Despite widely publicised negative reports about the state of the UK retail market following the latest quarter day figures, shoppers at Addington Capital’s Harvey Centre in Harlow appear to be coming back on site to shop.

Most of the independently owned retail businesses have re-opened including some of the commercialisation mall units and national retailers such as Yours and HMV have also opened their stores.

“We have been pleasantly surprised at how buzzing the atmosphere is” says Tim Cornford, Partner, Head of Retail and Leisure Asset Management at Addington Capital, “Shoppers are out on every mall, shopping with purpose and almost every shop is now open.”

“Some occupiers have reports extremely positive turnover in the period since reopening post-lockdown, despite the reduced footfall. It is clear people are visiting the shopping centres for their specific shopping needs, rather than browsing and spending time socialising. We are hopeful that from 4th July we will see shoppers spending more time in the centres, making the most of the cafés and restaurants which will then be open.”

Footfall is currently at around 17,500 visits per day, compared to 25,000 visits per day on the same period in 2019.

These figures appear to be reflecting trends identified by Centre for Cities which has commented that retail in smaller cities/centres is seeing a faster recovery than the larger cities due to the concentration of shops and jobs in a single city centre, unlike in places such as London or Manchester, where multiple neighbourhood hubs are spread across the city-region.

Matt Allen, Principal at Addington Capital said, “I think for all the criticisms laid at the Government, the decision to introduce the furloughing scheme has been a good one and may have saved many jobs. We are seeing businesses that have been moth balled these past few months, now coming back to life and trading. If this continues over the next few months, we’ll have proof that Government measures have on the whole worked”.

Other news from Addington’s shopping centre portfolio which include Charter Walk in Burnley, the Queens Arcade in Cardiff and Union Square in Torquay include
• Wilcos, Peacocks, Iceland and Monique reporting good trading in Torquay
• Primark, Next, New Look and JD in Charter Walk, Burnley have all reported huge increases on turnover compared to the same period in 2019
• Wales is coming out of lockdown slower than England and is visibly different. In Cardiff most of the retail is back open, but some significant occupiers still choose to remain closed as 5-mile restrictions on travel are still in place.

“We are hoping that Cardiff will soon follow what we are seeing elsewhere- that stores will open, and shoppers will return,” continued Cornford. “The retail sector may be wounded by CoVid-19, but this story is still far from over.”

Posted in News on 3rd July, 2020

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The Government has announced preparation of a Code of Practice for owners and occupiers to encourage collaboration in reaching agreement over rent payment. It has made clear that this is a voluntary Code in the hope rent negotiations will follow it and has stated:

• The Code is not intended to be the sole intervention to support struggling businesses, either landlord or tenant, but will embed good practice Government would like to see from both sides and support smaller businesses in negotiations
• It does not prevent further Government interventions
• The impact of the Code will largely be dependent on the number of organisations who commit to acting in this way. A Steering Group has been established to shape and agree the Code working with other bodies such as REVO, BPF, CREFC (and other occupier groups), taking into account wider industry recommendations.
• In terms of timetable it is planned that Government and the Steering Group will publish the code between Wed 17^th and Friday 19^th June, ahead of the June Quarter Day.
• The Code is set to continue until 24 June 2021. At this point it has not confirmed whether the moratorium on forfeiture, winding up orders and statutory demands will be extended for how long or at all- but some extension is expected.
• Service charge arrangements are also being amended to encourage cost savings by owners being passed on to occupiers in the most efficient way.

Commenting on the planned Code, Tim Cornford, Retail Partner of Addington Capital, the specialist property investment and asset manager, said:

“In the spirit of the Code, we welcome the opportunity to engage positively with occupiers and tenants and will work with them to provide support where we can. Occupiers that have been open about their financial position have already had confirmation of support from us, and we encourage others to do the same when making claims for rent concessions and deferment.”

Addington, which manages a portfolio of retail properties across the UK as well as 4 regional shopping centres added that it is open to looking at turnover-based lease structures, where occupiers “are willing to be transparent about historic trading volumes.” However it clarified, “The path to coming out of this will be shorter and smoother if we can work together in an open and constructive manner.”

