Archive: Sep 2017

  1. Tunafish Media signs up to Canada House

    OBI Property has announced Tunafish Media has taken a 2,000 sq ft office suite at Canada House, Chepstow Street on a five year lease.

    Creative agency Tunafish Media has chosen to move to Canada House to support the growth of the business and the firm is very impressed with the refurbishment plans.

    Sam Jones, Tunafish Media said:  “We’re blown away by the plans for Canada House and the timing is perfect as we’re going through a period of rapid growth as a business.  We are especially excited to get to know our new neighbours as the building fills up, I know there will be a really supportive community of like-minded businesses here.”

    The £3 million transformation of the 70,000 sq ft Canada House is well underway and last month Puma announced it would remain in the building and take an extra 3,500 sq ft so it occupies the fifth and sixth floors.

    OBI Property is sole leasing agent on Canada House and is providing project management on the transformation project to building owners LJ Partnership.  Workspace are main contractors and Zerum provided planning advice.

    Andrew Cowell, transaction and asset management, OBI Property said:  “I am delighted Tunafish is moving into Canada House.  There’s a proper buzz about Canada House, it’s building a community of occupiers who value their working environment.”

    George Haddo, LJ Partnership said: “We could not have asked for a better start to the transformation of Canada House.  It’s clear there’s a lot of love for the building and it’s great to welcome diverse yet, modern and forward thinking businesses to Canada House.”

    The work at Canada House will complete in two phases, with a range of office suites to be completed next month and the full project completed by the end of the year.

    The building’s infrastructure is being upgraded while a new cycle park will be installed in the basement, with a café, meeting space and screening room added to the ground floor.  The available office suites ranging from 250 sq ft to 9,200 sq ft on the first, second, third and fourth floors will be fully refurbished.

    This news was published by Insider.

  2. New sales channel could bring tens of millions of pounds of residential projects to site

    LDS (Landmark Development Solutions) is a new and innovative alternative sales channel for developers, offering to remove risk and help retain the rewards associated with speculative development.

    LDS will contractually underwrite entire housing schemes pre-construction, therefore removing developer’s fears around future pricing and demand. The developer is then free to market and sell its units on the open market, any sales will offer a profit share for both parties. At the end of the construction and marketing process LDS will acquire any unsold units, allowing the developer and its lender a clean exit.

    Mark Hawthorn, CEO, Landmark Investments Group said:  “We’re proud to finally bring LDS to the market.  We’ve invested a great deal in discussions with developers, lenders, lawyers and specialist advisors to shape the offering so it’s well balanced for all parties.”

    “The North West is our initial focus, however we are looking at a national roll out in the near future.  We are predominately looking at housing developments in towns and suburbs, rather than city centres and are in advanced negotiations on several sites, which should contract in the near future.

    “Our research clearly shows there is around £1,000,000,000 of qualifying stock per year in the North West alone. We believe our offering will change the way many developers are able to both fund development and sell their sites.

    “Developers are still having a hard time accessing funding, which they don’t expect to change anytime soon. Mainstream lenders, who are the best source of low cost debt, are very cautious of speculative residential development which forces developers down much more expensive channels. LDS simply removes the speculative nature and associated risk of development for lenders and developers. Once those concerns are removed developers are finding that a whole range of lending channels are opening up. We are already working closely with a number of lenders who see the clear benefit of our involvement.”

    LDS is a new division of Landmark Investments Group.  The Group comprises Landmark Investments (large owner of residential and commercial ground rents) and Landmark Collections (managing all ground rents, funds, insurance and other functions).

    This news was published by Insider.