< PreviousLANDLORDS! Do you have a property to let?… The City of Lincoln Council offers a FREE property letting service and RENT GUARANTEE! OUR FREE SERVICE INCLUDES: 3 Tenant right to rent & EU settled status check 3 Finance income checks 3 Property inspections 3 Previous landlord references 3 Deposit Guarantee and rent in advance 3 Tenancy support Contact: Joanna Gray on 0797 028 1827 or email: Joanna.gray@lincoln.gov.uk Caroline Sanford-Casey on 0785 516 4726 or email caroline.sanford-casey@lincoln.gov.ukwww.blmforum.net Business Link 11 COMMERCIAL PROPERTY A plethora of purchases are being made across the region, with investors and developers amongst others snapping up Yorkshire schemes. T hroughout Yorkshire, myriad significant acquisitions have been made recently across the spectrum of property types - from office to industrial to residential schemes. In a £25m deal, Leopard Capital has acquired a vast industrial and distribution estate adjacent to Leeds Bradford Airport, representing one of North England’s largest property investments this year. The estate, known as Leeds Bradford Airport Depot (LBAD), covers approximately 1.25 million sq ft within a 60-acre site. It consists of a single building structure and had been owned by Broadland Properties Group since 1969. LBAD offers accommodation in 15 units, ranging from approximately 25,000 sq ft to 150,000 sq ft. Tenants include APCOA, VPK Packaging, Jet2, VLT Logistics, and Toyota Tsusho. The investment marks Leopard Capital’s entry into Yorkshire, with the London- based investment management and advisory firm specialising in sourcing and acquiring industrial assets in the UK and Europe. Alex Fordyce, CEO of Leopard Capital, expressed excitement about the purchase, emphasising the structural undersupply of industrial space in the area; the expansion of the adjacent airport and an ambitious asset management programme including ESG improvements which will drive value. In Leeds city centre, Wykeland Group has swooped for office building Elizabeth House, situated just off Wellington Place. Wykeland has acquired the building from an Deals done 12 Á Leeds Bradford Airport Depot12 Business Link www.blmforum.net COMMERCIAL PROPERTY institutional investor, which had owned it since 2014. The building, let to Clarion Solicitors, comprises 25,000 sq ft over five storeys and provides 15 car parking spaces. Wykeland property director David Donkin said: “We’re delighted to have acquired this property in a prime location in the centre of Leeds, the commercial capital of Yorkshire. It adds to our growing portfolio of buildings in key town and city centre locations in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. We’re continuing to actively explore opportunities to acquire properties that are in attractive locations and add value to our asset base.” Meanwhile, Starlight Investments, a global real estate investment and asset management firm, has exchanged on an acquisition to purchase 84 Kirkstall Road, a 111-suite Build-to-Rent (BTR) community in Leeds. The nine-storey newly built residence features a range of suite layouts, encompassing one- bedroom, two-bedroom and three- bedroom suites with many featuring balconies as well as larger terraces on the top floor. The property contains amenities such as a co-working space, media room and a dedicated resident lounge. The building’s design also incorporates renewable energy systems and high-efficiency lighting. Daniel Drimmer, founder and Chief Executive Officer, Starlight Investments, said: “We are pleased to establish Starlight’s presence in Leeds, a dynamic city that is among the fastest growing in the UK, to support the introduction of new rental housing to meet increasing demand.” Elsewhere in the region, Firethorn Trust has snapped up boutique hotel Malmaison York in an off-market deal. Purchased for an undisclosed sum, the 29,000 sq ft site is occupied by Malmaison under a 35-year lease, with a current rental income of £2.1m per annum. Situated on Rougier Street, within the historic walls of the city, Malmaison York is in walking distance of popular tourist destinations like York Minster, York Castle, and the National Railway Museum. Offering 150 guest rooms, meeting pods, co-working areas, conference rooms and an events space, in addition to an on-site spa and gym, the hotel underwent an extensive redevelopment in 2021, which included the creation of a rooftop skybar with panoramic views across the city. Marcus Weeks, director and head of living at Firethorn Trust, said: “Malmaison York is a high-quality asset that will perform well and create long-term value for us, whilst strengthening Firethorn’s presence in the living space. It’s a fantastic addition to our investment portfolio and complements our wider development strategy to deliver high-quality spaces in great locations that enable people and places to thrive. We have an appetite and ability to pursue opportunistic transactions, and look forward to continuing our growth within the living sector.” Also in York, Henry Boot’s property investment and development arm, HBD, has agreed a conditional sale of a two- acre development site at The Chocolate Works to McCarthy Stone, the developer and manager of retirement communities. HBD and McCarthy Stone entered a partnership in 2019 and have subsequently promoted the site through the planning process together, achieving consent on appeal in March 2024 for a 72-home Retirement Living PLUS scheme. The retirement community marks the final phase of HBD’s 27-acre development, which included the transformation of the www.blmforum.net Business Link 13 COMMERCIAL PROPERTY former 160,000 sq ft Terry’s Chocolate factory into 163 apartments, delivering a total GDV of £110m across seven schemes during the last decade. The wider site is also now home to the Brainkind Neurological Centre, which supports people recovering from complex brain injuries. Tim Roberts, CEO of Henry Boot, said: “Securing planning permission and agreeing the sale to McCarthy Stone of the last remaining land site at The Chocolate Works will bring