Warehouse.me.uk sponsor GT Wakering United #WUFC

http://Warehouse.me.uk  are pleased to announce kit sponsorship of new local team GT Wakering United. follow the team progress on twitter: https://twitter.com/GTWakeringUTD

Southend on Sea Property up 15-20%

It is never easy to freeze-frame trends in property transactions or house prices, but Savills Research has attempted to do so by analysing Land Registry figures for local authorities in England and Wales. Price rises can be detected in six waves rippling out from the capital, with the weakest in the North and North East. But the recovery has also leapfrogged to particular cities, including Bath, Bristol, York and Manchester.

3 Up 15-20 per cent: Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Southend-on-Sea, South Gloucestershire, Poole, Dorset

The newcomer is Southend, which began to motor over a year ago. The Halifax found it was the fastest growing area in the country. It is awash with inward investment, highly commutable and pepped up by the revamped airport.

“This is growth off a lower base than the other areas,” says Mike Gray of Dedman Gray. “People are suddenly recognising it and realising that it is lovely seaside so close to London. It is 38 miles away, but then it always has been.”

Huge Southend seafront development could start early 2015

BUILDERS could start work on a multi-million pound development of shops, restaurants and a 13-storey block of flats on a prime Southend seafront site next year.

Developer the Inner London Group hopes to submit long-awaited full plans for the Marine Plaza development on a derelict site opposite the Kursaal by the end of this year, the Echo can reveal.

Work to replace derelict former play area Funland, the Foresters Arms pub and a temporary car park with 290 flats and 3,000sq m of commercial space could start within six months of permission being granted.

Seafront traders and senior councillors have welcomed the scheme, which they hope will boost seafront regeneration.

Inner London Group director George Fentiman said: “It may be this size of development will push forward the rest of the seafront.

“It’s a fantastic development and a fantastic scheme.”

The developer has been holding talks with council planners for more than two years.

It has now formally asked the council what information it should include in a report on the environmental impact of the development, required with the planning application due to the size of the 2.7-acre site.

As well as a 13-storey block of flats, the developer wants to build shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, a takeaway, offices and an amusement arcade. The site is at the corner of Marine Parade and Southchurch Avenue.

The Echo understands the firm is still negotiating with an elderly lady over buying the last of a row of four terraced houses at the north-eastern corner of the plot in Southchurch Avenue, but it is confident a deal will be reached.The Inner London Group paid £2.25million for the site in 2010.

A separate stumbling block presented by the Happidrome amusement arcade at the southwestern corner has been avoided, by no longer including it in the redevelopment plans.

Mr Fentiman said: “We are ready to build. If we had planning permission a year ago, we would be building now.

“We hope to put the application in this year and work could start within six months. It will be in 2015.

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local_news/10985401.Huge_Southend_seafront_development_could_start_next_year/

Sinking feeling for new floating restaurant plan

PLANNERS look set to sink ambitious proposals for a “floating” restaurant on Southend seafront over fears about its size.

Officers have recommended Southend Council refuse plans to transform the singlestorey KJ’s cafe near the Genting Club, in Western Esplanade,Westcliff, into a modern restaurant that projects out over the foreshore, giving the impression it is floating when the tide is in.

Business leaders hoped the two-storey restaurant would attract more visitors to the area, but officers fear it would block sea views.

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/NEWS/10979166.Sinking_feeling_for_new_floating_restaurant_plan/

Southend a hotspot as south Essex house market takes off

THE property market is on the up in south Essex.

Southend had the second highest number of property sales in Essex in the last financial year, with an average price of £212,000.

Basildon was fourth in the county chart for number of sales. Colchester was top and Chelmsford third.

More than 2,500 homes in Southend and 2,300 in Basildon were bought and sold, according to data published by the Taxpayers’ Alliance, proving the area has a buoyant housing market.

