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Broadoak have announced the recruitment of Rebecca Morgan to join the Newcastle team.

Rebecca joins as an Associate Director and has a background in Commercial agency having previously worked for CBRE in Leeds and Knight Frank in Newcastle.  She also spent a year on secondment at Newcastle City Council. Rebecca joins a growing team that recently welcomed John Seager as Development Director.

Rebecca said ‘I’m excited to be joining the Broadoak team at a really interesting time. The property fundamentals in the North East are better than they have been for many years.  We are seeing new development opportunities become more viable as occupier demand and investor appetite continue to grow.  The Broadoak platform is unique in Newcastle to be able to partner with leading landowners and investors to maximise the value of their assets.’

Rebecca has worked on some key development projects including Newcastle Helix and Vaux, Sunderland.  She helped land some major lettings including The Princes Trust at Blandford Square, Concentrix at Stephenson Quarter, TSG at Quorum and Condeco at Gainsborough House in Newcastle.

Fergus Trim, Founding Director at Broadoak said ‘We are delighted to welcome Rebecca to the team. She is well known and very well regarded in the market and will bring a range of experience and skills to complement the Broadoak offering.’

Well known commercial property specialist John Seager has joined Broadoak Asset Management as a Director.  John brings over 25 years’ experience in developing, investing and managing all sectors of property. 

John will lead the Development side of the business having spent the last 5 years as Chief Executive of Siglion, the Sunderland regeneration partnership.  He also spent more than a decade working on developments for Gateshead based UK Land Estates. Prior to that, John worked at Knight Frank in Newcastle and Strutt & Parker in London and brings tremendous experience in overseeing development and regeneration projects of all scales with both the private and public sector.

Fergus Trim, Fellow Director of Broadoak said, “John joining marks an exciting new chapter for Broadoak having achieved some hugely significant things in his career to date. Bringing development to the former Vaux site and attracting significant inward investment and jobs is just one illustration of his capabilities. We’re delighted to have John as part of the team”

John said “I’ve known Fergus and the Broadoak team for several years and our vision of unlocking commercial property potential is very much aligned, I’m hugely excited about the projects that we are currently working on and helping deliver developments that are a catalyst for economic, social and environmental change.” 

Founded in 2014, Broadoak acts as a partner to investors and property owners.  Bringing experience and capacity at a local level, we deliver commercial development projects, reinvent tired buildings through refurbishment and attract occupiers.  We add value to strategic assets through place making and a hands-on approach. Our track record shows that we have always delivered outstanding results.

Broadoak have helped Cerberus affiliate Promontoria Quorum BV execute a successful exit of their investment at Quorum Business Park in Newcastle having purchased it in 2013 as part of an acquisition of a larger portfolio of assets.  

Two of the buildings at Quorum totalling 150,000sqft were sold in 2015 and 2017.  The remaining eight buildings have now been sold to Shelborn, giving a total return ahead of business plan.   

The Broadoak role at Quorum had originated in 2008 with Fergus Trim’s initial role as Development Director.  This role included the delivery of 450,000sqft of grade A space, leasing over 600,000sqft of space to 30 different occupiers including Greggs plc, Balfour Beatty and Tesco Bank and finally the successful exit of the investment.

The positive take up and high occupation levels at Quorum have proved attractive to investors with 75% of the Park changing hands over the last 18 months in 4 separate investment transactions.  

Fergus Trim said ‘Quorum has been a great project for us.  I’ve personally been involved for over 12 years from construction, place making, winning national awards, welcoming 30 businesses and over 7,000 staff to the park, and finally helping deliver the sale for our investment partners. 2019 saw two large occupiers extend their leases and commit to additional space, with another 4 new lettings including a significant new inward investment win.  This run of leasing meant the timing was good to bring this asset to the market and execute the successful sale.’

HistoCyte Laboratories have moved their Newcastle base to the Neon building at Quorum. They have created four class II laboratories, making this the first laboratories created at Quorum.

Fergus Trim of Broadoak Asset Management said ‘We are really pleased to welcome Histocyte to the Neon building. This was a project we worked on for a long time, to show how the office space could be adapted to provide high quality bespoke laboratory space, on a flexible cost effective model. It is an exciting time for the biotech industry in Newcastle . We would love to grow a cluster here and welcome other Biotech companies to Quorum’.