much needed retirement living in York, helping address the huge demand for specialist retirement accommodation that exists right across the country. By adding retirement accommodation, which will also offer tailored levels of care, alongside the residential and other uses we have developed at the site, helps achieve our goal of creating a deep and multi-generational community at this transformed former factory. In addition, it brings HBD’s award winning work on this significant project to a close while representing a strong outcome for our shareholders.” Finally, in Sheffield, Harmony Works Trust has reached a major project milestone with its purchase of the 35,000 sq ft Grade II* Listed Canada House in the City Centre. The £14m Harmony Works project will restore and revitalise Canada House, transforming it into a new, central music education hub for young musicians from the city and region. The Trust, which was awarded charitable status in August 2023, has bought the Italianate Renaissance-style building, built in 1875, from retail brand Panache for £1.6m. Emily Pieters, Harmony Works’ project director, said: “While we’re one step nearer to achieving our long-term goals of creating a more accessible and inclusive musical pathway for the young people and their communities across the Sheffield region, our work here is just beginning. With significant support from the public sector secured, we now need the help of our private sector to get this project over the finish line.” Elizabeth House © stock.adobe.com/JD814 Business Link www.blmforum.net BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT B usiness services may well be one of the first things a business looks to cut down on when economic problems hit; insurance, banking, business cards, telephone lines and IT are all nice targets The UK’s most versatile manufacturers of tailor-made nets and netting solutions for more than 30 years. 01469 575804 netting@renco.co.uk www.renconets.com Business as usual Services involved in the day to day running of a business are usually safe from axing, but those seen as “extra” by employers might not feel the same way. Are they truly an extra, though? Or has their value been misjudged? Business as usual www.blmforum.net Business Link 15 BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT when money needs to be saved at the end of the month, and it’s well worth taking a look at them to see if there are better offers and suppliers out there. That said, looking at these services as unfortunate extras a company “needs” to have but doesn’t really want to is by far the wrong way to go about it. Many of these may seem necessities by law only, like insurance, IT and Telecoms. Businesses need these things to operate, and thus have to pay for them. Others, such as business cards, promotional material and consultants, are not necessary, and can therefore be safely cut. Such may be the philosophy, but it’s worth remembering that if any of this were true then these business services would have never existed in the first place. What has been forgotten is how to best use these services to a business’s advantage. It’s said that there are two types of business service: intangible and tangible. The old joke about these is usually how employers speak to their employees, stating that while the wages might not be the best the “intangible benefits” more than make up for it. These are things like the experience, the culture and the kudos. In terms of business services, however, these take on much more fundamental things such as business insurance, consulting, software and health care. All of these things can be felt, but they do not exist as their own entities and cannot be touched. For instance, you can only feel the benefits of insurance if something goes wrong, and therefore hope to never have the tangible benefit of it. Consulting, similarly, might lead to increased efficiency, but the efficiency was always there and never utilised, and the consulting itself has, in theory, added nothing new to the business. Intangible services are some of the easiest to convince yourself into cutting because they don’t feel real, and don’t feel worth the investment. That said, DIRECT GASKETS LIMITED For over three decades we have been market leaders in the manufacture of Gaskets. Here at Direct Gaskets we aim to be versatile in our company. We supply gaskets – bespoke and standard – to all types of businesses. Contact us today on 01482 219655 or visit our website www.direct‐gaskets.co.uk Units 26 ‐ 36 | Dansom Lane South Hull | HU8 7LA Email: info@direct‐gaskets.co.uk 16 Á © stock.adobe.com/alfa2716 Business Link www.blmforum.net BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT many intangible business services are integral to the day-to-day running of a company. For instance, computer maintenance is an intangible business service that, when neglected, can cause huge pile ups and delays, costing a business tens of thousands of pounds or more. Hiring a consultant to streamline a company may feel like an unnecessary expenditure, and is seen by many as a sign of weakness – are they not confident business leaders, they ask? Do they really need an outsider to come in and tell them how to do their jobs? Times of economic uncertainty, however, are the most opportune moments to bring in outside consultants. It is these moments when a business must sink or swim, because making decisions to stay afloat is simpler when the economy is healthy and ignoring inefficiencies will become easy if the economy improves and profits return to healthy levels. Tangible business services are those that can be touched and felt, but that does not make them any less likely to be overlooked. Business cards, promotional banners, car fleets, equipment. A lot of tangible business services are left behind precisely because they are tangible, and because once a company has a set of brochures, for instance, they can convince themselves that they never need anymore, and that the few hundred remaining from eight years ago kept in the storage room will be more than good