Bristol Business News

One Victoria Street

Real estate fund managers PRUPIM have won planning consent to re-model one of Bristol’s most prominent office buildings – One Victoria Street – overlooking Bristol Bridge and the Floating Harbour.

The façade will be given a major facelift along with an extensive upgrade of the entrance and reception while the fifth floor will be extended to create a stunning penthouse office suite.

Work on the 1980s building will begin in June to create 47,000 sq ft of modern offices to BREEAM Excellent environmental standards. Crucially, the refurbishment will include the addition of a new lift and staircase core onto the Redcliff Street elevation which will then allow the removal of the existing core to provide light open-plan floorplates. Work is scheduled to end by summer 2013.

PRUPIM, investing on behalf of Prudential Pensions, have appointed Knight Frank and Cubex as marketing agents on the scheme.

Cubex has also been appointed as development manager and project manager, co-ordinating the delivery of the project. Knight Frank partner Martin Booth said: “One Victoria Street will certainly prove attractive to occupiers with its high-profile waterfront location and central position on Bristol Bridge between Temple Meads and the city centre.”

Designs for the refurbishment are described by Cubex director Gavin Bridge as “set to be a modern interpretation of the Bristol warehouse architectural style”.

They include a commitment for the finished building to be more energy efficient and generate lower carbon emissions than other comparable office buildings, resulting in a BREEAM Excellent rating.

“This is a tremendous example of redeveloping tired office buildings in a sustainable way with a low environmental impact,” Mr Bridge said.

Bristol Business News

Bristol-based tool hire firm Brandon Hire has acquired surveying and construction specialist Phoenix Surveying Equipment.

Under the pre-Christmas deal Phoenix, which hires, sells and repairs surveying equipment to customers across the country, will continue as a separately-branded business. The company, founded in 1977, has its head office in Yate and employs 50 staff at five depots.

Brandon managing director Tim Smith said: “Phoenix is a great company with a strong reputation. Key to its success is its product strength and its people, who are experts at what they do. It will continue as a separate business, although, clearly, the fact that we are both working within the same sectors is an advantage for our customers.

“Despite the difficult economic climate, Brandon Hire has delivered a strong performance in the past 12 months and this latest acquisition is just another sign that we are continuing to look for new opportunities for growth.”

Brandon Hire, which specialises in lifting gear hire, pipe hire and toilet hire, was sold by builders merchant chain Wolseley in 2010. Over the years the firm has gone from a small private business to a stock market-quoted national operator. It turned over £103m and filed pre-tax profits of nearly £7m in the 17 months to December 31, 2010.

Bristol Business News

Healthcare charity Nuffield Health has appointed construction group Vinci to redevelop its Chesterfield Hospital site in Bristol in a deal worth £11m.

The project, with a total investment of £20m by Nuffield safeguards 95 jobs and potentially creates up to a further 50.

It will create a new state-of-the-art medical facility on the historic site in Clifton with three operating theatres, 12 consulting rooms and space for up to 30 in-patients.

National firm Vinci, which has a Bristol office, is an experienced healthcare contractors.

Enabling work has started on site, including weather-proofing the Grade-II listed Georgian merchants house. The house will be sympathetically restored as part of the plans, which have been welcomed by English Heritage.

Nuffield Health hospital director Ashley Livesey said: “The redevelopment of the hospital will enable us to bring state-of-the-art technology and techniques to Bristol, improving the patient experience and building on our 50 year strong reputation for healthcare excellence in the city.”

Vinci regional director Steve Vorres added: “We look forward to working with Nuffield Health and the community of Clifton to deliver a hospital of clinical excellence through collaborative working.”

The main building work will start next spring with the new hospital due to open in summer 2013, at which point existing operations at Nuffield Health’s St Mary’s hospital will be transferred to the new site.

Richard Clark, from DTZ Bristol

A Bristol property expert has described the coalition government’s plans to kick-start the housing industry as “modest”, and called for more radical action.

