Booms are for anyone – recessions are for winners

Let’s say for example that a shopping centre in a medium sized British City requires redevelopment. It accommodates a large indoor market and is leased to the local authority who sublet to market stall holders. The market is suffering following the opening of a large value clothing retailer, and would benefit from downsizing, but the council are tied into a long lease. A strategy is needed; Private and public sector collaboration.

The solution proposed is to redevelop part of the city adjacent to the primary retail area to create a new market quarter with significant critical retail mass by combining the existing outdoor market, indoor food market and relocating the indoor market from the shopping centre. Through a retail agent, the opportunity has been introduced to a developer who specialises in markets, and which will carry out the market quarter development, manage the facility and let the market stalls. The space in the shopping centre will then be released allowing it to be redeveloped as prime retail space. Through this process, we have positioned ourselves for two major development projects

Joining forces
An umbrella organisation has three separate charitable trusts, which own various buildings in the same city block in London. Each charity was looking to refurbish its property independently, but the combined value of the portfolio would be significantly enhanced if the properties were redeveloped in a coordinated manner. Bigger and better retail units at ground floor could be provided, the number of vertical circulation cores reduced, and high value more desirable commercial space at the upper levels created. The combined portfolio also offered a greater opportunity for residential development because, by linking the properties, it was possible to solve means of escape issues.

The trusts are not commercial developers, and did not have the vision or the skills to deliver a coordinated development strategy. We discussed our ideas with a central London agent, and suggested taking it to a developer with a track record for this type of complex project. We have introduced the parties, and hope to be part of an exciting major development in a prime London location.

Lateral thinking
A pension fund owns a city block in the centre of a major British city – the ground floor of the block is retail use, and there are offices above. A European client in the apart-hotel sector is actively seeking sites in major British cities. The planning authority is keen to see a significant landmark building on part of the site, but development is impossible because of the commercial value of the ground floor retail units.

Through working with the asset management surveyors, a window of opportunity due to the expiry of one of the retail leases was discovered. This would provide the opportunity to erect a new structural frame within the retail unit to support the development of a five-storey, 140-bed apart-hotel above. For the fund, this creates a new development opportunity; for the hotel operator, a prime site in the centre of the city is made available; and a new project is created.

A positive recession impact
These examples show the positive impact of creative thinking. If more and more architects and agents take a proactive commercial approach and seek out opportunities, and if the upshot of greater competition as the recession really bites is more creativity and a keener instinct for a good deal, then we will together be able to keep projects moving and maintain a degree of development momentum, which can only be good news.

Peter Brimelow, Director at Brimelow McSweeney Architects
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