And as Tim Cornford continued, “There are a number of (multi-billion turnover) occupiers that are being totally unreasonable in their approach and are trying to take advantage of the situation for their own gain and at the expense of the continued operation of the centre they occupy.

We feel that where occupiers are being unreasonable in their demands and that mitigation is unsuccessful, there should be a lifting of the current restriction on the ability to use statutory demands and winding up procedures.”

“This really needs to be a two-way process- both for our industry to recover and for us all to move forward. We hope when the Code is published next week it takes into account the very serious concerns of property landlords who are working hard to “keep the show on the road” for all of our tenants and not just consider the plight of those occupiers who have been shouting the loudest.”

Posted in News on 12th June, 2020

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ADDLiving the specialist residential lettings and management company, which is this week seeing a return of staff to its residential sites, has revealed strong occupancy figures despite the impact of Covid-19.

ADDLiving’s residential sites currently consist of over 900 units – include 371 units in Velocity Village in Sheffield, 152 units in Headingly Park in Leeds, 198 units in the Merlin portfolio in South London and 182 apartments in the Brymore portfolio in South London.

According to Erdal Kacar, Head of Operations at ADDLiving “Both our letting and vacancy levels across our portfolio have so far held up well. At Headingley Park Leeds, our occupancy rate is over 90% and we have agreed a further 8 lets, which when completed, will take occupancy to 96.7%. In Velocity Village in Sheffield, we are maintaining occupancy at above 97%.

In terms of rents collected we have averaged between 98% and 99% across all our sites for both April and May, which we believe are exceptionally strong in the current market.”

ADDLiving believes it has been able to successfully let and manage the residential properties through the Lockdown due to its online management and lettings platform. Through using its digital platform ADDliving has been able to organise “virtual” viewings, apply and deal with lease issues and customers have been able to view, sign a tenancy agreement and be in the position to move into a property -without having to leave their current housing.

“And on the management side, our residents have also been able to use our digital portal for any needs such as repair requests, amenity bookings, account queries and connecting with neighbours” Kacar added.

ADDLiving is now able to put staff back on site as of this week – but only by obeying the strictest Health and Safety guidance and has issued extensive COVID19 Safe Working protocols:

General
All members of staff are encouraged to read material published by the Government website following guidelines on how to work safely during the pandemic.

1. Always maintain 2 meters distance from others. Where this is not possible wear a face mask.
2. Wash hands regularly for at least 20 seconds using soap
3. Walk or cycle to work where possible and use own private vehicle where you can
4. If you must use public transport, then wear face mask and maintain social distancing as much as possible

In addition:

Office
Perspex shields have been put up in front of customer facing staff desks to minimise risk of water droplets reaching staff members and customers through breathing, coughing and sneezing
Lines put down on floor of office to indicate safe standing distance for customers at 2 meters from desks. Seating to be rearranged to facilitate special distancing.
Maximum 2 customers to be allowed into the offices at any one time and encouraged to observe social distancing. Additional customers will queue outside the offices at 2 meters distances from one another. Lines on floor outside offices have been drawn to indicate required distance for queuing customers.

Lettings
ADDLiving will continue to encourage ‘virtual views’ through use of virtual tour hosted on our website, floor plans, pictures and videos of units shared with prospects.
Viewings will only be conducted in vacant units following incumbent tenants’ departure and post tenancy clean of unit. Viewings can be carried out in show homes where no one is in occupation.
Customers to be met in the office and escorted to the vacant unit or show home. Social distancing measures are always to be observed. Lifts will be used separately where social distancing is not possible.
Customers can view unit with member of staff present, but social distancing to be preserved by member of staff standing at one end of the room and moving where necessary. If this is not possible then the customers should view the unit with the member of staff present in the property.

