Lambert Smith Hampton let another
industrial unit in Godmanchester

Following Doterra’s recent acquisition of Unit 17, Lambert Smith Hampton’s (LSH’s) Cambridge office have now let a further unit at Roman Way Industrial Estate in Godmanchester.


Acting on the instructions of Valad Property Group, LSH have recently let Unit 18, approximately 1,100 sq ft of industrial space, to ASP Trading Limited. The unit incorporates roller shutter access, office space and WC facilities with good onsite parking. The estate is secured with palisade fencing around the perimeter and the entrance gates are locked at night.

Commenting Nick Thompson, Head of Industrial for LSH Cambridge, said, “This deal follows the recent letting of the adjoining unit on the Estate. Both companies that have taken up the new leases have agreed that the estate provides an excellent environment for smaller companies to conduct their business. The estate provides good quality small industrial units which are available on flexible, cost effective terms.”

There are various units available to let on new full repairing and insuring leases for terms to be agreed. Please contact LSH on 01223 276336 for further details or to arrange a viewing.

Nick Thompson
Surveyor
Lambert Smith Hampton

Tel: 01223 276336
Email: nthompson@lsh.co.uk

Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH)

LSH is a leading commercial property consultancy with an unrivalled national network focused on the UK and Ireland property markets. Its expert teams deliver a full spectrum of transactional and consultancy services and business-driven solutions for clients. LSH is the ‘UK’s most active national agent’ and ‘Top National Office and Industrial Agent’ (Estates Gazette’s ‘EGi Deals Competition’).

Lambert Smith Hampton’s (LSH) Cambridge office is a commercial property consultancy providing property services and advice in Cambridge, the surrounding area and nationally. With LSH clients have the added advantage of each office being backed by the strength of a national office network. For clients, this means 10 key divisions and over 850 professional staff working together to address the commercial property difficulties you may face, anywhere in the UK.

Lambert Smith Hampton is a founder member of the Elite Cambridge Business Circle.

6 Wellbrook Court
Girton Road
Cambridge
CB3 0NA
UK

Tel: + 44 (0) 122 327 6336
Fax: + 44 (0) 122 327 6226

www.lsh.co.uk

For more information contact:
Andrew McGahey
Director, Head of Cambridge Office
Lambert Smith Hampton

Tel: 01223 276336
Email: amcgahey@lsh.co.uk

* * *

Cambridge University solar car survives Australian outback

Cambridge University’s embattled solar car team have earned a mid-table ranking in the final results of the “Global Green Challenge” despite battery failures that left them limping across the Australian outback.


The beleaguered student team reached the finish line in Adelaide after an exhausting 3,000 kilometre journey in which their vehicle, Endeavour, was beset by battery problems.

Despite the setbacks, the team achieved 14th place out of 25, after the organisers factored in the number of “solar kilometres” - kilometres covered using only solar power - that the car achieved.

During the journey, Endeavour, which was built entirely by students and was Britain’s only entry into the international contest, covered 1,616 km using only solar energy.

Its top speed was 67 miles per hour and its cruising speed ranged from 31 to 47 miles per hour.

The team finally made it across the finish line in Victoria Square, Adelaide, at 13.20 South Australian time on Saturday 31October, six days after they set out from Darwin, but then had their ranking boosted by their green credentials.

Team spokeswoman Lucy Hickmet said that she was pleased with the result, particularly given that the University had been competing against teams with seven figure budgets, dwarfing their own funds of about £250,000.

“The fact that we managed to complete the race in a competitive position even though we limped across the outback, nursing our sick batteries through the desert, is pretty impressive,” she added.

“The other good news is that it was only the hardware we bought in for the car that failed in the event. Everything that we designed ourselves worked well, and that should stand us in good stead for a return visit next year.”

Endeavour, named after the ship in which Captain Cook sailed to Australia, is about 50 times more efficient than a normal, petrol-fuelled car and, according to its designers, incorporates green technology that could be used in normal road vehicles in the future. It was one of a number of projects marking the University’s 800th anniversary year in 2009.

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Lambert Smith Hampton sees capital growth
driving property market polarisation

Looking at the previous month’s financial and economic developments and the wider implications to the commercial property industry, Andrew McGahey, Head of Lambert Smith Hampton’s Cambridge office commented: “The emerging optimistic swing within the commercial property market continues, with the latest monthly IPD index reporting the largest capital growth since June 2006 at 1.1 percent.”


[Pictured: Andrew McGahey, Head of Lambert Smith Hampton’s Cambridge office.]

The increase is good news for the sector, reflecting last quarter’s growing investor interest in commercial property as an asset class. However, opinion remains divided on whether the present market improvements are a 1990s-style bounce or the start of a longer term recovery, given the absence of a strong occupational market.

But, why the sudden interest in commercial property? The key lies in the potential returns on offer.

