Priyen Gudka | Marchday

Archive for the ‘Priyen Gudka’ Category

December 20th, 2010 - Snow Disruptions

Whilst travelling from London to Darlington this morning, I thought to myself “What’s the big deal about getting into work when its snowed?” After all, we had a heavy snow fall on Saturday and -9C on Sunday night but I still managed to catch the 7am train from Kings Cross.

On the train, it dawned on me that there were countless number of people who have to work outdoors in treacherous conditions so that someone like me can get to work. Our staff at Lingfield Point and New Lodge are those type of people. I hope they continue performing their heroics as I need to catch a flight from Heathrow on Thursday.

With all the major disruptions over the weekend, like major airports being closed just as the holiday season is starting or the closure of a major shopping centre on the busiest xmas shopping day, the one comment repeatedly heard from those affected is not that nothing is being done about clearing the snow away, but more about the lack of communication. All to often, passengers on cancelled flights/trains/ferries are left to find out for themselves what to do next.

With heavy snowfalls at the beginning and end of 2010, its time that we all knew what we need to do when it snows, even if it means clearing the footpath in front of your house. And its high time larger organisations had a contigency plan which can be actioned quickly and which is properly communicated to the public. Its stressful enough to have missed or delayed your holiday but then to struggle as to what to do next is beyond reason.

| Posted in Priyen Gudka | +

December 20th, 2010 - Wishing you a very festive Yule!

Marchday wish you a fun filled Christmas! Have a great break and we all look forward to seeing you next year!

| Also posted in General, Graham Smith, Jenny Carr, John Orchard, Sue Richmond, Tim Stephen | Tagged marchdaychristmasfun, Merrychristmas | +

October 27th, 2010 - Lingfield Point – up to the challenge!

Marchday analyses the effect of last weeks spending review on the commercial property industry and its own business.

In his June budget, the Chancellor, George Osborne identified £32 billion of spending cuts in 2011-12 rising to £81 billion by 2014 -15. Last week Mr Osborne detailed the spending review and now most government departments will see their budgets shrink by an average of 19% over four years.

In terms of property, the public sector is the country’s largest landowner holding a portfolio worth approximately £350 billion (OGC, 2009). The cost of running the estate is £3.47billion a year (OGC, 2009). The public sector is also the country’s largest tenant (customer). It occupies around 115 million sq ft of offices of which circa 7% are in the North East.

The really tough part is that recently the government has put a hold on new government leases until 2015 unless they demonstrate that the deal is 25% cheaper than the market rate!

Priyen Gudka commented: ” We are in for a tough couple of years as the spending cuts hit the north east particularly hard. Our portfolio has a mix of public and private sector companies. All our spaces provide excellent value for money especially at Lingfield Point. We hope that we can continue to help all our customers through this difficult time. The key is communication, making sure we are up to date with our customers successes and difficulties will allow us to be as helpful as possible”

Demand for space from the public sector is expected to be flat over the medium term at least, despite the fact that the government could save funds in long term if it leases properties under current low rents and good incentive packages; but can they afford it? There is some possibility of take-up through consolidation though there is pressure to limit capital expenditure at the moment.

Tim Stephen from Marchday said: ” it’s going to be tough for sure, but I am cautiously optimistic about some of the noises coming out of central government. If they are serious about saving money then consolidation is a perfect way of doing so. At Lingfield Point we have some exceptional buildings offering unbeatable value for money that will provide significant savings for the tax payer.

The private sector in general in the next couple of months has to come up with creative solutions for unlocking value and improving the management of the public sector’s property portfolio. This could be achieved by creating efficiencies, implementing operational changes, whilst also improving environmental sustainability of governments assets.”

| Also posted in General, Lingfield Point, Tim Stephen | Tagged comprehensive spending review, government consolidation, Lingfield Point, unbeatable value for money, Value for money | +

October 28th, 2009 - Empty Business Rates – An untimely tax?

The team at Marchday prides itself on its ability to regenerate properties that have been unloved for many a year.

Since buying Lingfield Point, Darlington 10 years ago we’ve spent many millions of pounds creating award winning offices from disused factory buildings. However, the scope to create more speculative recycled office space has been greatly reduced by two events in the last 18 months.

Firstly, the credit crunch has reduced the number of companies looking to relocate and expand. The difficulty in raising finance also makes it harder for us to speculatively create new office space.

Secondly, and just as damaging as the first point, was the withdrawal of empty business rates relief on industrial properties.

With the ongoing demise of manufacturing in the UK, there are, including on our site, a large number of empty warehouses. Unlike retail properties and, to an extent, office accommodation, warehouses have a finite life. Some of our warehouses buidlings are approaching the end of their useful economic life. We cannot convert all these into offices because there isn’t sufficient demand.

Like most of the property industry, we were astounded when the current Government took away the Business Rates relief for industrial properties. From not paying rates on empty industrial space, we now face paying full rates on properties vacant for more than 6 months. This has added almost £1m a year onto our costs. This in turn is preventing us from regenerating other properties.

The reason the Government gave for introducing this tax was to encourage companies to bring back into use properties left redundant. In this climate, why would a company spend money on speculative conversion, (which the banks will not lend on, and for which there is probably little demand) so that they can pay even higher rates for having them empty?

In the boom years, property companies, like most other sectors, did reasonably well. With increasing property prices, the property sector has been an easy target for Government in terms of raising extra tax revenues to help fund its spending programme. Firstly, it raised the stamp duty level from a maximum of 1% to 4%. Now we have the loss of relief on empty properties.

The Government must reverse this unjustifiable tax. We as a company do not mind paying Corporation Tax as it means we’ve been successful but we deplore having to pay taxes which are totally unfair and counterproductive.

| Also posted in General, Lingfield Point | +