Monmouth Dean - News

Statistics tell the truth….

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:31:21 GMT

Estates Gazette reviled this week that in Q1 2012, Monmouth Dean is the:-

No. 1 letting agent in Midtown for amount of sq ft let
No. 2 letting agent in West End for number of disposals completed

For the exact analysis and full agency league tables, please click here.

It’s not time to run to the hills....

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:09:56 GMT

Iron Maiden have been in the public consciousness for decades, but how many people know that they’re actually based in the middle hip and happening Soho...? Monmouth Dean have recently been instructed to advise on the Soho portfolio that includes the office building which houses the infamous heavy metal legends. Acting for the landlords on the entire portfolio Rhys comments “it is great to be appointed on this prime Soho Estate. Negotiations with these legendary rockers is bound to be fun although I’ll be nervous if they appoint their famous stage mascot Eddie to act on their behalf...”

Air Street, W1

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Much of Dixon Jones’ work has been touched by history, working on projects such as London’s National Portrait Gallery and Royal Opera House. Beyond this, having qualified in the 1960s, they were familiar with debates about Modernism’s ahistorical tenets³ and its critique of traditional urbanism, involving commentators and colleagues such as Colin Rowe, Alan Colquhoun and Robert Maxwell. Some of Dixon Jones’ output could be regarded as Postmodern, although it might be more correct to say that they were practising at a time when Postmodernism acted as a necessary gadfly, as a challenge to Modernism’s orthodoxies. In their more recent work, which has an almost Minimalist quality they could be seen as Modernism’s Prodigal Son, although their interest in history and pre-Modern urban design and planning has endured.

Quadrant 3 reflects this balance between, on the one hand, Modernism as a constructive response to modern life and technology as well as a formal idiom and, on the other, sensitivity to historic context. ‘Walking around the old building with English Heritage and the Crown Estate, we agreed that the most handsome bits were the corners and that one could afford to take out the bits in-between,’ says Dixon. ‘If the new parts are bracketed by the old, their scale never becomes evident.’ So the new central portions of the facades, where the mechanical perfection of 4.5-metre wide sheets of glass contrasts with motley faience cladding, identify the open plan office zones.

The main floorplates have serviceable 3.8-metre floor-to-floor heights, but the floors in the three retained corner elements, where there are flats, office suites and more open plan space, are at their original levels. Platform lifts will negotiate these resulting steps, flouting the customary spec office developers’ dictate that all floorplates must be level. ‘Anything that livens up the office floorplate is a good thing,’ says Dixon, mischievously. ‘All these non-standard things they resist, but gradually they’ve come to view them as advantages: nice places to have little restaurants or sitting places. If there was nothing to disturb the basic brief, everything would be the same.’

Enlightened, forward-thinking client or not, the Crown Estate remains a commercial organisation. Quadrant 3 was completed four months ahead of schedule and most of its flagship retail space is now let or under offer. The plan to create three self-contained 18-metre span office zones on each floor, all served by the atrium bridges, is simple but highly effective. Quadrant 3 is also environmentally intelligent and has a BREEAM Excellent rating, with power-saving technology and an energy centre that will also serve adjacent developments. Its CHP units include the largest and most efficient fuel cell in Europe, reducing CO₂ output by 40 per cent. This was a selling point for anchor tenant Generation Investment Management, co-founded by environmental activist Al Gore.

Although Dixon Jones had no qualms about using the retained corner elements to suppress the apparent scale of the offices, they chose not to extend the typical floor levels into them. ‘We could have had ghosted windows, but I don’t like that,’ says Dixon. Expressing arbitrary relationships between new floor levels and existing windows in an ad hoc manner wasn’t Dixon Jones’ style either. They did, however, take the opportunity to play with visitors’ expectations by creating a surprise sequence from the dark, confined lift lobby in the main office entrance at the retained corner of Air Street and Glasshouse Street, to the radiant atrium at first floor level. Here, full-height glazing, white floors and inclined soffits pump up light levels.

The atrium is a beautiful, serene space, graphically animated by its pivoting fan-like bridges, colliding glass wall and roof grids, and its cyclonic polygonal overhead geometry. Although you can imagine the activities that might take place in this supremely abstract space, you can’t help wondering if, weather permitting, it would be more animated as an atrium proper, with no glass roof, a first-floor courtyard and windows on both sides of the deep floorplates. You might also wonder whether the 4.5-metre wide perimeter windows are sufficiently future-proof, although the corner pavilions would help to meet any increase in demand for more cellular offices. But in all likelihood, the architectural quality and Dixon Jones’ exemplary execution would suffer if there were an external lightwell and a conventional 1.5-metre facade module.

