Collaboration needed in Nottingham, says Taylor
Collaboration is needed between local property agents and the city council if Nottingham is to avoid suffering from a problem of grade C office stock, according to speakers at the Invest in Nottingham Commercial Office Market Review 2010, held at Experian’s offices on NG2.
Mike Taylor, regeneration director at Nottingham Regeneration Limited, said: “There’s a marked sense of optimism around the city – we have a strong message to deliver and there are lots of development opportunities. The challenge we have now is to make them happen.
“What we have to do now is see how we can deliver projects with a sense of realism. It’s all about partnerships and collaboration – that’s the name of the game. What’s good for one property agent in Nottingham is good for all property agents in Nottingham – and good for the city itself.
Taylor went on to say that Grade C property made up 13 per cent of the total Nottingham office stock.
“We need more flexible thinking in the planning process when it comes to the city’s grade C office stock if we’re not to be exposed too badly. We should be looking to use it for alternative purposes such as student accommodation, for religious purposes or even as residential accommodation.”
The Nottingham Office Market Review is the first detailed analysis of strategic employment space in the city. It is the result of a collaboration involving commercial property professionals, specialist consultancies, economic analysts and inward investment and regeneration agencies. Chris Sinclair, director at Innes England and Neil Hartley, owner of Lorne Estates have been widely credited for leading the way on collating the data.
It has been produced by the Nottingham Office Forum, a group of property and regeneration professionals, under the auspices of the Investment in Nottingham Club – the private-public partnership group which promotes development of the city economy.
One of its key findings suggests that Nottingham will create 14,500 jobs between 2015 and 2025 according to Experian’s forecasts.
Ken Nettleship, of Invest in Nottingham, the inward investment agency for Nottingham, said the review demonstrated that the underlying momentum of the city’s economy meant opportunities would arise even during difficult economic conditions.
He said: “The last three years have been very tough for business generally and property in particular, but it’s interesting that this report shows that we continued to see large and medium-sized property transactions going ahead despite that, with deals involving E.On, Crytek, Speedo and the relocation of Nottingham City Council itself during the last year alone.
“What that tells us is that in a major regional capital like Nottingham the size of the economy means there will always be opportunities, particularly as companies grow and ‘trade up’. We know that the city has got fundamental strength in sectors ranging from bioscience to retail to customer contact centres and shared services, and there is emerging evidence of a new breed of technology-based businesses coming out of the expertise in programming and ICT that has been developed here.
“In addition to this internal demand, we have seen recently that Nottingham is also a location that continues to attract international inward investors. The Chinese car company, Changan, came to Nottingham because it could co-locate alongside technology expertise and in very high quality surroundings which supported its long-term ambitions. Many other nationally based companies are following suit.”
Nettleship says that the review also shows that the city’s current office stock may not be adequate to meet longer-term demand.
He said: “The commercial property market is not easy at the moment, and it may be that some of the office schemes already in the pipeline have to look again at who they are aimed at. We can’t ignore that reality.”
