Archive: Feb 2016
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OBI Property celebrates six years
Manchester based independent real estate firm OBI Property celebrates its sixth birthday on 1 February. The firm has more than doubled the size of its office (from 1,500 sq ft to 3,300 sq ft) and created Clockwork, a new amenity space for its visiting clients and friends use.
OBI Property has grown steadily over the past six years and is now a team of 18. It is an established real estate consultancy which provides innovative solutions to its landlord and occupier clients which include AO.com, NCC Group, Rentalcars.com, Allied London, LJ Partnership, British Airways and CBRE Global Investors.
Andrew Cowell, Transactions and Asset Management Team, OBI Property said: “The success of the business is down to the strength of our award-winning team. We provide the best advice when our clients engage us across our multi-discipline services which include interior design, project management, dilapidations, ratings, leasing and investment consultancy. We call the collection of our services the OBI Difference.
“We are obsessed with delivering quality throughout every touch point of the business. We are here to disrupt the conventional approach to real estate, we are proudly independent and apply the OBI Difference to everything we do.”
With views over St Peter’s Square, the new fit out at OBI’s office at 80 Mosley Street includes more meeting rooms, a design hub, quiet booths and the new Clockwork concept. Clockwork is a touchdown space for visiting clients to work, host meetings, utilise the bar facilities or simply relax.
Andy Crompton, Workplace Consultancy Team, OBI Property said: “With the extension to the office we decided we wanted to create a place which our clients and friends could think of as their own. Everyone in the team had input into the design of the new office and we surveyed a number of our clients to establish what they would value from our Clockwork concept. We want the new workspace to be a hive of activity throughout the week.”
The OBI Property sixth birthday press coverage included the a large feature, and front cover for the team, in Greater Manchester Business Week.
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Lathwood joins Landmark Investments Group
Today Landmark Investments Group announced the appointment of David Lathwood as non-executive chairman.
David joins Bolton based Landmark Investments Group, the ground rent specialist, to provide strategic advice and guidance as the company expands its activity, particularly looking at new opportunities in the residential and commercial sectors.
David is Lead Director of the North West for international commercial property consultancy JLL, where he is responsible for 175 professionals in the region. He is a member of the JLL UK Executive Board, which he joined after the £200m acquisition of King Sturge where he was the Managing Partner of the UK Regions. Over his 30yr+ career he has overseen many major development and regeneration projects in the region, most recently the Carrington and Alderley Park sales.
David Lathwood said: “I’ve known Mark for quite some time and I have been very impressed with his drive and ambition for Landmark Investments Group. I look forward to lending my knowledge, support and advice to Mark and his team as they build on the already successful core of the business.”
Mark Hawthorn, director, Landmark Investments Group said: “Having worked with David over the years, his input and integrity have always proved invaluable to us. We are advanced with a number of projects which will create new parts of the group, which we expect to formally announce later in the year. David brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to Landmark and I know he will play an important role in the company as we move forward.”
Established in 2000, Bolton based Landmark Investments Group main area of activity is the acquisition and management of residential and commercial ground rents. The activity covers Landmark’s own growing portfolio as well as deals for a number of retained clients.
The news about David’s appointment was covered in Manchester Evening News, Place North West and Move Commercial
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OBI dominates Manchester leasing market
OBI Property has announced it completed over 400,000 sq ft of landlord lettings and acquired circa 150,000 sq ft of office space on behalf of its impressive collection of occupier clients. The results confirm OBI’s position as the most prolific leasing advisor in central Manchester.
The Manchester based firm advises some of the region’s most exciting business such as NCC Group, Rentalcars.com, AO.World and Squires Patton Boggs Solicitors. OBI was awarded Property Week’s Niche Agency of the Year Award for 2015 and celebrates its 6th year in business on 1 February 2016.
Figures compiled by the Manchester Office Agents Forum, show OBI Property topping to leagues for both landlord disposals and tenant acquisition work; well ahead of the large national and international firms operating in the city.
MOAF League Table Landlord leasing disposals Sq ft transacted Number of deals 1 OBI 400,642 67 2 Edwards & Co 252,430 107 3 CBRE 248,108 35 4 Savills 226,809 20 5 Cushmans 218,662 53 6 JLL 189,045 33 7 WHR 159,115 68 8 CON 127,550 47 9 BGVA 119,994 18 10 Colliers 92,460 19 MOAF League Table Tenant acquisitions Sq ft transacted Number of deals 1 OBI 141,535 11 2 Knight Frank 86,552 6 3 JLL 56,253 2 4 Savills 45,780 4 5 Cushmans 44,882 6 6 Colliers 40,191 5 7 WHR 21,230 4 8 CBRE 17,377 3 9 M&G 12,343 3 10 LSH 6,600 1 Richard Lace, Transactions & Asset Management team, OBI Property said: “Without doubt 2015 was a strong year for the business and we are particularly humbled by our position at the top of the Manchester Office Agents Forum league tables.
“With the recent trend of mergers and acquisitions rife within the world of real estate consultancies, there appears to be a misconception that size translates to quality. Our consistent results prove that clients still want a personal touch and as a boutique, OBI provide the highest quality advice and client care which ensures our clients are successful. We know our market inside out, we’re flexible and we care – on average we’re converting 1-2 deals a week and our occupier work has grown rapidly throughout the UK. We disrupt the conventional approach to the property market, we are proudly independent, and we apply the OBI difference to everything we do.”
Looking forward to the year ahead, OBI Property is confident it will perform strongly.
Richard continued: “The coming year shows no signs of slowing down, we’ve already converted the Squire Patton Boggs deal, recently been instructed on 22-24 Fountain Street totalling 22,150 sq ft and our workplace and building consultancy departments are working on some great schemes.”
The market dominance of OBI Property featured in several publications including the Manchester Evening News.