Bromley’s biggest deal in 2016? See page 3...
T H E U P DAT E
4 TH QUARTER 2016
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
On page 2
On page 4
On page 8
We recently concluded the acquisition of a warehouse on behalf of well known supermarket giants Lidl…
The volume of planning management work undertaken continued to grow throughout 2016...
Our head office is always happy to help a worthy cause - this quarter we raised money for Children In Need…
EDITORIAL ‘Tumultuous’ would be my single-word description for 2016 having had the chance to reflect on the year over the festive break. The year began with some carried momentum and historic pipeline from a strong 2015, which lead to a solid first quarter. With hindsight it was the final Osborne budget that started to create a few bumps in the road. Whilst surely well-intended, the SDLT changes had a big impact on the residential market, and that undoubtedly reverberated into the development sector. The development market didn’t suffer any lack of demand – more so that buyers became even more discerning; which led to a protraction in the life of numerous transactions.
Jeff East - Director jeff.east@acorn.ltd.uk
The budget was quickly followed by 2016’s word of the year – Brexit. Many of us didn’t expect the Leave vote to prevail, but when it did it came as no surprise that many buyers and sellers made the decision to do, well, nothing! We don’t mind a good market, we don’t mind a bad market and we love a challenging market, but for a while during the early summer we had little or no market for properties of any scale. By the time reality had set in during August and activity started to recover, we’d effectively lost a couple of month’s production. That said, the final four months of the year were incredibly strong, and we enjoyed another fantastic final quarter (as now seems to be tradition). In fact, in a year when we had a change of Prime Minister,
the UK voted to leave the EU and a property developer got arguably the most important job in the world, Acorn also completed yet another of the largest single transactions in the South London boroughs in recent years at £22.5m, so it certainly wasn’t all bad! As far as 2017 is concerned, I’m very confident we’ll have a good year. Again, we’re carrying momentum from a great final quarter, and our team is stronger and more experienced than ever before. Whilst on the subject of the team, Emma Cramer has been recruited internally to take over from Jess Adams as Team Secretary at London Bridge (Jess is travelling in Asia). We also welcomed Louis Markham during the final quarter, who has joined us on a permanent basis following a successful period of work experience. This freshly face-lifted edition of our regular quarterly Update reports on a number of transactions completed during the final three months of 2016 (including the big one), and also summarises some of our ongoing Planning Management projects. As always we’re keen to hear from motivated sellers that seek an equally motivated agent to represent them, so if you have a property to sell or let please get in touch with one of our offices. With best wishes for 2017!
FOOTSCRAY DA14 Whilst we are renowned for representing sellers, our expertise is regularly called upon by purchasers to facilitate the acquisition of specific properties. We’ve advised supermarket giants Lidl in respect of a number of existing and potential sites, and recently concluded the acquisition of a 50,000 sqft warehouse on their behalf.
north (in blue) in order to enable the development of a larger store. We approached and negotiated with the owner on Lidl’s behalf, and finalised an unconditional sale and leaseback deal at £4,250,000 in October 2016. If you require assistance with the acquisition of a particular property please contact one of our offices.