HistoCyte wanted the company to stay in Newcastle. Director Colin Tristram said ‘We looked at a few options, but settled on Quorum due to the good transportation links and flexibility of the space. The team at Broadoak helped us with the technical specification in converting the office space into laboratories. Quorum signals the next phase in the growth of HistoCyte Laboratories. We now have a global brand in the tissue diagnostics market. Sitting as we do in between the large players we have found a significant niche in which to reside and grow. It is an exciting time in Newcastle and the Northeast for the growing biotech sector.”

The Neon building creates a new workplace modal across 19 units of varying sizes from 6 desks upwards. This allows businesses of all sizes to mix and collaborate with shared meeting rooms and spaces. The new smaller office suites offer start-ups the chance to establish and grow in a business park full of big- name occupiers. All the suites are of a high-quality spec and with room to expand into larger space supported by a host of onsite amenities.

Broadoak Asset Management have successfully achieved Wired Certified Gold rating for digital connectivity at its Q11 building at Quorum Business Park in Newcastle.

The Gold Seal is awarded in recognition of reliable and diverse internet connectivity within commercial buildings and prepared for the connectivity needs of future tenants. Wired Score is the global benchmark of digital connectivity, set up in New York in 2013 with the endorsement of Mayor Bloomberg. It was set up to improve the city’s technology infrastructure and it now operates across the Globe.

Quorum is among the first locations in the North East to get this gold accreditation.  Fergus Trim, Director at Broadoak, the Asset Managers at Quorum said ‘We are delighted to get gold accreditation from Wired Score. This shows the investment we have made into the digital infrastructure including our partnership with Aspire, who have instilled a 1 gig bearer into the building.  We can give tenants rapid connection with dedicated and cost-effective service from 10mb upwards.

The Gold standard is a bench mark that all internet providers are striving to achieve for the majority of Workspace business centres in the coming years. Wired Score certified commercial properties give new and growing companies peace of mind that their telecoms capabilities are reliable, up-to-date and futureproof. The telecoms and property sectors work with Wired Score to create a rigorous set of standards in order to achieve this award.

The Internet is clearly among the top three most important factors for tenants who are searching for office space, along with cost and location. Up until now there has been limited information available to tenants about the quality of internet connectivity in office spaces. Wired Certification provides that transparency and access to information to tenants which in turns gives prospective tenants the information they need to make an informed decision.

 

Quorum Business Park has welcomed a raft of new occupiers into their newly created Neon suites.

The 18 units created within the Neon building were launched in October 2018 and provide spaces from 6 up to 150 desks.

The space was created with generous break out space and shared facilities and an urban feel to attract younger fast growth companies, and this approach has been borne out with the first three new occupiers all coming from Newcastle’s growing Tech cluster.

WANdisco, a leading Californian headquartered Big Data Company, became the first letting in the inspirational new space.  WANdisco specialise in providing data infrastructure with its ground-breaking LiveData platform.

Contec a system integrator focusing on industrial automation was the next new company to arrive, taking 681sqft.  Contec was founded in 1986 in Belgium and specialise in engineering software.  This international inward investment saw the opening of Contec’s first office in the UK, with Newcastle being chosen for this new investment.

The third new tenant to Neon Thingco, taking 1,081 sqft. Thingco is focused on developing telematics technology and applications utilising artificial intelligence.  In January 2019 they launched ‘Theo’ the ground-breaking connected car service delivered via a ‘super dashcam’. CEO Mike Brockman says, ‘Our new location in the Neon building will act as our nerve centre and most importantly offers us the right environment for expansion, as device sales take off following the launch’.

Fergus Trim, Director at Broadoak, Asset Managers at Quorum said ‘We are pleased to welcome WANdisco, Contec and Thingco to the Neon building.  They are all a great example of the growing tech sector companies being attracted by the new high- quality suites we have created in Neon’

The creating of the Neon suites was a significant investment at Quorum, bringing creative design and amenity, while maintaining the high-quality office space which the business park is known for.  This allows businesses of all sizes to access to shared meeting rooms, breakout hubs and open space to meet and collaborate with fellow occupiers.

Maxim Business Park on the outskirts of Glasgow was sold to property investor Shelborn Asset Management in a deal worth £38 million.