Property Management
All customers are being sent correspondence to encourage use of the Tenants’ Portal to raise any property management queries. Customers can also call or email their enquiries to staff.
Visiting the office to raise routine queries such as maintenance and accounts related matters will be discouraged.
Should customers visit the site offices staff will provide service maintaining social distancing and all other safety precautions. Once customer has been attended to a gentle reminder will be given to encourage use of email and telephone in the future.

Maintenance
Full maintenance service will be resumed with safety precautions.
All maintenance enquiries will be triaged before attendance to ensure attendance is necessary. An example of where attendance may not be needed is if a fuse has tripped and can be reset by the customer.
Customers will also be asked if they are suffering with COVID19 or if they are displaying symptoms and thereby self-isolating. If this is the case the maintenance operative will not attend until the self-isolation period has passed.
Maintenance operatives will wear face masks and gloves when attending customers’ homes.
Customers will be asked to remain in a separate room to the maintenance operative as he/she carries out the task.
Once the task is finished the maintenance operative should wipe down surfaces, he/she has encounter using antiseptic cleaning product and paper towels, which should then be disposed of appropriately.

Travel to and from the Office
Travel to and from the office should be completed on foot, by bike or private car where possible. If this is not possible staff to use public transport as safely as possible, following all government guidelines on social distancing.
Where using public transport cannot be avoided varying travel times to avoid busy periods is recommended. Staff to agree any variation in working hours as a result of avoiding rush hour with the Operations Director.

Commenting further Erdal Kacar, Head of Operations said, “We have successfully continued to manage our residential properties through Lockdown and as we move into the next stage of opening, Health and Safety is of course the priority. We are fortunate that we have always invested in our technology platforms and the plan is to continue to use these as much as possible going forward. Combining this with the service our on-site staff provide in our PRS schemes means we will be able to make sure our residents’ and customers’ needs continue to be met as quickly and efficiently as possible. “

Posted in News on 3rd June, 2020

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Addington Capital, the property investment and asset management company has sold a modern warehouse at 76 Colbourne Avenue, Cramlington, Northumberland to Coalfields Regeneration Trust for £1.93 million.

The property is located on the Nelson Park Industrial Estate in Cramlington, eight miles North of Newcastle with access to the A19 and A1 and is a high quality industrial unit, incorporating two-storey office space, a fitted mezzanine and a number of individual workshop and storage areas, a service yard and dedicated parking spaces.

Addington acquired the property in 2016 and has since agreed a lease renewal for a further 10 years to a reputable covenant.

Coalfields Regeneration Trust is an investor and developer in commercial space and helps to address the lack of available commercial property within coalfield communities.

Philip Symonds of Addington Capital said, “We are pleased to have successfully disposed of this property, which had good levels of interest. Investors were attracted the fact it is located in a recognised industrial location and has strong connection links.”

Addington Capital was advised by Commercial Property Partners LLP (CPP) on the sale and Coalfield Regeneration Trust by by Avison Young.

Posted in News on 31st March, 2020

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Addington Capital, the property investment and asset management specialist has secured its first letting of 109-117 High Street in Cheltenham, adjacent to John Lewis.

Just Go Travel is taking the whole of the first floor, just over 7,400 sq ft, at a rent of £25 per sq. ft., having relocated from a traditional office location on the edge of the town centre. It will now be on the high street in the newly redeveloped office.

Addington originally acquired the former retail block in 2015 with its joint venture partner* and has recently redeveloped the upper parts. It has converted the redundant upper floors, creating modern office space and a new courtyard at first floor to overcome the deep floor span.

The second floor (3,700 sq ft) office suite and two retail units on the ground floor, (circa 9,000 sq ft) are still available for let.

Tim Cornford of Addington Capital said, “We have re-purposed this old tired retail building to provide contemporary office and retail space and it is great news that we have already secured a tenant for a majority of the office space, prior to completion of the development. There is also good demand for both retail units, with discussions ongoing with a number of national retailers. Cheltenham is a thriving regional town and the demand for quality real estate space continues to steadily grow.”

Posted in News on 16th March, 2020

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