Lidl already have a store on Footscray High Street (outlined in red), and were keen to purchase more land to the
1 Sherman Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 3JH 020 8315 5454
120 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3TX 020 7089 6555
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BECKENHAM BR3 PRS, or to give it its full name, the Private Rented Sector, is seen as one of the biggest developments in the UK property industry in recent years. PRS as far as we’re concerned encompasses any professional landlord, private, corporate or institutional, with large scale unbroken blocks let to private or corporate residential tenants. PRS landlords have been long established across continental Europe and North America, but the sector has only really taken off in the UK since the last recession. The economic collapse left many property companies and developers holding large swathes of residential stock. Whilst money was cheap to borrow (and still is) private residential mortgages were hard to come by (and still are). The cocktail of widespread stock supply and cheap borrowing whetted the appetites of a variety of investment
“We’ve been managing private rented properties on behalf of major landlords for more than 30 years.” vehicles, and hence the UK’s PRS industry was born. In more recent years the sector has been further driven as private, buy-tolet landlords offload stock either to take advantage of capital growth, or avoid the threat of penal taxation and legislation. With heavy Stamp Duty levies set to suppress the traditional BTL market for the foreseeable future, PRS continues to grow in response to tenant demand. So where does Acorn, and specifically County House fit into the scenario? Well, at Acorn we’ve been managing private rented properties on behalf of a variety of landlords for more than 30 years. When large scale PRS began to accelerate, we were perfectly placed with a team of expert staff, long track record and bespoke management system to be able to provide the high level of service that professional
1 Sherman Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 3JH 020 8315 5454
landlords deserve. In fact, Acorn is now one of the largest third party management companies in the UK, with almost 5,000 residential units under our control. Furthermore County House serves as the perfect example of how the Acorn Group’s all-encompassing service and forwardthinking approach never fails to add value. Aware that a private family trust had acquired County House and intended to convert the former office block to apartments under Permitted Development Rights, our investment team introduced PRS colleagues to provide valuation, marketing and management advice. Initially though, it looked likely that the block would remain only partially converted, and with large areas of unutilised space. Vacant possession was then secured across the entire building, and we advised the owners of a number of potential uses for the redundant basement. With a far ‘cleaner’ investment beginning to materialise, our team was appointed to undertake some selective marketing of the
120 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3TX 020 7089 6555
finished building. Our efforts resulted in a number of attractive offers, and a sale was agreed to Hyde Housing Association. The deal encompasses the entire freehold interest to include 76 newly converted residential apartments, 69 parking spaces, telephone mast income and a conditional letting of the basement to a national gym operator. The sale was successfully completed in December 2016 at £22,500,000. The Acorn Group represented the sellers in the matter, introduced the gym operator and will be retained by Hyde to let and manage the 76 apartments. Needless to say, we’d be delighted to hear from other major landlords regardless of whether they require sales, acquisition or management advice.
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PLANNING MANAGEMENT The volume of planning management work we’re undertaking has continued to grow during 2016. As the planning process becomes even more specialist, time-consuming and expensive, the high level management role that we fulfil has proven increasingly attractive to both private and professional clients. We’re not architects, nor planning consultants, but we’ve got our finger on the pulse when it comes to interpreting emerging policies, and tackling existing ones. We can simply provide expert advice at key moments, or alternatively manage the entire planning process for clients
1 Sherman Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 3JH 020 8315 5454
without the time or experience to do so themselves. The input we seek from colleagues in our sales and lettings teams also helps us to maximise the value of every project. At present we have projects at the pre-application
“We can provide expert advice at key moments, or alternatively manage the entire planning process...”
120 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3TX 020 7089 6555
stage in Croydon (c.50 units), Beckenham (c.30 units), Lewisham (c.50 units), Peckham (c.120 units), Catford (c.25 units) and Sydenham (c.40 units). We also have live applications running in the Boroughs of Lewisham, Southwark, Greenwich and Bromley. If you have a property that may offer planning potential, or a project, but no time to run it, please contact Jeff East, Tom Luck or Emma Fox to discuss how we might be able to assist.
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IN A NUTSHELL SYDENHAM SE26
BROCKLEY SE4
Vacant long leasehold retail unit arranged over ground and lower ground floors. Sold to a local investor on instructions from a major asset management firm.
Newly built ground floor commercial unit adjacent to Brockley station, let in shell and core state to a bar operator at an initial rent of £70,000 pax.
SIDCUP DA14
DARTFORD DA1
Modern, open-plan first floor offices of approx. 2,453 sqft let at a little over £15/sqft to a property management company. We have more applicants looking for offices across the South East.
Small development site in central Dartford sold to a local builder developer complete with consent for 6 one bedroom flats. Similar sites urgently required.
NEW ELTHAM SE9
LONDON BRIDGE SE1
Self-contained, long leasehold B1 office building sold on behalf of a contracting firm with apparent potential for conversion to residential use under PD rights.
1 Sherman Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 3JH 020 8315 5454
Attractive ground floor B1 offices in prime SE1. Acting jointly with Kalmar’s, the suite was let to a PR firm at £85,000 pax (£53/sqft).