Commercial property yields now provide a return of circa seven percent – up to eight percent in some cases. At the same time the asset class maintains prospects for good capital growth as a result of the 40 plus percent drop in values since 2007 – for overseas investors the weak pound delivers a 60 percent discount from the market peak.

When combined with the relative affordability of debt, the above contrasts positively against the return provided by cash, which is stalled for at least the medium term by the record low interest rates of 0.5 percent. 

Tentative prospects for an improving global economy, combined with returns on offer and potential for long term growth have therefore lowered investors’ risk profile to commercial property. As more and more re-enter the market, following the lead set by more seasoned opportunistic investors earlier in the year, the demand is lifting prices. However, investors’ appetite for risk has not increased to such an extent to extend demand beyond prime stock, delivering a polarisation in the market.

Grade A property let on long leases to government or corporate tenants has been the favoured investment in recent months; such tenants deliver security of income over the long term despite falling rents, which are capping capital growth figures at present (rents were down 0.64 percent in September according to IPD).

Secondary stock, with lower profile tenants on shorter leases has therefore not experienced the same amount of attention from investors and as a result this sector of the market has not experienced parity in capital growth. For many investors secondary stock is still an uncomfortable risk. As the recession continues to be felt across the wider economy rental levels are decreasing as vacancies rise and demand falls away.

UK unemployment levels may have showed signs of stabilising this month, settling at 2.47 million and a weaker pound sterling – down more than 20 percent against the Euro since the onset of the economic crisis two years ago – may support exports, domestic tourism and manufacturing but this is not yet being felt on the high street and in small businesses. Until it does, polarisation within the commercial property market will continue.

Looking ahead, as demand swallows prime stock supply and an improving market begins to encourage banks to release stock from their impaired books, those seasoned investors with a lower risk threshold, cash to spend and a keen eye in sifting the wheat from the chaff may find that there are some good deals to be had within the secondary market.

Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH)

LSH is a leading commercial property consultancy with an unrivalled national network focused on the UK and Ireland property markets. Its expert teams deliver a full spectrum of transactional and consultancy services and business-driven solutions for clients. LSH is the ‘UK’s most active national agent’ and ‘Top National Office and Industrial Agent’ (Estates Gazette’s ‘EGi Deals Competition’).

Lambert Smith Hampton’s (LSH) Cambridge office is a commercial property consultancy providing property services and advice in Cambridge, the surrounding area and nationally. With LSH clients have the added advantage of each office being backed by the strength of a national office network. For clients, this means 10 key divisions and over 850 professional staff working together to address the commercial property difficulties you may face, anywhere in the UK.

Lambert Smith Hampton is a founder member of the Elite Cambridge Business Circle.

6 Wellbrook Court
Girton Road
Cambridge
CB3 0NA
UK

Tel: + 44 (0) 122 327 6336
Fax: + 44 (0) 122 327 6226

www.lsh.co.uk

For more information contact:
Andrew McGahey
Director, Head of Cambridge Office
Lambert Smith Hampton

Tel: 01223 276336
Email: amcgahey@lsh.co.uk

LINK:

PR-Inside

* * *

Christmas with King’s College Chapel Choir in Cambridge

FEW sounds are more evocative of Christmas than the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College Chapel, Cambridge.

The almost imperceptible hush of the congregation, readings from the Old and New Testament and the mellifluous singing of King’s world-famous choir have made this one of the best-loved festive traditions.


The service is broadcast live on BBC Radio 4 on Christmas Eve at 1500 GMT, repeated on Christmas Day on Radio 3 and syndicated throughout the world. A different recorded service is shown on BBC 2 television on Christmas Eve.

The service was first held in 1918 and, since 1928, has been broadcast by BBC Radio every year except 1930.


King’s College Director of Music, Stephen Cleobury took up his post in 1982. Since 1983, a new carol has been commissioned every year for the service. This year the honour goes to Gabriel Jackson, whose music has been performed throughout Europe and the USA.

Jackson’s works have been presented at numerous festivals, and he has been commissioned by, among others, the BBC, the Tate Gallery and the National Centre for Early Music. He is widely regarded as being among today’s leading composers of choral music.


On the day of the broadcast, the choir is joined by several hundred members of the public, many of whom queue for hours outside the chapel to gain admission. The doors open at 1.30pm.

Those who miss the broadcast can hear the choir singing carols on a new CD called Christmas at King’s, which contains 50 of the best-loved carols, released by EMI. On 2 November EMI is releasing A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, the 2008 service that was broadcast live from King’s.


Also being released on 2 November is the DVD of the live performance of Handel’s Messiah which was transmitted live from the Chapel into cinemas across the UK, Europe and the USA as part of King’s Easter Festival in April. It was the first ever live, simultaneous screening of a choral concert in cinemas in different countries. The live CD recording of this performance is also on sale.

King’s Choir will be holding auditions for choristerships on 16 January 2010. Please contact Stephen Cleobury on choir@kings.cam.ac.uk or visit www.kings.cam.ac.uk/choir.

