Prime Office/R & D Building Available

Date: 24/04/2008
Acting on behalf of Threadneedle Property Investments Ltd BSM Huntingdon office has been instructed to market Cygnet House at Hinchingbrooke Business Park. The building comprises a prestigious office/R&D building extending to 1474.4 sq m (15,871 sq ft) and is being offered for sale at a figure of £2.6 million or alternatively is available to lease. It can also be offered on a floor-by-floor basis from 714 sq m (7686 sq ft).

The building was originally constructed about 8 years ago for office use but has been adapted for R&D purposes and provides a mixture of both office and light assembly space. The building is comfort cooled with raised floors throughout. Externally there are 73 allocated car parking spaces.

Alan Matthews of BSM comments “It is rare for a building of this size and quality to come to the market particularly on a freehold basis. It has been priced at an extremely competitive level bearing in mind its age and high specification”.

Huntingdon Relocation

Date: 31/03/2008
Barker Storey Matthews Huntingdon office, acting on behalf of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership have let Unit 3 Ermine Centre, Ermine Business Park. The 17,500 sq ft warehouse building with integral two-storey offices has been let to Advanced Hardware Ltd, who have relocated from Cardinal Park Godmanchester.

Advanced Hardware is a supplier of quality European and Far Eastern hardware fittings to the UK door and window market. BSM have now been instructed to market their former warehouse premises of 7,860 sq ft with its own self-contained car park. Richard Adam at BSM Huntingdon is handling the disposal.

BSM Strengthen Valuation Team

Date: 05/03/2008
Barker Storey Matthews Peterborough office have strengthened the valuation team with the appointment of Ben Spiers, who joined the firm at the end of February.

Ben completed a BA Hons in Marketing and Business Psychology before recently completing a Masters Degree in Property Investment and Management at Nottingham Trent University. Ben will be assisting Martin Hughes and Tony Barker on both valuation and professional cases.

Team Studio move to Hinchingbrooke Business Park

Date: 25/01/2008
Acting on behalf of Gold 12 Property Plus LP, a fund managed by commercial property investment specialist, Pinder Fry & Benjamin LLP, BSM’s Huntingdon office has let 5,250 sq ft of high quality office space to IT solutions provider, Teamstudio Europe Ltd (“Teamstudio”).

The office, Unit 8 Ramsay Court, is located on the Hinchingbrooke Business Park and was built by Cheshire-based Gladman Developments. Team Studio, who are currently based at Wennington near Abbots Ripton, hope to take occupation in February following extensive fit-out of the space.

This latest letting brings the total amount of space let or sold at Ramsay Court to 26,250 sq ft, equivalent to 60% of the total floor space. Other occupiers include BAE Systems, Prater Holdings, Diamond Lifestyle, White Young Green and Cellexus Biosystems.

Medical Physics in St Ives

Date: 23/01/2008
BSM’s Huntingdon Office, acting on behalf of landlords, Sparrowhawk & Heald Ltd have let ground floor offices at Cabot House, Compass Point Business Park, St Ives. New occupiers are Medical Physics International Ltd, from Bolton who specialise in the maintenance of hospital equipment. Compass Point Business Park is now well established, home to Sparrowhawk & Heald, Magdalen Telecom, Cambridgeshire County Council and Silvaco.

AXA make major investment in St Neots

Date: 23/01/2008
AXA Real Estate Investment Managers have made a substantial investment at Alpha Park in St Neots. The Company has recently acquired two new buildings totalling nearly 70,000 sq ft and valued at around £8,000,000, which have been let to Gates Hydraulics Ltd and Jewsons.

The acquisition closely follows the company forward funding the 220,000 sq ft Alpha Plus building in a £15 million deal. Alpha Plus was completed earlier this year and is currently available to let at a rental of £4.95 per sq ft. The development is being marketed by Barker Storey Matthews in conjunction with King Sturge of London and Birmingham based M3.

Alan Matthews, of BSM comments “we are delighted to have signed up Gates and Jewson at Alpha Park. We are now concentrating our efforts on finding a tenant for Alpha Plus and for companies who don’t need quite as much space we also have a 1.4 acre site available for design and build”.

New development approaches completion

Date: 21/12/2007
Construction work is now well underway upon Building 2 within Phase II of Vantage Park, Huntingdon. The four new offices units, which range in size from 1,330 sq ft to 2,050 sq ft, will be completed by the end of February. Each unit comprises of a two-storey premises accessed off a central core area. The buildings feature a full specification incorporating raised floors, suspended ceilings incorporating Category 2 lighting and comfort cooling and have their own car parking allocation.

Vantage Park is a highly successful office scheme adjacent to the Huntingdon by-pass with good access to the nearby A14. Existing occupiers include Danwood Group, Greenery Ltd and Coversure.

Major office letting at Hinchingbrooke Business Park

Date: 06/12/2007
Acting on behalf of OSI International Foods Ltd, BSM’s Huntingdon office have negotiated the assignment of the company’s lease of Redshank House on the Hinchingbrooke Business Park. The building comprises a detached office arranged on two floors totalling 8,378 sq ft. It is situated on a prime location on Hinchingbrooke Business Park with prominent frontage to the A14.

The building has been let to Cybit Holdings plc, a fast expanding telematics company who were formerly based at Chord Business Park, Godmanchester.

Chefaro move to St John’s Park, Huntingdon

Date: 30/11/2007
Chefaro UK Ltd have moved to a prestigious new office building at St John’s Park in Huntingdon.

The building comprises just over 9,000 sq ft net on a site of 0.8 acres, which allows room for future expansion. It has been constructed to a very high specification including comfort cooling, raised floors and a feature reception area. Managing Director, C. van Dongen comments “we needed to move from our existing premises which were no longer suitable for our requirements and as our lease was approaching the end of its term this was an ideal opportunity. We decided that St John’s Park is the ideal location offering a first rate building in an attractive landscaped setting, easily accessible for our staff and close to the road and rail network”.

St John’s Park is being developed by Ipswich based Churchmanor Estates who have also developed the St Peter’s Road Retail Park and the Town Centre retail development at Chequers Court, where the second phase is now nearing completion. Churchmanor were advised by BSM who have also arranged the forward funding of the £2.3m development with a private London based property company.

New £20m Court Complex complete in Huntingdon

Date: 22/11/2007
Work on the construction of Huntingdon’s new Combined Justice Centre has recently been completed and the building has been handed over to the Department for Constitutional Affairs. The new facility, which is a landmark building in Huntingdon, is situated fronting the ring road at the junction with George Street and Brampton Road.

The development has been undertaken by Nottingham based Clegg Developments in partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council. Clegg have also constructed new offices for the County Council which are adjacent to the new Court complex. The Courts have been leased to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and the development has been funded by Active Asset Investment Management (AAIM), a niche investor for this type of property.

Clegg and the County Council have been advised throughout the development by Barker Storey Matthews who represented them in the lease negotiations with the DCA and also arranged the forward funding of the development with AAIM. Alan Matthews of BSM commented “This has been a complicated project, particularly the funding of the development due to the nature of the building, the timescale for construction and the sums involved”.

Clegg have now commenced work on the second phase of the Town Centre redevelopment which will involve the construction of new residential accommodation on land to the north of the bus station, a new library and the refurbishment of several listed buildings.