GREENWICH SE10
WAPPING E1
Detached, purpose-built light industrial unit approx. 3,500 sqft adjacent to the A102 Blackwall Tunnel Approach; let at £40,000 pax to a timber merchant.
Recently built commercial unit adjacent to Wapping Station; let on behalf of an investor client to an independent coffee shop.
120 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3TX 020 7089 6555
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Three months ago I reported that the second quarter of 2016 had been
STAFF FOCUS: EMMA FOX Emma’s role as Office Manager sees her time split between our Bromley and London Bridge offices, and has her tackling a broad range of management tasks. Emma is key to our Planning Management and Corporate Asset Services work, and also coordinates the charity, sponsorship and entertainment activities undertaken across the wider Group network.
If you were a biscuit what would you be? A ‘tough’ cookie. Marmite - hate it or love it? Love it! Could eat it from the jar. Favourite takeaway? Chinese or Thai - I couldn’t possibly choose.
“frustrating, but equally rewarding”.
QUOTES OF THE QUARTER We love our lightbox at Renaissance Works. Below are a few of our favourite quotes this quarter. If you want to see your quote featured on our page, feel free to tweet us!
Dog or cats? Dogs - cats creep me out. Best film ever made? Legally Blonde - It’s certainly not the best film ever made but I love it! Sweet or savoury? Savoury but I am partial to a ‘Twirl’! Describe yourself in one word I’ll take two - control freak! What book are you reading at the moment? I’ve just finished Behind Closed Doors by B.A Paris It’s thrilling until the very last page. Who was your childhood role model? Baby Spice - girl power! emma.fox@acorn.ltd.uk 020 7089 6555
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Tweet us today @acorncommercial!
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ELTHAM SE9 Whilst typically high-yielding, HMO (house in multiple occupation) investments can prove a challenge to sell. Compliance requirements are understandably high, and even fully compliant properties can prove tough to fund. Having said that, our investment team had no trouble selling this tidy HMO in Eltham recently! Admittedly you’d struggle to find a smarter choice of bedsits, and the location is ideal – adjacent to Eltham Station, but nevertheless we were delighted to conclude a sale ahead of our client’s price expectations at £1,560,000. This is the latest in a number of HMO investments that we’ve sold recently, and we’d be delighted to hear from you if you have a similar property to sell.
SYDENHAM SE26 The all-encompassing range of services that The Acorn Group has to offer is nowhere more evident than at ‘The Orb’ in Sydenham. Built by a regular client of ours, Acorn’s New Homes Division sold the residential apartments, and our Estate Management Division took over the management of the block on practical completion. Our Commercial Team then let the ground floor commercial unit (interestingly to Acorn, to facilitate the relocation of our Sydenham office). With the lease completed, we then acted as joint auctioneers with Allsop in the sale of the commercial investment. Whatever the nature of your property or project, we revel in the challenge of maximising value and securing an exit strategy.
1 Sherman Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 3JH 020 8315 5454
120 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3TX 020 7089 6555
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FUNDRAISING AT ACORN HQ The Acorn Group Head Office is famous for its legendary ‘bake offs’, so what better way to raise money for Children In Need than to dust off our aprons and get cooking for charity! The fun didn’t stop there, a whole host of activities were organised for the afternoon – a doughnut eating contest, a ‘planking’ competition, and of course we had to try our hand at the ‘Mannequin Challenge’! It’s the only time you’ll see us standing still, so check it out on our Facebook page here – facebook.com/AcornEstateAgency. Together we raised a total of £200 for Children In Need, and had a great day fundraising for such a worthy cause.
OUR TEAM
Adam Hosking Associate
Emma Fox Office Manager
Jeff East Director
Tom Luck Director
Tony Wood Projects Manager
Henry Hammond Projects Manager
Steven Flannighan Projects Co-ordinator
Andrew Tilbrook Projects Co-ordinator
Could this be you? If you’re interested in joining our team, please send your CV to emma.fox@acorn.ltd.uk
Louis Markham Projects Assistant
@acorncommercial
Lily Whitby Team Secretary
Emma Cramer Team Secretary
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commercial@acorn.ltd.uk