Brighton and Hove's commercial property sector shows potential

That’s the message from commercial property agents who say that from retail units to business parks, the scene in the city is showing a strong performance.

The growth has been driven both by the emerging digital companies and established sectors such as retail. From the Marina to the Level and beyond agents say they are seeing ever increasing levels of business.

Steven Harvey at Oakley Commercial said Woodingdean Business Park is thriving with a rush of sales and lettings to companies spanning a diverse range of sectors from healthcare to IT.

Regeneration specialist St Modwen has developed the 12-acre business park just outside Brighton city centre in six phases over the last eight years.

Oakley Commerical has acted as agent for St Modwen throughout the development of Woodingdean Business Park. Mr Harvey, director, said: “Along with the industrial lettings we’ve seen a boom in companies letting office space and have completed deals with MiHomecare Ltd, Lighthouse Group and System Software Ltd in the last three months.

“New occupiers include acupuncture and herbal medicine specialists Avicenna and car parts supplier Jayar Components. Reflex Nutrition has taken a second unit in addition to its 35,000 sq ft headquarters on the site – one of Brighton’s largest ever design and build projects.”

The final phase is providing a 12,000 sq ft building for national removal and storage company GB Liners, which is set to pick the te keys in March.

Phase four features six units totalling 12,150 sq ft and is fully sold.

Nick Kay, development director at St Modwen, said: “The level of activity is testament to the quality of Woodingdean Business Park and a clear indicator that Brighton’s commercial market is on the move.

“St Modwen is hungry to do more business in the city and will be actively seeking further development opportunities there in the new year.”

Max Pollock at Carr and Priddle in Ship Street said 2013 had been another busy year at the firm with retail units showing a strong performance.

He said: “Having started the year with the sale of Longley Industrial Estate for Tesco we continued to prosper with the sale of several former branches for NatWest bank in Brighton, Hove, Newhaven and St Leonards.

“A flurry of activity took place in the North Laine in the spring, with the letting of a number of units, where premiums as high as £50,000 were achieved for retail shop leases.

“Brighton Marina continues to evolve and the recent letting to Streetfunk – which gives hip-hop dance lessons – has brought a lot of excitement. We feel this will be a real boost with classes running throughout the day and night for a great community use.”

At Cluttons in the Old Steine retail expert Colin Brades said the firm “is experiencing greater numbers of requirements from the retail industry including multiples, regional and local players.”

He said: “In Western Road we have a good quality list of national operators seeking representation for those sites likely to become available next year. It is also good to see that major landlords such as Standard Life at Churchill Square, Centurion in Brighton Square, Cathedral Group in Circus Street and others are appreciating the need to create the ideal environments and space required by today's forward thinking leisure and retail operators.”

The firm’s associate, Chris Broome, said Cluttons has seen an increase in activity in the office with take-up at around 185,000 square feet – its highest level since 2010.

He said: “As with most years the majority of office deals in the city involved space of less than 5,000 square feet. Cluttons has successfully concluded six lettings of small suites of 500 to 1,000 square feet at Hove Technology Centre, St Joseph’s Close. The centre is now fully let.

“As evidenced by the recent Brighton Fuse report, some of the most active sectors in Brighton and Hove are in new media and creative industries. At New England House, New England Street, where the letting policy caters solely to these sectors, Cluttons has let/agreed terms for nine units of 1,000 to 3,500 sq ft together with 14 units of under 1,000 sq ft. Only one unit over 1,000 sq ft is currently available.

Andrew Halfacree, of Flude Commercial, reported strong activity in the local commercial property market. He said: “After five difficult years 2013 proved to be a much improved year. The market improved as the year went on.

“We saw a much increased number of occupiers looking to do things in 2013 – take larger premises, take more outlets.

“We also saw a significant improvement in the investment market – particularly from September onwards. I believe that these improvements were due to a improved business confidence generally and a loosening of planning policy in particular.

“We experienced a fairly rare set of circumstances in 2013 where, in many markets, supply equalled demand.”

Phil Graves, at Graves Jenkins in Marlborough Place, said that the main issue affecting business last year was the fact that banks have fallen out of love with commercial property, which means there has been very few new projects in the city.

He said: “Tenants had to look at existing stock. Both retail and Grade A office units have performed well.

“The retail offer in Brighton and Hove remains one of the strongest in the South East but tenants have had to work harder on their shop fronts and on their service. What is unusual in the city is that the academic sector represents around 10% of the |market. You would expect it to be |half that.

“The two universities have been very active. Over the last two years 90% of our transactions in commercial property were leaseholds.

“Overall Brighton and Hove can look forward to the new year with |confidence, but nobody is complacent.

“People will have to work harder and be more cost-sensitive. This is the new normal.”