Commercial Real Estate

Gerald Eve was appointed by Almacantar to secure planning permission and listed building consent for the retention and comprehensive refurbishment of the iconic Centre Point site.

Applications were submitted for the change of use from office to residential to create 82 new homes and over 7,000 sq m of high quality, mixed retail, floor space. The applications included the provision of affordable housing within a new self-contained block and also facilitated the creation of a new public piazza.

Gerald Eve’s development team provided viability advice in respect of the existing office use, the level of provision of affordable housing and the level of contribution towards other obligations.

Members of Camden’s Development Control Committee resolved to grant planning permission and listed building consent for the proposals.

From one South London cafe opened by a pair of brothers in the 1970s, Costa Coffee has grown into an international operator. In the UK, their expansion in the last 10 years has been explosive.

In 2005, Costa operated 350 sites. Five years later, that had doubled, and by 2019, there were circa 1,400 company-owned stores.

Gerald Eve has provided business rates advice to Costa throughout this period of growth. This has involved lodging and undertaking all appeals, paying all of Costa’s rates, auditing the company’s rates history and lobbying on their behalf. Appeals are managed by specialist rating surveyors in each of our offices across the UK. We are also Costa’s outsourced property manager, and our London ratings surveyors sit right beside our property management team, receiving the latest information on the portfolio.

As a Costa barista might say, it’s a well-rounded service which has delivered a satisfying effect. During our time as Costa’s rating adviser, we’ve generated savings of over £10m since 2010.

Gerald Eve are retained by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) to advise on rating strategy and valuation matters across the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The brief also includes complex budgeting advice on each individual venue, including advice on temporary usage, building works and structuring of occupational agreements.

The appointment follows a previous instruction with both the Olympic Development Authority (ODA) and LOCOG during the lead up to the 2012 Olympic Games, advising on individual appeals and mitigation of rates liability, through to handover to the LLDC.

The relationship between the operating business and property asset is fundamental to many leisure businesses. These issues become magnified when dealing with one the London’s most successful tourist attractions, which are held under five separate leasehold interests.

We have been continuously involved with the London Eye since its development, initially advising British Airways and The Tussauds Group on the ownership structure, whilst more recently acting on behalf of Merlin Entertainments in respect of the 2014 and 2019 rent reviews. As part of our negotiations in 2014 we were also able to agree a re-gear of future rental obligations and move away from the current market review pattern, reducing risk to the operating company in the longer term. We also picked up negotiations regarding the occupational rights for the adjoining Millennium Pier.

In 2019 Gerald Eve were appointed by the Bank of England to provide Estate Professional Services across the UK. This encompasses a broad spectrum of advice and involves multiple departments across the firm at any given time.

The Bank’s property portfolio ranges from their Grade I* listed City of London Headquarters, which has almost as much space below ground as it does above, to its regional offices, where the Bank’s representatives gather the consensus of the nation to inform the Monetary Policy Committee, and everything in between. This includes the Printing works for production all of the UK’s bank notes and 28 acres of leafy suburban London, which houses the Bank of England Sports Ground.