be the year when a handful of developers begin to reap the rewards for believing in the future of Northamptonshire.
Bob Lane, chief executive of the area’s regeneration vehicle, North Northants Development Company, admits that the office and retail markets have suffered years of stagnation. Even now, the county barely registers on the radar of most property companies.
“In the past, very few homes have been built, people haven’t been attracted here, and the resulting skill shortages mean most employers don’t consider the area,” he says.
“We haven’t had a town-centre office market worth the name. What space has been built has largely been linked to logistics and distribution companies, and the retail offer has been very weak.”
However, Lane believes the area is finally about to undergo a renaissance, thanks to the presence of developers such as Alfred Buller’s Bee Bee Developments and Land Securities.
The former began building a landbank of strategic sites in 1999, and now controls around 1,000 acres in Kettering, and the same amounts in Corby and Wellingborough.
Buller expects a submission for planning permission for 8,900 homes to the east of Kettering, and another 4,000 north of Wellingborough, to be made before the end of next month.
Lane underlines the scale of those developments by pointing out that just 18 homes were built in the Corby area during 1999.
Business space
“In 2006, around 480 homes were built and we expect 700 more this year, which is why retail investors are starting to look at the area. Now we need to attract the employers,” he says.
Bee Bee expects to start work later this year on its Priors Hall mixed-use scheme in Corby, which will ultimately offer 570,000 sq ft of business space – which could include an office park – alongside 5,100 homes.
Its latest project – Pulse Park, on the north-eastern outskirts of Wellingborough – is intended to offer 1.8m sq ft of green space, which could include a business park, although it is at an early consultation stage.
Bee Bee made its name during the 1990s in Clerkenwell and Holborn in central London, where Buller was a step ahead of his peers in identifying undervalued and unwanted sites, and where mixed-use space could offer significant growth potential for both rents and capital value.
He saw the same potential in North Northants eight years ago, and believes the area is still underrated, even by the regional East Midlands Development Agency.
“It has done some good things to make Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire more attractive, but Northamptonshire has remained somewhere that people drive through,” he says.
“To me, this area has massive potential. We’ve got four airports – Heathrow, Stansted, Luton and Birmingham – within an hour’s drive, St Pancras is just 45 minutes from Wellingborough, and we have some of the cheapest housing in the country,” he adds.
Buller’s convictions gained support when the government included North Northants in the Milton Keynes/South Midlands growth area, with targets of 52,000 homes and around 44,000 jobs by 2021.
He believes the key to success will be the creation of a “virtual community” encompassing Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough.
“Taken singly, these places have no pulling power for employers or potential residents. Corby, for example, is seen as attractive as Gravesend,” admits Buller bluntly.
“However, they are all within an hour of each other and, taken together, they can develop a dynamism that will bring people and employers here.”
NNDC was created last May by the merger of Catalyst Corby and North Northants Together and, although its remit is to be the catalyst for sustainable communities across the area, the initial focus will be on Corby.
London-based retail analyst The Retail Group put Corby at 344th place in its national shopping destination league.
“Corby has struggled to attract developers and retailers for a long time, but 2007 is going to be a very important year for both the town and the wider area,” says Lane. “The next stage will be to look at the town centres in Wellingborough and Kettering,” he adds. “There has been some masterplanning work. Now we are beginning to get involved with the councils, the highways authorities and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.”
LandSec first took an interest in Corby last May following its acquisition of Topps Estates, which had been struggling to put together a town-centre scheme.
LandSec development manager Mark Rymell says several changes were made to ensure the first £35m phase of the Willow Place scheme could be delivered.
“We have subdivided some shops, put first floors in and made provision for the units to be serviced,” he says. “The critical element though was improving sight lines along the street.”
Willow Place’s first 175,000 sq ft phase should open this autumn, anchored by a 35,000 sq ft TK Maxx. As EG went to press, LandSec was preparing to sign a triple 10-year lease with Arcadia, which is taking 16,600 sq ft for its Dorothy Perkins, Burtons and Evans stores.
LandSec is also planning its second phase, which TRG calculates will move the town up to around the 200 mark in its retail chart.
“At the moment, around 20% of the retail spend leaks out of Corby, but we believe it can become a subregional retail centre,” says Rymell.
Rail franchisee
“We will be looking to add another 300,000 sq ft, with an 80,000 sq ft anchor store, probably 30 more shops and 1,000 extra parking spaces.”
Lane, the council and others believe Corby’s mooted direct rail link to St Pancras – a possibility when the area’s rail franchisee is decided this year – would stimulate its property markets, but not everyone is convinced.
“It is only a few minutes’ drive to the station at Kettering,” says one local agent. “However, Corby needs a railway station to have a chance of attracting a Lyons review relocation.”
One of the area’s most experienced agents, John Barnes of Kettering-based Barnes, Noble & Edwards, shares Lane’s belief that the area’s markets are finally taking an upward turn.
“In Kettering, zone A rents are up from £60 per sq ft two years ago to £85 per sq ft now. Corby has been a graveyard for retailers, and it’s a bold move by LandSec, but it is putting its money where its mouth is.”
Barnes also sees scope for developers willing to follow the lead of LandSec and Bee Bee.
“Wellingborough hasn’t got an office park, and Arlington Securities’ Kettering Venture Park is almost full. Kettering council has a relocation requirement of around 27,000 sq ft, so its current site could be a potential development opportunity.”
The area got a boost as EG went to press, with the news that Hortons’ Estate had been tempted to develop outside of its traditional area of Birmingham with an office scheme in Kettering.
The long-established firm has paid around £900,000 for the last 3 acres at Venture Park, and hopes to follow a speculative 20,000 sq ft phase with another 30,000 sq ft.
For Lane, Rymell and Buller, it is a sign that others are finally beginning to follow where they have led.
Willow Place, Corby: once fully completed, Land Securities’ scheme could push the town up the retail league tables markedly
Willow Place, Corby: the first 175,000 sq ft phase of the retail development is expected to open in the autumn
What is in the pipeline for 2007?
Spring Bee Bee to submit plans for its 1.8m sq ft Pulse Park at Wellingborough
Summer Government to choose a new rail franchisee and make a decision on the creation of a link between Corby and St Pancras
Late summer Bee Bee to begin site work at its 950-acre Priors Hall mixed-use scheme near Corby
Autumn Land Securities to submit plans for the 300,000 sq ft second phase of its Willow Place scheme in Corby