The jacked-up atrium frees up the ground floor for a large internal services yard and retail space that will bring the streetscape to life. With servicing taken care of by this yard, and basement accommodation and facilities that connect to adjacent Quadrants, Dixon Jones has been able to provide a deceptively simple pedestrian scheme for Glasshouse Street. As agreed with the planners, there’s also an arcade that connects it to Sherwood Street. Gated by night and too short to work as a retail arcade, it has a saw-tooth-mirrored ceiling and obscured glass wall installation. Dixon says the small office entrance that this serves is ‘vaguely Loosian’, and obliquely, but with modesty, compares the 4.5-metre wide glass facades bays to Peter Ellis’ Oriel Chambers in Liverpool. It seems likely that inspiration came from the finesse, rather than the actual form of these reference points.

Additional refinement was added by Donald Insall Associates. They specified the right mix of three subtly differing colours for the restoration of the facades’ off-white faience, and Code 7 lead for the re-clad lion head cartouches that peer down from the parapets, originally chosen as a play on J Lyons & Co’s name. Unfortunately, the restored rooftop cowls no longer function as basement vents and their louvres, once pivoting and cast iron, are now fixed and powder-coated. But there has been little skimping in the basement restaurant and bar spaces, which will have direct entrances from street level. ‘We used real gold leaf, done properly,’ says Dixon.

These Art Deco basement areas, with their painstakingly restored Anaglypta, Formica and dark Travertine, are very much a separate entity from the above-ground spaces. But Quadrant 3 is nevertheless remarkable for the way Dixon Jones has integrated its diversity into a coherent whole and challenged the brief with the calm assurance of a finely-tuned 12-cylinder engine.

The old Regent Palace Hotel was entirely clad in faience tiles, and early in the design process, we became interested in using faience for a contemporary elevation. The fact that the original manufacturer, Shaws of Darwen, was still in existence spurred this idea on.

Later, we visited the factory in a remote part of Lancashire, where we were shown faience samples in many colours. The glaze on the clay surface gave a special depth and reflective quality to the colours. We immediately felt challenged to use the material for its colour potential.

Until this time, which was quite well into the contract, we had permission for an off-white that matched the original hotel. A quick review with the planners and English Heritage established that it would be possible to identify the three elevations with three different colours.

The new faience tiles are attached to large precast concrete cladding. Decomo, the precasting subcontractor, developed sophisticated moulds that took into account the imperfections associated with a fired clay material. Jeremy Dixon, director, Dixon Jones

Credits

Start on site September 2008
Completion October 2011
Gross internal floor area 37,398m²
Type of procurement Construction management
Total cost Not disclosed
Client The Crown Estate and Stanhope
Lead architect Dixon Jones
Historic fabric architect Donald Insall Associates
Residential fit-out architect Johnson Naylor
Structural engineer Waterman Structures
M&E and acoustics consultant AECOM
Lighting consultant Barrie Wilde
Fire consultant Exova (formerly Warrington Fire)
Facade consultant Arup Facade
Facade cleaning Reef Associates
Crown estate’s QS Cyril Sweett
Stanhope’s QS Davis Langdon
Development manager Stanhope
Construction manager Sir Robert McAlpine
Cdm coordinator PFB Construction Management
Approved building inspector Butler & Young
Estimated annual C0₂ emissions 32.77kg/m²
On-site energy generation of low/zero energy 18% of site demand
Estimated annual mains water consumption 4-5m³/occupant
Airtightness at 50pa (bisrae air test) 5.7m³/hr/m²

Estimated heating and hot water load 30kWh/m²/yr

Is this the quickest Covent Garden office deal this year? Probably……

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Monmouth Dean are delighted to announce that after only 6 weeks of being appointed on 35 King St, on behalf of Covent Garden London, we have completed the first 10,000 sq ft office letting. “We were brought on board to add more fire power and established market coverage. Within a few weeks we placed the majority of this building under offer to a well known advertising agency” comments Rhys Evans. “we were always confident that it would let well and our clients were enthused at our confidence....it’s nice to prove ourselves right, especially as we achieved the asking rent!” he adds.

