award winning architects

Tuesday, 15 March 2011 00:00

John Wright, Workplace

John Wright

I Love Being An Architect - Most of The Time

I love being an architect, well most of the time anyway.  Even though the past two years have been a bit of a challenge to say the least, we in the commercial team have been busy with some exciting projects.

We completed new offices for South Gloucestershire Council in Yate.  The great thing about Badminton Road is not only did it achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’ but it also helped the council rationalise its offices bringing together staff from over 20 offices into one efficient facility.  The project has become an exemplar for new council offices.

One Glass Wharf in Bristol, the new home for lawyers Burges Salmon, was completed forming part of a major regeneration scheme which has seen the radical improvement of prime business space in the heart of Bristol.

We are about to start on site with the £15m refurbishment and extension of County Hall, Trowbridge for Wiltshire Council and planning consent for  70,000 sq ft of prime office space at 100 Temple Quay has been gained for Aviva Investors.

Last but very much not least, is the unique and exciting National Composites Centre, Bristol which is due to complete in May.  The scheme brings together SWRDA, University of Bristol, Vestas, Airbus, GKN Aerospace, Rolls Royce and Augusta Westland, plus other industrial partners in a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ research facility.

What will 2011 bring?

More of the same I suspect.

We have projects to keep us busy and opportunities to hunt down.  2 College Square, Harbourside has just started on site and will be completed by the end of 2011, providing 25,000 sq ft of pre-let office space to CMS Cameron McKenna lawyers with the other 25,000 sq ft being marketed at the moment.

Let’s hope we see an improvement in the Commercial sector, not only in the South West but across the UK.  Speculative office projects are unlikely to come forward this year if the banks will not fund them!  Investment funds will continue to fund development, but only the highest quality and only with significant pre-lets.

Clients are looking at their existing buildings and thinking that now could be a good time to start refurbishment or redevelopment, so that they have stock or consented schemes to offer to the market in 18-24 months time.   Anyone with well rented prime located ‘Grade A’ offices has a great asset, with yields reducing and values rising. Everything else will grow in value very slowly, so alternative uses that offer an immediate increase (student accommodation, hotel, residential) may be attractive as a redevelopment option.

Sustainability is still at the top of many clients priorities list.  Developer clients are responding to a corporate occupier market that need to be seen to be given to satisfy CSR commitments, and to a two-tier investment market that is discounting on BREEAM ‘Excellent’ buildings.

Public occupiers are being asked to be green by reducing their carbon footprint, with an interesting focus on EPC’s and DEC’s rather than BREEAM on a measure of sustainability.

Sustainability is also still at the top of some of our clients’ lists as they are being pushed to move to a two-tier investment market, which is discounting non-sustainable buildings because there is an expectation they will not re-let in the future.

2011 may see little change. There will be no miraculous recovery and no or very few new build developments merging from foundations but, the economic downturn has forced us to look at existing stock and consider how this supports future need and growth across the UK, so perhaps it really is a case of ‘every cloud’.

John Wright, Director (Workplace)

For more information about One Glass Wharf or Badminton Road please visit the following pages:

projects / offices / One Glass Wharf

projects / offices / Badminton Road