24th February 2015

Ediston unveils £200m development programme for 2015

Ediston Real Estate has unveiled a £200m package of retail and office developments across the UK specifically targeted to meet positive occupier demand in an environment of limited supply and to satisfy the strong weight of institutional investment in retail parks and regional offices.

The developments, which will be rolled out throughout 2015, will see Edinburgh-headquartered Ediston expand its retail park portfolio by a further 323,000 sq. ft. The company will also launch a major new £45m, 113,000 sq. ft. office building in Bath for the Ediston Opportunity Fund, which will be the city’s first Grade A office building in 20 years, when delivered in 2016/17.

Retail parks scheduled for development include: Pallion Retail Park – Sunderland and Heathfield Retail Park, Ayr for the Ediston Opportunity Fund and Clwyd Retail Park – Rhyl, North Wales for Ediston Property Investment Company PLC, with a further three sites in Scotland including; Gallagher Shopping Park – Port Glasgow for the Strathclyde Pension Fund, Tesco Pension Trustees’ retail park at Robroyston in North East Glasgow and the former Fruitmarket site in West Edinburgh which will be developed into a 60,000 sq. ft. retail park and 113 homes.  When all sites are completed they will have a combined end value of £150m.

The ambitious programme follows continued growth throughout 2014 for Ediston, as the real estate specialist further strengthens its successful property investment and development business. The past year saw the completion of £73m of projects and the delivery of 250,000 sq. ft. of retail planning permissions, whilst securing £58m of new development stock across Ediston’s existing funds and existing and new institutional clients.

Ediston’s major office refurbishments in Aberdeen and Birmingham city centres were completed and sold with end values of £15.35m and £22.85m respectively, and in partnership with Tesco Pension Trustees, the Jarman Square Leisure Park development in Hemel Hempstead was successfully completed and let in December 2014 with an end value of £33m.

Commenting on the upcoming plans, Andy McKinlay, Ediston’s Director of Development, said:  “Over the last three years we have had tremendous success in the creation of institutional stock from the refurbishment of well-located but secondary retail and office property and the delivery of speculative office re-developments.

Our focus in 2015 is to build upon that success, and deliver the consented retail park developments we have worked hard to secure and prelet in 2014, but also to acquire office refurbishment opportunities and sites for speculative office development in regional centres where we believe we can add significant value and expertise to growing institutional demand.

To deliver this, Ediston has expanded its Development Team with the addition of experienced and highly regarded expertise in Neal Jamieson and Niall McLean to ensure we continue to deliver a first class service with strong returns for our clients.

In addition, Ediston has further enhanced the team by recruiting Graham Lind from London based retail warehouse specialist Wilkinson Williams. Graham provides significant expertise in the retail park sector and will help ensure letting and future asset management opportunities are maximised.

In January, Ediston announced details of the £9.5m acquisition of the Merchant Square, a popular Glasgow leisure destination, bought as part of the Clydebuilt Fund which is a joint venture between Strathclyde Pension Fund and Ediston.

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