Agents in for £400m inland port
Verdion has selected Gent Visick, CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield as letting agents for iPort, its £400m inland port project in Rossington near Doncaster. Verdion, which has funding from the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, is developing a strategic rail freight interchange comprising more than 6m sq ft of warehousing on a 700-acre site.
Big nine office take up soars
Office take-up in the UK’s nine largest regional cities hit a five-year high of 7.7m sq ft in 2013, compared with 6.6m sq ft in 2012, according to GVA. Leeds was the standout location with city centre take-up of 798,000 sq ft, a 97% increase on 2012.
TfL proposes SE1 tower
Transport for London has proposed a tower development at St George’s Circus, SE1, following a Southwark council planning consultation. In a response to the council’s draft Blackfriars Road supplementary planning document, TfL proposed a “tall development” on the site of its London Road depot, which accommodates Bakerloo Line trains overnight.
Fairhall to head power project
Battersea Power Station Development Company has appointed Land Securities’ Victoria Fairhall as head of commercial development. Fairhall, development director for LandSec’s London portfolio, will join on 31 March to lead the redevelopment of the iconic power station. She has been with LandSec since 2006, prior to that she was an associate director at Savills.
Shed supply hits critical low
There is a critically low supply of grade-A warehousing stock in the UK, shifting power toward landlords, according to Knight Frank. Available supply of grade-A sheds stands at 5.2m sq ft, down by 82% from its Q1 2008 peak. Take-up was 19.1m sq ft in the second half of 2013, 11% above the five-year average.