Givingyourbusinessahelping hand Tofindouthowwecanhelpbuildyourbusinessvisit www.dextersharpe.co.uk Officesin Boston,Bourne,Horncastle, Lincoln,Louth&Skegness CHARTEREDCERTIFIED ACCOUNTANTS Accounts-TaxReturns TaxPlanning-Book-Keeping Audits-BusinessAdvice © stock.adobe.com/Natee Meepianwww.blmforum.net Business Link 17 BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT enough for their needs. The reality is that business services of tangible or intangible nature can only help a business so far as they are allowed to do so. Posters, banners and business cards will be useless if people don’t take the steps to leverage the material and investment to their best. Attendance at shows, handing out of brochures and networking meetings all offer opportunities to show these off and make the most of them, but they are all too often ignored in favour of the cold and unpersonal touch of social media. Old, tried and tested methods of doing business saw more face to face meetings, more shakings of hands, exchanging of cards and business happening away from emails and phones. Some will say that business is simply moving with the times, but this isn’t really true. Business simply hasn’t picked up as it should have from repeated economic uncertainty and governmental implosion. Because of that, the investment that companies put into their services seem wasted – not because they are wasteful, or because they are no longer relevant, but because employees are not making full use of their potential, and because employers are not holding them to task for it. Business has not changed that much in the last few years, not as much as some would have us believe, but attitudes toward it has, and that is holding many back. How to diversify your income streams and grow your business Do you want to grow your business and protect it from unexpected events? Then you need to diversify your income streams. This means finding different ways to make money that don’t depend on the same factors. A P Robinson Chartered Accountants, a leading firm of chartered accountants, has created this guide to help you learn the benefits and strategies of income diversification. Income diversification can help you to achieve many goals, such as: - Avoiding relying too much on one customer, product, or service - Boosting your cash flow and profitability - Reaching more customers and markets - Improving your brand reputation and value proposition - Innovating and adapting to changing customer needs and preferences Some of the ways you can diversify your income streams are: - Offering complementary products or services that add value to your existing offerings - Creating passive income sources, such as online courses, ebooks, or subscriptions - Partnering with other businesses or organisations that share your target audience or values - Exploring new markets or niches that have unmet or underserved needs - Leveraging your expertise or skills to provide consulting, coaching, or training services Income diversification is not a one-size-fits-all solution. You need to consider your business goals, resources, and capabilities, as well as the market opportunities and challenges. A P Robinson Chartered Accountants can help you to plan and implement a successful income diversification strategy that suits your business needs and objectives. To find out more, visit www.aprobinson.biz, email andrew.robinson@aprobinson.biz, or call 01472 345888.18 Business Link www.blmforum.net APPRENTICESHIPS Though historically associated with school leavers, apprenticeships provide people of all ages an opportunity to earn while they learn and build or further a career. Whether looking to hire new staff or upskill existing employees, from entry level to management, apprenticeships can apply to employees at all levels. The apprenticeship system however has been strongly critiqued in the past, especially since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, and new starters have been falling for some time - dropping from just under 500,000 a year in 2016/17, before the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, to under 325,000 in 2020/21. The Government has been seeking to boost apprentices by various means – some being somewhat controversial by wishing to remove university courses to force young people into them, but some – thankfully – being more reasonable. These involve changing the ways apprenticeships work both to streamline the process and ensure correct development. As part of these improvements, a consistent baseline for off- the-job training is to be introduced to apprentices, specifying the minimum number of hours that a full-time apprentice must spend in training. This is said to simplify the reporting for providers and create a level- playing field among apprentices who are on the same standard but working different hours. It means that apprentices who work more than 30 hours a week will be able to spend more time on the job delivering for employers, while still getting the vital training they need to complete their apprenticeships. There are myriad reasons why a business should consider utilising apprenticeships, which help bring valuable skills into your business, even ahead of new changes. Often overlooked is that apprentices can be employed at different levels, from school leavers to university graduates, to the less thought of people who want to further their careers or change career direction; you can hire someone new or upskill an existing employee. As we tackle recruitment and skills crises, apprenticeships may well become an important tool to fill key gaps in an organisation and improve retention. Designed by employers to reflect the relevant knowledge, skills, and behaviours that businesses need, there are A lack of skills, small workforce and high demand mean apprentices may be the only solution for many businesses. 20 Á As we tackle recruitment and skills crises, apprenticeships may well become an important tool to fill key gaps in an organisation and improve retention.www.blmforum.net Business Link 19 APPRENTICESHIPS © stock.adobe.com/KzenonNext >