Yesterday, the prime minister announced plans to allow buyers of new homes to borrow up to 95% of their value as part of plans the government says will help get “Britain building again”.

The mortgage indemnity scheme, in which the government will underwrite part of the risk to lenders, could help up to 100,000 people in England. It is part of a wider strategy to build more homes and boost home ownership.

Building more homes is one of the government’s economic priorities, with the number of new ones being built at its lowest level since World War II, and with rents and prices remaining high while mortgage lending is restricted.

Just 121,200 new homes were made available in 2010-11, half of what ministers say are needed.

Addressing the CBI’s annual conference in London, Mr Cameron said it was not his aim to create “another borrowing boom” but to help the many people who could not afford huge deposits needed to buy properties.

But Richard Clark, Associate Director at global real estate services firm DTZ in Bristol, said institutional funding for residential development was vital to kick start the house building economy.

“The challenge we face as a nation is to communicate the need for new homes, and the consequence for subsequent generations of not building enough. This is an issue of inter-generational equity,” he said.

“The rising generation needs to find its voice in the debate – it is our children who will find it difficult to afford satisfactory housing, and it will be these young people who will end up paying a much higher proportion of their income on housing than the older generation ever did.

“The announcement by the government of a mortgage guarantee scheme is most welcome. It will boost the ability of younger households to get on the housing ladder.  But in a market where overall mortgage lending volumes are only half of their pre- 2008 long- term average, the overall impact of this scheme on the housing market will be modest.

“The government needs to be more radical and create the environment in which major financial institutions will invest in new build private rented housing. This remains a work in progress.

“The government’s announcement of financial support to get stalled housing development scheme’s going is good news. But the simple fact is that we will never build enough homes for all the families who need a home if we rely on the traditional ways of funding new housing development.

“The government needs to kick start investment by the life and pension companies in building for private renting on a large scale. So it is good that this gets some recognition in the strategy. Getting institutional funding for residential development would be a game changer. Some of the funds allocated under the Get Britain Building Fund must be awarded to schemes that demonstrate how this can be done.”

Redrow's The Bowery development in Bristol

Housebuilder Redrow is celebrating after The Bowery, one of its new developments in Bristol, was awarded the top five-star rating in the regional ‘Best Development’ category at the UK Property Awards.

The award means The Bowery received an overall score above 75% against a variety of criteria, including external appearance of the development, architectural and interior design, safety, security, energy efficiency and innovation.

The Bowery is one of two Redrow developments at Cheswick, near Stoke Park, north Bristol.

Hannah Pollard, Redrow sales manager (South West), said: “We are delighted to have received the top five-star award beating strong competition in the region. The Bowery is a flagship development featuring our New Heritage Collection homes.

“Both The Bowery and Aurora Springs benefit from outstanding properties with a superior specification. The award also recognises the dedication and hard work by all our staff in the South West region.”

Redrow’s innovative website Redrow.TV was ‘highly commended’ in the national category of Best Developer Website at the UK Property Awards. Furthermore, The Cheltenham Garden at The Bowery has been shortlisted in the New Homes Garden Awards, which will be announced later this month.

James Edwards

A Bristol-based planning specialist, who contributed to the largest ever report into the condition of England’s industrial heritage released this week, says the South West will lose many historic buildings unless action is taken soon.

James Edwards, heritage specialist at Colliers International in Bristol, says many historic buildings need to be brought back into use in order to save them.

His comments follow the release of a major report “Encouraging Investment in Industrial Heritage at Risk” commissioned by English Heritage which finds that listed industrial buildings are more at risk than almost any other kind of heritage.

Almost 11% of grade I and II industrial buildings across the UK are at risk, compared to just 3% of usual heritage buildings like cottages and stately homes.

A poll by English Heritage found that 80% of people think industrial buildings are just as important as castles and country houses. However, the current economic climate means that owners are unwilling to invest in industrial buildings and developers are unable to take on large projects.