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/10598013.Southend_a_hotspot_as_south_Essex_house_market_takes_off/

Acquisition-hungry Countrywide eyes South East lettings businesses

Countrywide, the letting agent and property services group, is on the acquisitions trail – and has its eye on businesses in the South East.

The company, whose estate agency and lettings brands include South East-based Mann, Gascoigne-Pees and Bairstow Eves, has opened 70 lettings offices in the past seven months and is looking to continue a similar rate of growth throughout the year, through both acquisitions and organic growth.

The lettings business has doubled in the last three years to 300 branches and John Hards, co-managing director of Countrywide’s residential lettings division, wants to double it again, in branches, turnover and profits, though he won’t put a timescale on this.

Hards told Insider he was looking in particular for lettings businesses that could fit into existing estate agency branches or that filled gaps where Countrywide had no existing agencies.

Hards is looking to increase the pipeline of active potential purchases to about £10m at any one time – in addition to informal talks and “warm leads”.

“We’re constantly buying, or looking at buying. I look at a lot of businesses, though not all of them suit us.”

He said the ideal acquisition has a turnover of more than £100,000 but added: “We wouldn’t turn away anything that’s a good proposition.”

The average deal value, he said, was £500,000 to £1m – “though the bigger, the better”.

Recent purchases have included Ashton Burkinshaw in Kent and East Sussex, Hamptons in London, Ford Property Services in Portsmouth and the Letmore Group of Essex and East London.

Hards said he sees the South East as offering good potential since Countrywide has a “fairly substantial” agency network but fewer lettings businesses there.

“Acquiring some lettings businesses would be exciting for us. The whole South East is a good location and I would take a look at anything that came along.”

There are two South East businesses currently in the pipeline, both well-known names in their areas.

But Hards said the company does not discriminate when it comes to location. "The businesses we’re looking at are scattered all over the country,” he said.

Where existing business names are well established, they continue to trade under the same name, while others assume the identity of one of Countrywide’s portfolio of brands.

Acquisitions are funded from cash reserves, which gives the company an advantage in an environment where “there are not that many people out there buying”.

And Hards says decisions are taken quickly: “We’re decisive. When we look at something we will say quite quickly if it’s not for us, and we can be quick to make an offer if it is for us.”

Countrywide said it sees local letting agencies and portfolios as attractive because they offer a regular income stream. It is not so interested in estate agencies, though. “Because of the state of the market there are not many estate agencies making good profits. I’d be reluctant to part with cash for something that’s not going to be that cash generative.”

http://www.insidermedia.com/insider/south-east/48608-/

Romford welcomes new housing development

http://www.easier.com/81804-romford-welcomes-new-housing-development.html

Leading house builder Persimmon Homes Essex is continuing to invest in Essex with the launch of a brand new residential development in Romford.

Shaftsbury Mews, which is being constructed off Shaftsbury Road in the town, will consist of a selection of two, three and four bedroom properties to meet the needs of a diverse mix of local househunters.

Neil Sykes, sales director for Persimmon Homes Essex, states: “Shaftsbury Mews not only boasts a fine selection of properties designed specifically to allow local people to continue to live locally, but we’re also building the homes to Eco Code 3 meaning there will be a number of energy efficient and eco friendly features to enable homeowners to adapt a greater way of living.”

Features include solar panels to subsidise heating costs, timber frames technology to promote greater insulation, water efficient tap and shower fittings, rainwater collection butts and compost collection bins. In addition the homes are being built to be 25 per cent more energy efficient than an older equivalent property.

Prices at the development start from £299,950 for a Grovewood housetype.

Neil concludes: “We are looking forward to welcoming househunters to our new development, in Romford and assisting them with finding their dream home at a price they can afford.”

Shaftsbury Mews lies just half a mile from the centre of Romford, giving homeowners easy access to a variety of popular high street and independent shops, leisure pursuits and eateries. Great local transport links mean London’s city centre is within reach in just 30 minutes from the local train station.

To find out more about the collection of properties at Shaftsbury Mews, visit: persimmonhomes.com