Addington Capital, the property investment and asset management company has now completed the development of 55 Queen Street, Sheffield S1, in Sheffield City Centre into a residential apartment block and is now marketing the units.

Addington acquired the 17,800 sq ft old Victorian office building in January 2016 as part of a larger portfolio and has since gained planning and developed the building into 24 modern flats (12 x 1 bed and 12 x 2 beds), with 7 parking spaces in a gated development. The property is in a conservation area and Addington has maintained the period building with original features. Each apartment has large double glazed sash windows, granite worktops and high quality integrated appliances, dedicated fibre broadband connections and low service charges. The apartments range in size from 386 sq ft to 743 sq ft.

Commenting on the scheme, Matthew Allen, Principal of Addington Capital said, " We have developed to a high finish and believe these apartments by virtue of quality and central city location will prove highly attractive to Sheffield's young professional community. There is still a demand/supply imbalance in the Sheffield residential market."

Nicola Spencer of Spencer’s Estate Agents is marketing the scheme for Addington.

Posted in News on 13 Feb, 2018

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Addington Capital and Europa Capital have completed the acquisition of One Lampton Road in Hounslow from clients of LaSalle Investment Management for over £20 million. The investment is the second acquisition for the London Affordable Residential Platform, which will focus on the creation and conversion of residential accommodation in undersupplied London markets.

The 121,812 sq ft (11,316 sq m) mixed use property provides 72,571 sq ft (6,742 sq m) of office space and 49,241 sq ft (4,574 sq m) of retail space. One Lampton Road is occupied by tenants including TK Maxx, Job Centre and Sri Lankan Airlines, and has permitted development rights for conversion into 115 residential units. The property is located in the heart of the town and within 200 m of Hounslow Central underground station.

Hugo Black, Partner at Europa Capital said, “We are pleased to have made our second acquisition for the London Affordable Residential platform with Addington Capital. This is our 7th joint venture with Addington Capital and supports our continued drive to address the shortfall of housing in the UK. Since 2010, we have also acquired land with potential to deliver up to 8,600 residential units across 12 separate acquisitions.”
Martin Roberts, Principal of Addington Capital said, "We are continually looking for opportunities where we can put our asset management and development expertise into play and this acquisition will allow us to do both. One Lampton Road will complement Addington's existing PRS portfolio, which we plan to expand further going forward. "

Richard Merryweather, at Savills who advised the purchasers, commented: “We are delighted to have represented Addington and Europa on this acquisition. There are significant asset management opportunities and growth potential in this busy, West London location.’

Gerald Eve acted for the vendor, who were clients of LaSalle Investment Management.

Posted in News on 09 Feb, 2018

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Fund manager Europa Capital and Addington Capital, the investment and asset manager joint venture partner, have completed two further lettings at The Quadrant, Abingdon Science Park.

The Fishawack Group of Companies, a healthcare communications group, is taking 4,700 sq ft (Unit 31) of refurbished accommodation on a ten year lease. In additional, MJA Consulting, a civil and structural engineering specialist, is taking 9,000 sq ft (Units 23, 24 and grd 25) on a 10 year lease with a break clause in year 7. Both units have already been refurbished.

These deals follow on from recent lettings at The Quadrant to PsiOxus Therapeutics, Tessella, and Preservica for a total of 38,000 sq ft in the last 18 months. The property totals 75,000 sq ft.

Europa and Addington acquired The Quadrant in January 2016 as part of a broader active asset management portfolio.

Philip Symonds, partner at Addington Capital said, "A total of 70% of the Quadrant has been refurbished and re-let on new terms in last two years, bringing current occupancy to 82%. South Oxfordshire remains a key national science/tech hub and we are delighted our refurbishment program and estate improvements have enabled us to take advantage of the inherent demand in the region".

Agents on the deal were Carter Jonas for Addington, Doherty Baines for Fishawack Group of Companies and MJA Consulting were unrepresented.

Posted in News on 08 Jan, 2018

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Despite continued efforts by central government to increase housing supply, government policies are not tackling the root cause of the housing shortage- an obstructive planning system and the funding of affordable housing.

