Our Projects

The Ringway, Huddersfield The centre of the universe

If you hail from Huddersfield then you may jest with the outside world that your town is at the very centre of the known universe.

Not only is it in Yorkshire, but it’s slap bang in the centre of the British Isles. It has also got some pretty high profile names and brands which hail from the town. For instance, Dr. Who (Jodie Whitacre) and the captain of the Starship Enterprise (Sir Patrick Stewart) both come from the town. Last of the Summer Wine was filmed here (amongst other TV series) and if you are into fast cars then Huddersfield is where the ‘D.B.’ comes from with Aston Martin’s range of luxury cars. Mamas & Pappas are also a strong Huddersfield brand.

However, no amount of trumpet blowing can hide from the fact that Huddersfield’s traditional industry has largely disappeared and it’s now a university town usefully located for commuters to Leeds and Manchester. From an institutional investor’s perspective, it just another provincial town which is a bit difficult to get to from London and doesn’t really offer anything different from other provincial towns in the north.

The Ringway is a 138,000 sq.ft industrial estate which has a ‘trade’ feel to part of it and it’s located just outside of the town centre. It’s a traditional 1970’s industrial estate with shared / tight yards, asbestos roofs, it’s not particularly high and the office contents feel very 1970’s. There are 31 units so the average unit size is 4,450 sq.ft. For many years, the owners took a downbeat view on the location and didn’t really invest in the product. At the time of appointment there was a 24% void rate, dated branding and no refurbished stock to offer the market. The headline investment credentials were ‘skewed’ by 1 letting to a leisure operator which, if discounted, returned an AWULT of c.2 years, not the headline 4.79 years. In other words, if everyone vacated at lease end or when operating a break clause, then the income would dry up in 2 years time.

The list of issues was long and included:

Poor security
Frequent traveller encampments
Social vices – drug abuse, prostitution, street drinkers
Litter
Failure of basic services
Lack of profile from the mature trees and landscaping
Zero environmental credentials

In short, the message was ‘the landlord doesn’t care!’ So, if you’re an institutional investor thinking you can make the awkward journey from London, kiss a few tenants on your annual visit then walk away with a couple of regears and a decent rent review settlement, then you must think again. You are much more likely to get the uncompromising ‘Nora Batty’ treatment and be shooed out of the unit with a sweeping brush. The working relationship you need to make multi-let assets like the Ringway work was truly broken and the estate was increasingly adrift.

The Ringway before works

When the estate was sold in the summer of 2021, the void rate had been halved (it would have been eliminated altogether if it wasn’t for Covid) but the rent roll had increased by £250,000pa and the AWULT stood up at 5 years, not the underlying 2 years at the date of appointment. A deal of some sort had been done with every tenant in occupation. This investment transformation need a heavy time commitment, not with the landlord but with the tenants who simply didn’t believe the landlord would take action and deliver what was needed for them to sign longer leases at better rents. Seeing is believing in this part of the world so the landlord had to take the initiative. This included heavy cap ex on a speculative basis which can be challenging for unfashionable locations like this.

The spec included:

New roofs on the void units
Modern office contents including WC’s and kitchens
Secure yards to push the social vices out of the estate
Re-cladding the front elevations
Major landscaping works to create profile and presence
Rebranding to create a sense of arrival and with the right names on the tenancy board
Modern lighting solutions
Resurfaced yards
Good wayfinding solutions
Better security
Minimum B EPC rating on refurbishment

This was a 4 year project delivered in 2 phases which was also hampered by Covid; this was significant as this killed a major letting that would have seen the estate fully let and taken the investment credentials to a much higher level.

Though staff often change in larger organisations, Yoke were the only constant during the 4 year project. When the investment was sold the personnel count was: