With the demise of the East Midlands Development Agency (Emda) and uncertainty over the future of the Government Office for the East Midlands, the shape and resources of the new local enterprise partnership are yet to be decided. Recent months have also seen the closing of Derby Cityscape, the company which has masterminded Derby’s regeneration for the past six years, so that the public sector can take the lead on future developments.
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The region looks very different but the local industrial property market continues to perform well. Retailer M&S is taking 900,000 sq ft at East Midlands Distribution Centre in Castle Donington whilst at Goodman’s 140 acres Derby Commercial Park, the massive investment in infrastructure is nearing completion with the site coming on stream by the end of the year. The first phase of Leicester’s regeneration is now complete with the delivery of schemes such as Highcross and Phoenix Square. The market is now looking ahead to new residential and commercial property to let in the east Midlands including the new science park.
The oversupply of offices to let in the East Midlands, particularly in the out-of-town market, has all but disappeared and there is now more of a balance between supply and demand. It is unlikely that we will see speculative development for some time but, if demand continues at the same levels, we will begin to see a shortage of supply of the better quality offerings during 2011.
The most active sectors include waste and recycling, data centres and the city centre student residential market. In the student market, several city centre office buildings, which are beyond their economic use, have become vacant and the planners have been pragmatic about the change of use to residential.
But the outlying centres of Lincoln and Northampton look set to disassociate themselves from what we’ve come to know as the East Midlands over the last 15 years. Lincolnshire wants to stand on its own two feet, whilst Northampton is looking south, as, in truth, it has more often than not done throughout the lifespan of Emda.
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