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North West Property Personality Breakfast 2010
Insider’s latest property breakfast provided the rare opportunity for a fascinating insight into what makes one of North West property’s most venerable figures tick. Neil Tague reports
What’s the secret of your success? In the case of the Alderley Edge-based Emerson Group, which has now celebrated 50 years in business, it’s been a selective approach, according to its chairman, and North West Property Personality of the Year Peter Emerson Jones.
Jones said: “We kept away from the frothy market of the last few years and are still very careful, although we’re ready to buy – we’ve got £60m to £70m on deposit to do that. But it has to be the right deal. The hardest thing to do as an entrepreneur is to say no, but you should never be afraid to walk away from a deal – there’s always another opportunity.”
It’s an approach that has stood Emerson, the parent company of Orbit Developments, Jones Homes and various other construction-related and overseas investment-led vehicles, in good stead. It dominates the office markets of the Wilmslow area. It took Bolton Wanderers to the Reebok, built the Lowry Mall in Salford Quays and has built countless homes. Commercially, it has 6 million sq ft in the UK and an annual rent roll of £70m-plus.
But in a way, it all happened by accident, said Jones. Having left school at 14 to become an apprentice joiner, he bought his first residential plot with the intention of building a house to live in, only to be offered a good profit on selling it half-built. Having built up the housing business, he then diversified into commercial property in Eccles: “They were radical offices then, we put in air conditioning because of the pollution from Trafford Park. We had upward-only rent reviews every five years, which sounds like music to a landlord’s ears now.”
The move abroad was slightly fortuitous as well, he said: “We used to holiday in Malta but my wife chose Portugal – Praia de Rocha - one year. I ended up in conversation with a chap about a 140-acre site and ended up buying it.”
Commercially, it’s rare for Orbit to venture into the city centre, with 55 King Street and a holding on Mosley Street exceptions to the rule. Jones said: “The philosophy was always to build offices on the orbital roads around south Manchester, within 30 minutes of Alderley Edge. Places where we could offer office space of a city centre standard but with car parking. It’s served us well in locations like Sale and Stockport.”
Asked how he saw the fraught world of the developer-banker relationship, Jones said: “Sustainability’s a big word in property now and that’s what you want from a bank – someone who’s always going to be there, that you have a rapport with and where both sides can be completely honest. Nothing runs smoothly in development, but the crises can be overcome with trust on both sides.”
Of economic recovery Jones, who has significant US investments, said: “The Americans are doing more than us to turn things around – in Florida new buyers are being given $8,000, which is boosting the consumer economy. Something has to be done to kickstart things and get the first-time buyers back into the market here.”
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