Ashtenne makes 150% mark-up on RAF Lakenheath sale

Leading industrial specialist Ashtenne Holdings has almost trebled its money with a £65m sale of its only major residential site. Ian Watson and Morgan Jones’ investment and active management company has made a 150%-plus mark-up, selling its portfolio of 570 houses at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk to a consortium of investors headed by Cardiff-based Hodge & Co.

Thames Valley take-up stays in the doldrums

The Thames Valley remains a graveyard of letting activity. According to Jones Lang LaSalle’s third-quarter Thames Valley office report, barely 44,000 sq ft (4,088 sq m) was taken up in deals over 20,000 sq ft (1,858 sq m).

Thames Valley office market facing oversupply crisis

The Thames Valley has five years surplus office supply and rents are not expected to rise until 2005. A report presented to an Investment Property Forum seminar last week shows that the Thames Valley market is in an even worse state than previously feared, with 6.7m sq ft or a sixth of all office space in the region vacant and rents in some areas down by 20%.

B&Q sues over defective store at Luton

B&Q has launched a £10m High Court claim over defects at one of its new flagship stores in Luton, which, it claims, have resulted in stock sliding off shelves and trolleys rolling around the store of their own volition.