“This is a vital report released at a time when there is a growing awareness that many buildings often considered outside the realm of conventional and successful re-use will be lost if they are not rescued and re-used in a way that retains their significance,” said Mr Edwards.

“In the South West we have historic industrial buildings that contain magnificent architectural features but which will cost significant amounts to convert for modern use.

“With public funding for schemes becoming increasingly rare we are seeing voluntary efforts and private funding and philanthropy as the major hopes for saving these buildings for future generations.

“We are not talking about preserving these buildings but bringing them into effective use whilst retaining their significance. The report seeks to identify changes in policy that can be made to encourage investment in historic industrial buildings and to gain an understanding on how the type, condition and location of these buildings affect their potential for successful re-use and how they can create returns on investment for developers in the future.

“The report highlights for example that 4% of all listed buildings are industrial in nature, and of which 10.6% of the grade I and II* listed buildings are at risk, which equates to industrial buildings being over 3 times more likely to be at risk than other non-industrial grade I and II* listed properties.”

English Heritage in response to the report are providing new guidance to owners of industrial properties, providing funding for a new Industrial Heritage Support Officer tasked with promoting and managing selected industrial buildings and supporting a new Architectural Heritage Fund grant scheme to encourage local groups to take on some of England’s historic industrial properties.

Bristol Business News

Workers at engineering consultancy Halcrow who own shares in the business could receive cash windfalls worth thousands of pounds after its directors agreed to a £124m takeover.

Halcrow, which has a base at Temple Quay, Bristol, is being acquired by major US group CH2M Hill. The deal is subject to the approval of its shareholders and the High Court, but is expected to be completed by November.

Halcrow was founded in 1868 and specialises in major transport, environmental and other infrastructure projects across the globe.

It has worked on many of the world’s largest construction projects from the Channel Tunnel rail link to London’s Crossrail, to airports, sea ports and motorways in North America, China and the Middle East.

It employs 6,000 people in nearly 100 offices globally. As well as its Bristol office it has a long-standing Swindon base, which with 500 staff iis the largest of its 20 regional offices and around the same size as its London HQ.

Originally a partnership, since 1990 the business has been majority owned by the Halcrow Trust, a fund set up by its former partners.

Of the 20.7m shares in the company, the trust owns around 74% with the balance held by more than 1,100 employees.

Once the takeover has been approved these staff will be able to sell their shares for cash or new shares in the enlarged business, potentially earning them thousands of pounds.

Staff were told of the acquisition earlier today through a video broadcast to all offices. Each then received an explanatory email and could find out more information on a dedicated intranet site.

In line with major engineering consultancies worldwide, Halcrow has been hit by a combination of the economic slowdown and increased rivalry in its major markets.

As a result, last year’s £8.8m pre-tax profits were almost half of the previous year with sales slipping by nearly 8% to £468m and the firm was forced to make 500 staff redundant.

Chief executive Peter Gammie admitted that Halcrow had approached Denver, Colorado-based, CH2M Hill as the two businesses have worked together for many years on projects.

“The consolidation, which reflects an increasing trend in our industry, will create a very significant value proposition for clients. We are very complementary in terms of our skills and our markets so, where we share geographies, we are reinforcing one another rather than duplicating,” he said.

CH2M Hill chairman and chief executive, Lee McIntire added: “This acquisition is a game changer for our clients.

“Our global footprint will be deeper and our bench strength will be even more robust. By combining our resources and leveraging our collective technical know-how, we will set a new standard for the marketplace. Best of all, our two firms are ideally suited in terms of cultures, markets, geographies, and we have a shared long-term vision for the future.”

A Halcrow spokesman said it was “business as usual” at its offices and staff would continue to be updated as the deal progressed.

Neil Sherreard

Neil Sherreard, managing director of Bristol construction firm Cowlin, has left the company he has spent almost 25 years with to set up a new venture.

Neil joined Cowlin in 1987 and worked his way through the ranks, becoming a shareholder in 1996 and managing director in 2000.