We are also marketing 34 Rose St for the same landlord.

http://www.monmouthdean.com/property/142/34-rose-street--covent-garden--wc2e-9eb/

Monmouth Dean secure one of Soho’s biggest and best office floors for Halfords Media

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Monmouth Dean secure one of Soho’s biggest and best office floors for Halfords Media

30,000 sq ft floors are a rare commodity in the West End. They’re even more scarce in Soho, so Monmouth Dean were delighted to acquire the third floor in the Crown Estate’s prestigious new 180,000 sq ft AirW1 development, the biggest building on Soho.

Halfords Media are the latest high profile tenants to join Generation Capital and O2 and chose the building due to its prime location and practical yet contemporary design. Halfords currently occupy two floors in Great Portland Estates’ Regent Arcade House on Argyll Street, but needed the move to house their expansion and desire to have all staff on a single floor.

Pre let to Sony signed at Rathbone Place, W1

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

One of Noho’s largest deals of the year has just signed at our 20 Rathbone Place www.twentyrathbonepl.com

Monmouth Dean’s development clients are delighted to have secured a 20,000 sq ft pre let to Sony’s digital entertainment production arm, Sony DADC. A further 25,000 sq ft remains on the upper floors where the newly constructed penthouse floor provides a stunning roof terrace with views to Soho Sq and along Charlotte Street. We look forward to welcoming further privileged occupiers to this fantastic, peninsular building. Click here for the Estates Gazette article:- http://www.egi.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=743678

It's official; we are the busiest agency team in the West End

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 23:16:03 GMT

Property industry bible, the Estate's Gazette, has just released the latest quarterly figures and has confirmed that Monmouth Dean acted on more West End deals than any other firm. Monmouth Dean partner, Ray Walker commented "after just 18 months of trading we were delighted to beat all the big firms where it matters", he added "it is great to receive recognition for all the efforts the partners and entire agency team have put in and we look forward to maintaining pole position in this competitive market".

EG Article: CBRE edges JLL off the top in lettings league - James Buckley 21/10/2011 10:09

CBRE edged ahead of its biggest rival, Jones Lang LaSalle, to become the capital's most prolific agent for the first time since the second quarter of 2010. The agent commanded a 20% market share in Q3, one percentage point more than JLL, letting 726,681 sq ft in 49 deals. However, JLL acted on more deals than any other agent, completing 57 transactions over the period.

Both CBRE and JLL advised on the largest transaction of the quarter - the 247,000 sq ft letting to European Medicines Agency - meaning the pair sat comfortably above third-placed DTZ with 12% of the market. Knight Frank took fourth place, having acted on Debenhams' deal to take 145,000 sq ft at British Land's North East Quadrant, NW1 - the second-largest deal of Q3.

CBRE completed the most disposals in the City with 33 deals - one more than JLL.

Monmouth Dean acted on the most deals in the West End with 28 disposals.

Soho landmark finally gets go ahead

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:02:07 GMT

Many local Soho occupiers must have scratched their collective heads over the last decade as to why oh why a 96,000 sq ft red brick building slap bang in the middle of Soho should have been empty since 1999. Trenchard House on Broadwick Street was, actually, a Met Police station house and it’s taken a decade of planning squabbles and two ownership changes to get to the point where, now, Barratt London has been appointed as development partner for a proposed scheme that is likely to feature 78 flats.

Plenty of August deals in the Media Hub

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 22:35:40 GMT

Monmouth Dean’s busy summer continued throughout August with plenty of deals taking place in Soho, Noho and Covent Garden. These include transactions completing in 41 Great Pulteney Street W1, Centrepoint W1, 77 Dean Street W1, 26-28 Great Portland Street, 8-10 Macklin Street WC2, 58 Russell Square and two deals in 65 Chandos Place WC2.

We’re expecting September to be even busier. So, if you’re looking to lease office space anywhere in central London please do get in touch.

Covent Garden Market owners appoint Monmouth Dean

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 19:21:36 GMT

Capital & Counties, owners of the Covent Garden Estate, have instructed Monmouth Dean to market the largest vacant office building on the estate. 35 King St, WC2 comprises just under 18,000 sq ft of good quality offices and is immediately available on flexible terms on a floor by floor basis. The building is earmarked as a potential future development in keeping with the Estate’s master plan.

Monmouth Dean partner, Rhys Evans, commented “we are absolutely delighted to be instructed by the owners of Covent Garden Market to deal with this significant and strategic building. Their decision to use Monmouth Dean demonstrates their belief and confidence that we are the right local specialists and now the dominant force in Covent Garden office agency".

For further information on the Covent Garden Market and its variety of activities visit. http://www.coventgardenlondonuk.com