Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business issue 32 | Page 5

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 5
/NEWS
/ADVICE
Aycliffe Business Park facility
sold in £1.85m deal
A large chunk of Aycliffe Business Park is
under new ownership.
Langton Business Centre, in between
Durham Way South and North, has been
acquired by the MCR Property Group in a
£1.85m deal.
Commercial property specialist Naylors
sold the industrial facility to the Manchester-
based investment and development
company, on behalf of South Street Capital.
It means MCR Property, which two years
ago acquired another large part of the estate,
Whinbank Park, is now one of the biggest
land owners on Aycliffe Business Park.
Langton Business Centre sits on a 10-acre
site and was originally built in the 1970s. The
property has subsequently been subdivided
into individual units and has over a dozen
tenants in occupation including Gestamp
Tallent and Husqvarna UK.
Since 2014, the investment had been in
the hands of South Street Capital, a London-
based provider of asset management and
multi-family office services for private and
institutional clients, on behalf of an overseas
investor.
With a total area of 188,000 sq ft, Langton
Business Centre carries a rental income of
over £257,000 a year.
Chris Donabie, director at Naylors, said:
“Langton Business Centre has proved to be a
sought after investment and we are pleased
to have completed a very successful sale.
“The investment offers a number of
opportunities to improve the income profile,
such as letting the vacant accommodation
and re-gearing leases.
“There are also 2.4 acres of development
land which offers further scope for increasing
the returns.”
James Harrison-Topham, investment
director at South Street Capital UK, added:
“As part of our active management strategy
we were able to significantly increase the
rental income of Langton Business Centre.
“There are a number of angles for further
enhancement of the asset, which the new
owners can pursue.”
Second six-figure steel investment for Aycliffe firm
Newton Aycliffe-based JDP Contracting
Services is looking to further growth
following a second six-figure investment from
UK Steel Enterprise.
The company is the largest specialist
roofline contractor in the North employing
more than 30 people at its Aycliffe Business
Park HQ and a further 10 at a second
operational centre in Sheffield, opened in
2016.
UK Steel Enterprise, the Tata Steel
business-support subsidiary, originally
provided a significant six-figure equity
investment to back a management buyout of
the company headed by Managing Director
Chris Hyde.
This latest investment from the Equity
Growth Fund, backed by the government’s
Regional Growth Fund, provides further
support to take the business on to the next
stage in its development.
The company is planning to develop new
products, expand its geographical footprint
and increase the number of apprenticeships
currently being delivered.
“We are looking ahead now to the next
PLANNING FOR
SUCCESS
Those of us whose year end was
December will have spent months
carefully planning for this new
financial year.
We have given thought to revenue,
profit targets, strategy, cash flow,
marketing and this year in particular
the General Data Protection Rules.
We have reviewed strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and
threats and agreed all the targets and
key performance indicators.
If you intend to grow or enter new
markets this year you will have
considered what your workforce
needs to look like in order to
deliver your plan and ensured that
your employees have the right
competencies and skill set to deliver.
But have you identified those
employees who are business critical
and thought about the short and
longer term impact if they suddenly
left the business? Even the most
dedicated employee will leave
following a lottery win.
We always plan numbers but we
rarely plan for somebody leaving and
the financial or operational impact
can be significant.
We know that an inhibitor to
business growth can be the inability
to attract and recruit the right people,
but without succession planning for
those leaving or at risk of leaving a
business can actually find itself going
backwards.
If you haven’t already, take the time
to review your current employees
and identify those who if they left
would leave a hole that’s difficult to
fill.
stage in the company’s development,” said
the firm’s managing director Chris Hyde,
pictured above with UKSE area manager
Sarah Thorpe.
“The first investment from UK Steel
Enterprise was crucial in enabling us to carry
out the management buyout and start our
expansion plans.”
Sarah Thorpe added: “It has been very
rewarding to work alongside JDP Contracting
and see the successful opening of its second
operational centre in Sheffield, near our own
HQ and in another of our steel areas.”
Start to think about who in the team
could slot into that position and what
would the immediate plan be.
Neil O’Connor
Managing director
Fleet Recruitment