During his time as managing director, turnover has increased more than 12-fold from £17m turnover to more than £200m. He also managed Cowlin’s sale to Balfour Beatty, the UK’s largest construction company, in 2007 just prior to the credit crunch.

Neil stayed at Cowlin after the sale as managing director and was also appointed as a director of Balfour Beatty Scottish and Southern division.
Neil’s new ventures include setting up a property development company and joining Bristol-based specialist construction, property and finance PR firm bClear Communications as a part-time director.

He is also in discussions with a number of construction-related companies about consultancy and non-executive director roles.

Neil said: “After almost 25 years at Cowlin it was time to move on and explore new opportunities. It has been four years since we completed the sale to Balfour Beatty, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time there but I’m looking forward to new challenges using my expertise to assist other companies achieve similar levels of success to those at Cowlin.”

Bristol Business News…

ModCell Team with Kevin McCloud

Bristol-based green technology firm ModCell has launched an office in San Francisco, after only three years of trading in the UK.

The firm specialises in modern methods of construction – in particular the production of straw bale, pre-fabricated panels, which allow for the construction of large-scale, zero-carbon buildings.

The timber frame panels are filled with locally sourced straw or hemp and are constructed off-site in ‘Flying Factories’, often in farmer’s barns close to the build projects. The panels provide better thermal insulation than their more traditional counterparts, resulting in up to 80% reduction of heating bills.

Established by managing director Craig White, ModCell has completed projects in schools, housing and light industrial buildings. It is also currently working on feasibility projects with some of the UK’s large supermarket chains.

ModCell began working with UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) South West in 2010 to break into the US market. The company signed up to the UKTI Passport to Export programme as an introduction to trading overseas. Here ModCell gained valuable insights into specifically operating in the US.

A year on and ModCell has established an office in San Francisco where the company’s Business Development Manager, Miles Ford, is developing licence agreements for the US and Canada.

In May, ModCell was announced winner of the Design category in the UKTI Business Innovation Awards in America. The company is also planning to expand across Europe and is taking part in a UKTI trade mission to Berlin later this year.

Managing director Craig White said: “We have worked with Andrew and UKTI for over a year now and their support has been instrumental in giving us the confidence to take the step in setting up international operations.

“With UKTI’s help, we now understand what it really takes to develop a business overseas. Our experience to date, coupled with further support from UKTI will unquestionably pave the way for further international development.”

UKTI’s International Trade Advisor Andrew Fraser added: “ModCell really is leading the way in modern methods of construction and the fact they have successfully established themselves in the US only three years after trading in the UK is testament to their dedication and commitment over the last 12 months. I have no doubt they will enjoy continued success in other markets.”

Construction trainee

The construction industry is facing a ‘retirement timebomb’ as the number of 16- to 19-year-olds working in construction has more than halved in three years, according to research by CITB-ConstructionSkills.

The Sector Skills Council and Industry Training Board said about one in six workers is due to retire within 10 years.

The number of older workers aged 55 years and over in the industry has increased by 65% since 1990, while those aged 24 and under has fallen by more than 40% over the same period.

Roger Stone, Sector Strategy Manager for CITB-ConstructionSkills South West said: “We are working hard to attract new blood into the industry because if we don’t act now this retirement timebomb could compromise our ability to benefit from the up-turn in the economy when it comes.

“In 1990, more than one in five (22%) of workers in the construction industry was aged 24 and under, but today, little more than one in ten of the sector’s workforce (12%) is within this age group.”

The trend has increased over the last twenty years and now affects professional trades, such as architects, surveyors and engineers as much as trade occupations.

Mr Stone added: “The risk is that the ageing workforce, coupled with a failure to train and attract sufficient people now, will result in a skills vacuum and manpower shortage in the future. CITB-ConstructionSkills is adding value to industry by working with businesses to offer apprenticeships and training and by promoting the opportunities for job progression that a career in construction can offer young people and job seekers.”