King’s College Chapel is one of the most important medieval buildings in Europe, and an architectural icon. Choral services have been an essential part of the daily life of the college since its foundation by King Henry VI in 1441, and the choir is one of the world’s best-known choral groups.

Photography by Gerald Place.

* * *

Lambert Smith Hampton sees recovery in
commercial property investment market

Commercial property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton’s (LSH) latest research, the UKIT Quarterly Bulletin 2009 Q3, signals that the property market may be recovering from one of the sharpest downturns ever experienced.

The results from the quarterly survey of the UK property investment market identified that in a positive sign for commercial property, the market’s key indicator - transaction yields - fell last quarter for the first time since the start of the credit crunch in August 2007.

The research identified that the average yield on transactions fell by 19bp to 7.68 percent.


Ezra Nahome, CEO and Head of Capital Markets at LSH (pictured above) said: “The latest results are great news for commercial property. Following on from the easing in the market that was seen in Q2, this latest movement has provided a much needed boost.

“Institutional investors have played a more significant role this quarter, returning to the market to purchase their highest level of property in two years.”

While UK institutions increased their buying activity this quarter, it is still overseas investors that are dominating buying activity.

Ezra said: “Overseas investors accounted for more than 50 percent of purchases in Q3 and they are responsible for 43 percent of purchases in the year to date but things might be changing. The return of UK equity based investors will help to provide more balance to the market. Each of the major investor types has been active in different sectors. Overseas investors are still majoring on the Central London office market, while UK institutions have targeted the retail and industrial sectors.”

The availability of good quality investment stock was an issue that restricted activity levels over Q3 as vendors were reluctant to put property onto a thin trading market. This may well change over the coming few months as rising values encourage the release of some better quality property.


Andrew McGahey, Head of Lambert Smith Hampton’s Cambridge office (pictured above) said: “There have been some very interesting transactions over the past three months. The Blackstone purchase of a 50 percent stake in the Broadgate Estate helped the Central London office market record its highest level of turnover since Q3 2007. Similarly, some key transactions in the Retail Warehouse Park sector pushed turnover to an eighteen month high.

“This is not to say that the market is now on a one way route to recovery as the occupational market has remained weak.

“The warning sign for the market at the moment has to be the strength of occupational demand. Rental values are falling across most markets and the economic conditions, while improving, are likely to remain tough.”

Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH)

LSH is a leading commercial property consultancy with an unrivalled national network focused on the UK and Ireland property markets. Its expert teams deliver a full spectrum of transactional and consultancy services and business-driven solutions for clients. LSH is the ‘UK’s most active national agent’ and ‘Top National Office and Industrial Agent’ (Estates Gazette’s ‘EGi Deals Competition’).

Lambert Smith Hampton’s (LSH) Cambridge office is a commercial property consultancy providing property services and advice in Cambridge, the surrounding area and nationally. With LSH clients have the added advantage of each office being backed by the strength of a national office network. For clients, this means 10 key divisions and over 850 professional staff working together to address the commercial property difficulties you may face, anywhere in the UK.

6 Wellbrook Court
Girton Road
Cambridge
CB3 0NA
UK

Tel: + 44 (0) 122 327 6336
Fax: + 44 (0) 122 327 6226

www.lsh.co.uk

For more information contact:
Andrew McGahey
Director, Head of Cambridge Office
Lambert Smith Hampton

Tel: 01223 276336
Email: amcgahey@lsh.co.uk

LINK:

PR-Inside

* * *

Topping out key Cambridge University
plant science research building

AN important milestone in the construction of a major new research facility for the University of Cambridge has been marked with a topping out ceremony.


The Sainsbury Laboratory, set to house 120 scientists studying plant development, has been made possible by an £82 million gift from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, founded by Lord Sainsbury (pictured above). This is the largest single gift received by the University since the launch of the 800th Anniversary Campaign.

The topping out ceremony traditionally marks the completion of the outer structure of a new building. Nearly 100 guests gathered at the site to hear speeches from Roy Murphy, Director of Kier Regional, the main contractor, Professor Ian Leslie, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Professor John Parker, Director of the Botanic Garden where the building is sited, and Lord Sainsbury.

“This is one of the most exciting projects with which my charitable foundation has been involved,” Lord Sainsbury said. “It combines an inspirational research programme, an historic site, and a beautiful laboratory designed by Stanton Williams, and it will become a centre of excellence in plant science.”

John Parker said: “The Garden looks forward to maintaining its long tradition of the study of plant diversity in the most up-to-date way with this wonderful building. The Laboratory will be dedicated to the advancement of curiosity-driven research on plants.”

Ian Leslie congratulated the architects, Kier and the whole project team for the fact that the construction was on budget and on schedule. He highlighted the significance of the building saying: “It is particularly pleasing to see this substantial investment being made in fundamental research. While the applications of the knowledge that is created here is far in the future and, by the nature of fundamental enquiry, unpredictable, I have no doubt that it will have enormous impact on food security and the preservation of biodiversity.”

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