£10m property portfolio underway

Buildings for Business, the joint venture between One NorthEast and UK Land Estates, has started work on 14 buildings on four brownfield sites across the region. They will be valued at almost £10m and provide accommodation for around 400 jobs

At Boldon, on the A19 in South Tyneside, nine hybrid office/factory units ranging in size from 3,300 sq ft to 5,500 sq ft are being built. Bringing 175 potential new jobs, the 37,500 sq ft scheme, known as Boldon Court, will provide flexible use business units aimed at companies needing a combination of both high quality office and industrial accommodation.
At Balliol Business Park in North Tyneside, Buildings for Business is contracting 7,200 sq ft of high quality offices in this very successful Enterprise Zone development. It is expected to house over 70 jobs in a facility valued at just under £2m.

At Cramlington in Northumberland, two industrial units totalling 25,000 sq ft are to be built. This could see up to 70 jobs attracted to a development that will be valued at £1.6m.

Teesside will be the largest of the four developments on the Teesside Industrial Estate at Thornaby. This will comprise of two industrial units totalling 40,000 sq ft. The development is expected to generate 80 jobs and will have an end value of just under £2.5m.

Since it was established in April 2004, Buildings for Business has placed 250 businesses in 440,000 sq ft of vacant space in the portfolio. This has produced an additional rental income of £1.8m, which is being reinvested in new developments and improvements to existing sites across the region. Under the partnership, vacancy rates in business premises have also improved, reducing from 18 percent to under 10 percent.

The chairman of Buildings for Business, Sir Ian Wrigglesworth, said: “Having filled so much vacant space we are delighted to be rolling out this programme of factory and office development across the region to provide new business accommodation. It makes good business sense and will be followed very shortly by another phase of commercial and industrial development to serve the North East economy.

The chairman of One NorthEast, Margaret Fay, said: “These developments demonstrate the progress being made through our innovative public/private sector partnership with UK Land Estates. Buildings for Business is regenerating brownfield sites with much needed premises for new and expanding North East businesses. The new developments could generate almost 400 jobs, through attracting new firms into this quality accommodation and providing ‘move-on’ space to existing businesses. One NorthEast’s initiative with UK Land Estates is harnessing private sector capital and expertise to achieve the goals of the Regional Economic Strategy. We are delighted with its success.”

North East firms upbeat over future prospects
The Experian six-monthly Regional Survey of UK Economic Trends – commissioned by the CBI and One NorthEast – analyses recent economic trends and forecasts future activity based on responses from 2,600 firms nationwide.
The report shows the North East bucking a general trend of falling business optimism across the country for the six months ahead.

The survey revealed:
North East firms – a balance of 14 percent – are optimistic about the general business climate over the next six months, second only to the South West.

The North East is one of only two UK regions more optimistic about the general business situation than six months ago.

A significant turnaround in domestic orders with healthy increases reported for regional companies over the past six months.

Output is growing strongly from six months ago when North East companies experienced no change in output to the present day where a 20 percent balance of regional companies expect strong growth over the next six months.
North East firms – a balance of 16 percent – anticipate higher employment numbers over the coming year – second only to London. The North East is one of only two regions which expect to see profit margins grow over the coming year at the same time as seeing increases in average prices.

Sarah Green, CBI Director for the North East, said: “These figures are great news for the region and reflect the quiet confidence I am hearing from members throughout the region.”