Unlike the public sector, the private sector has a more expensive cost of capital and a mandate to deliver risk adjusted investment returns to its banks and shareholders, usually within tight time constraints. Its requirement for a development to be financially viable is therefore often at loggerheads with the public sector’s need to enforce the private sector to build more affordable homes. Yet the current system pits the two opposing parties against one another and then wonders why not enough housing is being built. In general, the inevitable outcome is conflict, procrastination, delay, more delay, increased costs and uncertainty, which together mean less house building, a constrained housing supply and less affordable homes.

Political pressures to avoid building on the greenbelt and focus on higher density development on brownfield sites is deliverable but it is exacerbating this viability gap. Higher density schemes on brownfield land take longer and cost more to build with more development risk. As a result, they require additional compensation to make them viable for the private sector to fund.

Let’s consider some of the facts:

Many brown field sites outside London, either for sale or rental, struggle with viability even without providing any affordable housing. Most parts of the country outside the South East still command property values on apartment blocks of less than £300 psf which doesn’t leave much head room in a development appraisal.

The planning officers, who are not commercially trained, assess viability with their consultants and make recommendations which are too often ignored by councillors who go against their officers' recommendations. The viability tests are often treated with suspicion and council members are afraid of being seen to neglect their responsibility to provide more social housing in their community.

Viability is a complex commercial equation and no two sites are the same. How can we expect planning officers and elected, but unqualified council members to successfully weigh up the commercial risks and returns of a complex, high rise brownfield development for the purposes of assessing viability?

Structural changes in local demographics and the way that people live, work and play are causing local plans and long held opinions of members and their officers to be out of date and irrelevant. Two recurring obstacles are retail floorspace and parking requirements. The centres of most of our towns and cities need less retail space and the residents of apartment blocks use fewer cars – this is not a passing phase or market cycle, it is structural. Rarely are these issues fully understood and reflected in planning decisions and detrimentally they affect viability.

The solution is to remove the viability test from the planning process.

The public sector has a lower cost of capital, more patient investment horizons and other motivation to building affordable housing, so it should take more responsibility for the supply of new homes. Until this happens the perennial shortage of housing and the problems of affordability will persist.

Matthew Allen is a Principal of Investment and Asset Management property specialist Addington Capital.

This article appeared in Property Week on December 13th 2017.

Posted in News on 15 Dec, 2017

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London, December 14th 2017 Addington Capital, in partnership with EPISO, an opportunity fund advised by Tristan Capital Partners, has received unanimous approval from Harlow Council for an exciting new mixed-use re-generation scheme on part of its Harvey Centre, shopping centre in Harlow.

The Little Walk, East Gate, West Gate and Gatehouse area of the centre will be demolished, making room for four new buildings ranging in height from three to sixteen storeys which will provide 447 residential units and circa 4,000 sq m of flexible retail floorspace at ground floor, together with below podium car parking. Above podium, there will be richly landscaped private amenity areas, with shared child play-space incorporated into the design.

This will completely transform the north side of the Town Centre, introducing a new residential community within a series of buildings centred around beautifully landscaped public spaces. A new boulevard shopping area will improve access to the central shopping area of the scheme from the existing West Gate ‘gateway’ into the town. The scheme has been designed by Rolfe Judd Architecture. Rolfe Judd Planning advised on the planning application.

‘According to Harlow Council, "The Town Centre should be more than just a place to shop, but a place to live, work and play; enhancing economic activity, prosperity and wellbeing. It is considered that this redevelopment as a whole would act as a catalyst to draw in additional retail provision and trade, and would activate major regeneration to the north of the Town Centre.’

Martin Roberts, Principal of Addington Capital, who are developing the scheme said: "We are delighted Harlow Council has approved our regeneration scheme. We will be providing nearly 450 new residential homes centred around landscaped public spaces with easy access to open air boulevard shopping. It will transform this part of the town, which has long been in need of such investment. "

Addington and EPISO bought the Harvey Shopping Centre as part of the Sapphire Portfolio in 2011 and have been refurbishing and improving the shopping centre since that time. The Harvey Centre has benefited with the opening of the Terrace in 2016 anchored by a 25,000 sq ft Cineworld that opened in Christmas 2016 and a number of new leading restaurants brands. The centre has just announced that restaurants Sticky Sisters and Burger Priest are taking new space at the scheme.

Posted in News on 14 Dec, 2017

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