Developments aplenty at Shawfair Park

SHAWFAIR Park is the thin end of the wedge – it is part of what is known as the South East Wedge development in Midlothian and it has been about ten years in the making.

The South East Wedge, in effect, will mean the creation of a new town on the outskirts of Edinburgh, benefiting from the Dalkeith bypass (set to open in July), the proposed Edinburgh-Borders rail link (if and when that will open is anybody's guess) and a park-and-ride facility just opened.

Now the Buccleuch Property Shawfair Park, which will eventually be a development of more than £100 million, and is planned to be a commercial hub, is starting to take off – in more ways than one.

Last week agents and prospective tenants – more than 100 of them – were able to overlook the impressive site and early stages of the development by helicopter. Billed as Midlothian's premier business park, it will include amenities such as offices to lease or buy, a hotel, restaurant, crèche, leisure and fitness activities and convenience stores.

It is a 40-acre site, of which the first phase, the subject of the birds' eye tour last week, takes up only 1.5 acres – and there is already considerable interest.

This first phase has three buildings for use as offices – one at 5,000sq ft, one at 7,400sq ft and one at 10,200sq ft. Rents are about £17 per sq ft and a point not missed is that these offices are coming on the market at a time when new supply in Edinburgh is limited and rents in the city are going up.

The developer has also taken what it calls a "sustainable approach", which means that the offices have a "very good" Breeam rating.

Cameron Stott of Jones Lang LaSalle, joint agents with Montagu Evans, said the 5,000sq ft suite has already been taken up by an owner-occupier and there is "strong interest" in the other two.

He said: "This is quality accommodation at very competitive prices. There are further areas available for development and we have ongoing discussions with other parties who might buy a site to develop their own headquarters.

"The design for phase two has already been drawn up and will eventually be submitted for detailed planning permission. It will be along the lines of phase one. The Midlothian Council turns things round pretty quickly.

"We have had a number of inquiries from the medical and pharmaceutical business sector who want to take space."

The reason for that interest is the proximity of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and the fact that Spire Healthcare – now owner of Bupa – is to build a new private hospital at Shawfair on a two-acre site.

It will be a 32-room private hospital with room for expansion and it will include an outpatient consulting service and operating theatres.

All this Buccleuch development is on land that has been Buccleuch-owned for hundreds of years as part of its Dalkeith Estate.

Sandy Smith, development director of Buccleuch Property, says there is more on the way. Not far from Shawfair it has another site poised for action.

At Salters Road, there are 70 acres in all and, unlike Shawfair, the emphasis will be on industrial. Smith says: "We are already sitting down with Midlothian Council on planning and we will start marketing it fairly quickly. The Council is very proactive with planning."

Of all this development he says: "My gut feeling is that this is a ten-year play."

AGENTS ON THE MOVE

KING Sturge is to move from Lismore House in George Street, Edinburgh, to 7 Castle Street, where it has taken just under 5,000sq ft at £29 per sq ft on a ten-year lease on space vacated by the Scottish Media Group. Jones Lang LaSalle, which acted for landlords Kilmartin in the deal, is also moving from Lismore House, to 7,000sq ft at 7 Exchange Crescent.

A TOWNHOUSE building in Glasgow with only one tenant has been sold by Warner Estate Holdings to HHPI for £3.45 million. The building, at 158-160 West George Street, comprises a total 15,359sq ft of office space and is let in its entirety to Willis Group, providing an annual rental income of £215,000. GVA Grimley acted for HHPI, with Jones Lang LaSalle and Graham and Sibbald for Warner.

THE Knight Property Group has clinched a major pre-let on a £5.5m development at Howe Moss Avenue, at Dyce, Aberdeen. McCartney UK, which supplies products and engineering solutions to the underwater technology market, is to let for 20 years a development which will include 7,007sq ft of offices, 12,008sq ft of warehouses, 9,110sq ft of workshops and a 14,697sq ft concrete yard.

THE Postcode Lottery has taken 3,084sq ft at Great Michael House, in Links Place, Edinburgh, from C&W Assets for three years £44,718 a year. C&W Assets was represented by Colliers and Montagu Evans, Postcode by Eric Young.

TWO office deals on behalf of Otterston Properties mean the "full up" sign is at 3 Drumsheugh Gardens in Edinburgh. Commercial consultant Bowe Watts Clargo has signed for a five-year lease on 474sq ft at £14.50 per sq ft and PR consultants Invicta has taken 680sq ft at £15 per sq ft. Otterston was advised by King Sturge, with the tenants self-represented.

LESURETEC (Ryden acting) has sold to a private client of Sanders Cartwright the heritable interest in 229 Union Street, Aberdeen for around £1m, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.15 per cent. The four-floor retail property is let to Happit at £65,000 a year.

THE Black Bull Hotel in Lauder has been sold to Perthshire Taverns by Tony and Maureen Rennie who plan to retire from the licensed trade. The purchase price was not disclosed but selling agents Colliers Robert Barry confirmed that it was close to the asking price of offers over £925,000.

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