Broadoak Asset Management more than doubled the occupation at Maxim since it’s took over in 2015, with 15 tenants arriving and the largest Glasgow non-core office lettings of both 2017 and 2018. Tenants included: the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, flexible workspace giant Regus, infrastructure group Balfour Beatty and life science firms Lamellar Biochemical and TC BioPharm.

Public transport services were also increased to offer up to 185 busses per day and additional on-site amenities including retail offerings, outdoor sports equipment and electric vehicle charging points.

The marketing and leasing campaign led by Broadoak repositioned Maxim in the market which led to a successful leasing campaign for smaller suites in the park.

Maxim won the CoStar Glasgow Deal of the Year award in 2017 for the 43,520 sq ft letting to Balfour Beatty. Broadoak also achieved the largest Glasgow business park letting of standing stock in 2018 letting over 68,000 sq ft to Sitel which secured an additional 900 jobs at the park.

Craig Ritchie of Broadoak said: “Maxim has had a great run of leasing success over the last 24 months, particularly with the Balfour Beatty and Sitel lettings, so timing was good to capture the increase in value and execute a successful exit.

Broadoak Asset Management have secured the 6^th new letting at Quorum Business Park in 2018, with news that The DVSA have moved to the Lightbox building.

DVSA who moved from Manors Business Park in Newcastle have taken 10,247 sq ft on the ground floor on a new lease.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency is an executive agency of the UK Department for Transport. It carries out driving tests, approves people to be driving instructors and MOT testers, carries out tests to make sure lorries and buses are safe to drive, carries out roadside checks on drivers and vehicles, and monitors vehicle recalls.

Fergus Trim, Broadoak Director: ‘We are pleased to welcome The DVSA to the park. The flexible terms that we were able to offer in the Lightbox building proved highly attractive. It is great that they have chosen to base themselves at Quorum.’

The Lightbox is a 60,000 sq ft building located at the front of Quorum Business Park. Other tenants in the building include: Connect Physical Health and Northumbria CRC.

Broadoak Asset Management has secured 2018’s largest out of town office letting in Scotland. Sitel, the global outsourcing company, leased an entire building of 58,800 sq ft at Maxim Park near Glasgow. Sitel will open the new facility in early 2019 and will service a contract on behalf of a major media supplier. 

Craig Ritchie, director at Broadoak, commented that the building, Maxim 10, had been leased for 10 years and will house 800 staff, which is the largest letting and single occupancy at the Park to date.

Following negotiating and concluding the lease, Ritchie managed the completion of the Landlord’s Category A works to the building, which had been completed to a shell & core finish. Broadoak also co-ordinated Sitel’s occupier fit out and accommodated their early entry requirements by fast tracking some of the works and working a phased entry into the programme.

The Sitel letting was perfectly timed, according to Ritchie, who said,  “ The Sitel deal came right on the heels of the significant letting of Maxim 7 to Balfour Beatty and together these deals demonstrate that Broadoak had successfully repositioned Maxim, making it a very attractive proposition for occupiers and investors”.

Utility Alliance, a Teeside headquartered business energy use consultancy, has opened a new Tyneside office at Quorum Business Park in Newcastle.

The fast growing company have created over 60 new jobs in an initial phase, with further growth planned.  The company have taken 13,500sqft in the top floor of building Q1 at Quorum, which gives the company room for further expansion. This is the largest letting in Newcastle so far this year.

Utility Alliance trade, monitor and use the latest technologies to lower electric, gas and water bills and was set up in Hartlepool in 2015. Initially, a team of six, the business has grown rapidly over the last three years, and now operates with a workforce of around 200.

The business has enjoyed great success and was named as overall winner in the Hartlepool Business of the Year 2017 Awards.  It is recognised as one of the fastest growing of its kind in the utilities sector, and works alongside some of the biggest suppliers in the world to secure the best possible deals for clients.

Bob Moore, Managing Director of Utility Alliance said ‘We are excited about the expansion to Newcastle, and an exciting new chapter for the business.  We are pleased with the new space at Quorum, and how quickly the new team has been recruited, and been able to get up and running.’

Fergus Trim of Broadoak, the Asset Managers at Quorum said ‘We are pleased to welcome Utility Alliance to Tyneside and to Quorum.  The new jobs growth is really positive, and they are growing fast.  It was good to work closely with the business to get them into the space and up and working as quickly as possible.’