Strong Retail Demand in Bury

Date: 31/08/2010
Barker Storey Matthews have recently completed the letting of 75 St John's Street, Bury St Edmunds to East Anglian Children's Hospice who have taken a lease for a term of ten years.

St John's Street is a popular retail destination in Bury St Edmunds and the letting shows continued demand for retail space in the town.

Hotel Chocolat Snap up 115,000 sq ft

Date: 12/07/2010
Huntingdon and Royston based company Hotel Chocolat Ltd have taken a lease on 115,000 sq ft of warehouse and distribution premises at Alpha Plus on the Alpha Park development at St Neots.

Hotel Chocolat, founded in 1993, has been growing rapidly and now has over 40 retail outlets throughout the UK together with internet mail order business. The company’s HQ is in Royston but owns its main manufacturing facility in Huntingdon, which it acquired several years ago in addition to a 140 acre cocoa plantation in St Lucia, acquired in 2004.

Alpha Plus was developed speculatively by Miller Developments and funded by AXA Sun Life. It has been sub divided to provide two self-contained warehouse buildings. The letting to Hotel Chocolat follows the recent letting of the front part of the building to Cath Kidston who have relocated their operation from Huntingdon.

St Ives Industrial Demand

Date: 24/06/2010
BSM have let 31 Edison Road, St Ives. The premises, comprising a modern light industrial unit incorporating offices to front, with a floor area of 11,238 sq ft, has been let to Business Computer Services who have been established within St Ives since 1982.

Lynne Edwards of Business Computer Services commented, "the move enables us to provide our customers with state of the art workshop facilities and expand our logistic and vendor management service. We thank Barker Storey Matthews for their help to make it possible for us to secure the right property in the right location as this has enabled us to continue our growth".

New Restaurants for Hampton, Peterborough

Date: 01/06/2010
Deals have been struck with Chiquitos and Frankie and Bennys for new restaurant facilities at Hampton.

Chiquitos are to take 4,582 sq ft with Frankie and Bennys taking 3,636 sq ft adjacent at Cygnet Park, oposite the Serpentine Green shopping centre. Steve Hawkins of the BSM Peterborough office comments "our clients Sladen Estates and Peveril Securities have started on site with completion set for October this year. The new restaurants will hopefully be occupied before the Christmas trading period. The remaining part of the site has planning for two office buildings of 7,873 sq ft and 6,123 sq ft with the latter capable of sub-division into three smaller inits of 2,041 sq ft. Subject to planning we may be able to accommodate other restaurant users"

IT Company Expansion Leads To Building Sale

Date: 25/05/2010
BSMs Huntingdon office have completed the sale of a 5,250 sq ft office building at Ramsay Court on Hinchingbrooke Business Park, Huntingdon to EACS Ltd. The sale, together with another six other sales and lettings having completed, leaves just two units within the scheme.

EACS, currently based in Kimbolton, is an award winning provider of IT solutions and managed services to a wide range of UK organisations of all sizes. Customers include London Overground Rail Operations Ltd, Norwich & Peterborough Building Society and Travis Perkins plc. Mike Dearlove, Managing Director of EACS, said “As well as doubling the useable office space for our expanding workforce, the new premises will enable EACS to host more in-house events, seminars and training. An updated demonstration suite was a key part of the plan, for clients to visit and test out the latest technologies. Plus the improved bandwidth available to the business will allow us to offer enhanced services to our customers.”

Picture shows the handover of keys, Richard Adam of BSM on the left, Mike Dearlove of EACS on the right.

Ravenscroft House Fills Up

Date: 24/05/2010
BSM Cambridge Office have let the last remaining suite at Ravenscroft House on Regent Street in Cambridge city centre, to Liquorice Recruitment. The property, comprising a four storey office building, has been refurbished to a high specification and Liquorice took just over 1,000 sq ft.

Cath Kidston trebles in size at St Neots

Date: 17/05/2010
Distinctive British lifestyle brand, Cath Kidston, best known for its witty vintage inspired prints and wide array of household and fashion products has taken a 10-year lease on Unit 1a Alpha Plus at Alpha Park in St Neots.

The building, which occupies a prominent position fronting the A1, will be used by the company primarily as a storage and distribution warehouse but will also incorporate ancillary offices, call centre and a small factory outlet unit. The unit which, comprises 105,000 sq ft, will give the company three times the amount of floor space that they have in their existing premises at Godmanchester.

A spokesman for the company said “we looked at existing buildings and also new build opportunities. We decided to go to Alpha Plus as it offered immediate occupation on highly competitive terms”.

Alan Matthews of BSM who represented the landlords, Axa Sun Life Plc, said “Alpha Plus is a first class building situated in a prime location at the junction of the A1 and A428. The building is 220,000 sq ft but it’s flexible design has enabled it to be split to give Cath Kidston the floor space they require. We still have a further 115,000 sq ft to let and we are currently in active negotiations with another party regarding this”.

Cedar Software expand in Huntingdon

Date: 17/05/2010
Acting on behalf of Chefaro UK Ltd and Omega Pharma, Barker Storey Matthews have let 4,500 sq ft of prime office space to Cedar Software HR.

Cedar, who specialise in providing software for Police Forces throughout the country, have taken a 10 year lease on the building at Percy Road, situated on the St John’s Business Park on the north side of Huntingdon, close to the A14. The company were previously based in a smaller unit on the Chord Business Park in Godmanchester.

Alan Matthews of BSM commented, “we were instructed to market the offices in August 2009 and after a failed attempt to lease the building to another occupier we rapidly agreed terms with Cedar who took the opportunity to acquire what is probably one of the best office buildings in Huntingdon. Twelve months prior we let the first floor of the building to Mindray in a matter of two or three months, which underlines the fact that there is demand from occupiers for good quality accommodation”.

BSM Scoops Prestigious National Award

Date: 12/05/2010
Barker Storey Matthews has been named East of England Property Adviser of the Year 2010. BSM received the honour from industry magazine The Estates Gazette. Over 6,000 votes were cast in all categories by property professionals throughout the UK, with BSM clinching the award for the Eastern region.

Tony Barker, director of BSM’s Peterborough office, said: “We are delighted to be named East of England Property Adviser of the Year for the first time in our 20-year history. This announcement by Estates Gazette recognises the hard work and professionalism of all our staff.” Alan Matthews, director of the Huntingdon office said “Perhaps more importantly it is a welcome acknowledgement from our clients for our commitment and we would like to thank them for their continued support.”

The announcement follows the news that earlier this year Barker Storey Matthews was named ‘Most Active Regional Agent in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk’ by Estates Gazette for 2010. BSM recorded as many as 270 commercial transactions during the period with the next closest agent reporting less than 200 transactions.

Goodwin Business Park Letting

Date: 26/04/2010
BSM’s Cambridge Office, have let Unit 6 Goodwin Business Park Newmarket to Molecular Dimensions who have been the subject of a recent successful management buy-out.

The property, a highly visible modern business unit of 3,901 sq ft, is located within the heart of Newmarket’s industrial sector. Mark Critchley of BSM comments “we received a significant amount of interest in this unit and are not surprised that it has been let to a local company. It is hoped that the unit will provide a suitable base for Molecular Dimensions to grow and develop its markets around the world”.