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| 01.09.07 MAKING WORK A PLEASURE- BUSINESS HOMES Business Homes are a specialist developerof small office buildings throughout the UK focusing on buildings which are targeted at the SME market. The buildings range in size from 2,500sq ft up to 6.000sq ft and over a period of ten years, the building design has been consistently improved into what the Company now refer to as their 'Standard Product'. Their ethos relates to the fact that 98% of all UK businesses employ between seven and 50 staff members and Business Homes' buildings are targeted to cater for this size of occupier. The Company was formed ten years ago by Chairman Simon Houlston and is a family run business with Simon Houlston acting as Chairman, James Houlston acting as Group Managing Director and Jonathan Houlston involved at Development Director level. Over the past three years the Company have expanded significantly appointing a number of new regional Development Directors throughout the UK and at present, Simon, James and Jonathan are backed up by the following team: • David Wadsworth - Managing Director Business Homes (Midlands! • James Weedon - Managing Director Business Homes (South) • Brian Robinson - Development Director Business Homes [Scotland] Between the six of them that are responsible for the acquisition of sites throughout the United Kingdom and they have also increased their construction experience with a senior team including: • Brian Cottam - Group Construction Director • Steve Lavens - Construction Director • Dean Wallace - Construction Manager With a senior construction team on board, Business Homes can continue to ensure their buildings keep up with the constantly changing building regulations and have an experienced team liaising with professional consultants and ensuring each of their developments are developed on time and within budget. Business Homes are based at a head office in Thorpe Park in Leeds and have three small offices located in Scotland, Reading and Birmingham covering each of the regional markets. In total, the Company employs 23 staff members with an experienced accountancy/financial team headed up by Jay Gilbert. The Company also see marketing and after sales as an extremely important factor particularly when dealing with smaller businesses and as such, they have a team in place dealing purely with customer services and marketing for all of their schemes, ten years of experience in the development has led to the buildings being refined into Gartec Ltd have been providing value engineered lifting solutions to the construction industry since 1994 and had the experience and expertise that Business Homes were looking for when they needed to provide lifting equipment to meet their obligations under the new Building Regulations in 2004. Gartec Ltd assisted the Business Homes design team with the Integration of a fully enclosed lifting platform into their building design and provided full technical back up answering all building control and disability access questions. Business Homes were then able to develop office units that provided a fully inclusive working environment for everyone regardless of any mobility impairment. Since then, In liaison with various construction partners throughout the UK, Gartec Ltd have provided all the lifting platforms to Business Homes small office units under a national framework agreement, the very first being Halbeath Interchange. At Gartec we recognise the access needs of the mobility Impaired, especially the wheelchair user. We have subsequently installed more than 3000 platform lifts in the UK to help improve disabled access for thousands of people in hundreds of differing environments. Our range of high-quality products use the latest technologies, and are designed to meet all the access requirements for the mobility impaired demanded by the latest UK and European legislations. As part of the Aritco Manufacturing Group, we are constantly re-evaluating our products, introducing new and Innovative designs and functionality to keep pace with the rapidly changing demands of both the client and the lift user. Meeting and exceeding the high standards our customers demand Is what makes Gartec Ltd stand out and we are extremely proud of our reputation for customer consideration and excellence of service. Providing lifting solutions on budget and on schedule is what brings many nationally recognised clients such as Business Homes back to us time and time again. Our customer service and outstanding product range puts Gartec Ltd at the forefront of design and innovation for disabled access. Our lifts are designed to offer fantastic functionality while not sacrificing style - we can tailor your chosen solution to your requirements from our large range of optional extras. For examples of some of our access solutions and further product information visit our website at www.gartec.com. Please do not hesitate to call one of our dedicated sales team on 01296 397100 to discuss your requirements further. what is regarded as the market leading specification and given the Company's experience and the number of sites with which they are involved, Business Homes have managed to ensure the build cost is extremely competitive which means they tend to be able to be extremely competitive in bidding for sites. Business Homes are continually researching new markets and over the course of the next 12 months are looking to launch an exciting new smaller office product and also looking to launch their Hi-Tech workshop concept which they see as being well suited to the commercial property market in the UK and in Scotland in particular. The Company develop throughout the UK via a number of Joint Venture agreements with development partners and in Scotland, work with CALA Properties Ltd as Business Homes CALA Ltd. To date they have completed five developments in Scotland totalling 106,678sq ft of accommodation in 30 detached or semi-detached buildings. Further phases of existing schemes will result in a further 23,935sq ft being developed in a further six buildings. A summary of the completed schemes is as follows: • The Approach - Glasgow Business Park I20,492sq ft) • Centurion Business Park - Glasgow (33,395sq ft) • Glasgow Airport Business Park - Glasgow (20,625sq ft) • Halbeath Interchange - Dunfermline I16,599sqft) • Satellite Business Park East Lothian (15,567sq ft] Macmerry - Of the completed schemes in Scotland, 72.33% of developed buitdings were either pre-sold or pre-let. As a result of this success in Scotland, the Company are currently developing a further 84,334sq ft in three schemes at Crombie Mills in Aberdeen, Twin Spires Business Park in Aberdeen and at New Houstoun Business Park in Livingston. Business Homes will be following shortly with a scheme in East Kilbride. In terms of the future in Scotland, Business Homes are urgently seeking new development sites throughout the country and throughout the UK as a whole. Business Homes tend to seek sites which benefit from main trunk road frontage or offer town centre locations with excellent transport infrastructure nearby. The Company's standard site requirement is for sites of between one and four acres and the aim is to have secured in Scotland a further five sites in the near future. Taking all of the above into account, the Company has been set up in order to move to the next level and with the regional directors reporting directly to the senior team in Leeds, they can move quickly on site purchases and always develop speculatively as their customers like to see the product before they agree to pre purchase a building. |
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