Kier Property has started marketing FOUR, its new 250,000 sq ft office development at St Peter’s Waterside, Northampton, through Lambert Smith Hampton.
The company said the office development for Northampton Borough Council would create a new business quarter in four new buildings in the centre of the city and provide an important gateway to the Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone.
Pip Prongué, development director at Kier Property, said the site offered “great flexibility within a prestigious design and enterprise zone setting”.
Ian Leather, director at LSH, said: “With no new office development taking place in the area for many years, we believe the time is right for the delivery of this scheme, which will be transformational for Northampton and the East Midlands.
“We are already engaging with end users on bespoke requirements and have seen a lot of interest from occupiers already in the area as well as inward movers wanting to relocate in to the heart of Northampton.”
The news came as parent Kier Group announced full-year underlying pre-tax profit up 54% from £47.6m to £73.1m on revenue up 51% from £2bn to £3bn.
The group maintained its mixed tenure housing and property development pipeline at more than £1.5bn.
Contracts since the end of June include its appointment as preferred bidder to build a 270,000 sq ft headquarters for Total E&P UK in Aberdeen on which construction is slated to begin in the spring.
Kier has also been appointed preferred bidder for a £50m Knight Dragon high-rise residential block on the Greenwich Peninsula, in south east London.
Haydn Mursell, chief executive, said the company had delivered a strong set of results which he attributed, in part, to “the very successful” continued growth of the property division.
“With increased capital investment the division has secured a 15% margin on activity, which now spans across core commercial markets from office and industrial to leisure and retail schemes, as well as a diverse range of public sector projects and PFI developments,” he said.
Mursell added: “We are becoming a partner of choice for major stand-alone developments like the £260m Watford Health Campus, as well as consolidating key long term alliances like our £500m joint venture partnership with Network Rail in Solum regeneration.
“Moving forward the division will continue to enjoy increased capital support and will be looking to the market for new investment opportunities.
“Since taking up the CEO role on 1 July 2014, the group’s strategy has been refreshed. Vision 2020, a strategy for sustainable profitable growth, will see the group aim to deliver double-digit compound annual profit growth for the period to 2020 and aim to be a top three player in our chosen markets.”
