businessparks.net; a new service for the property industry

Citation

(1999), "businessparks.net; a new service for the property industry", Facilities, Vol. 17 No. 5/6. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.1999.06917eab.024

businessparks.net; a new service for the property industry

"businessparks.net" ­ a new service for the property industry

Keywords Business parks, Databases, Property

A new Internet property database which details the top 100 business parks in the UK, called "businessparks.net", was launched recently. Independently run and providing comprehensive and uncompromising data, this database provides a premier league table of schemes.

businessparks.nethas named the top 10 in the UK premier league of business parks, in alphabetical order, as: Birmingham Business Park, Capability Green, Chester Business Park, Edinburgh Park, Kings Hill, Solent Business Park, Stockley Park, Surrey Research Park, Thames Valley Park and The Oxford Science Park.

Early in 1999, all the premier UK business parks will be evaluated on physical, investment and occupational criteria, to produce a detailed ranking of schemes.

Since the first UK business parks were initiated in the mid-1980s, 4 million sq.m (43 million sq.ft) has been completed on the top 100 schemes. In 1998, nearly 139,353 sq.m (1.5 million sq.ft) of pure office space will have been completed and at least 185,804 sq.m (2 million sq.ft) of office space is expected to be completed on the top 100 schemes by the end of 2000.

Andy King, of the property information firm Metropolis, and Antony Slumbers, of international property Internet Website, "Estates Today", set up businessparks.net

Andy King says: "The first business parks conceived in the 1980s are being superseded by a new generation of schemes for the next millennium. The business parks.net database appeals to all sectors of the property industry, providing investors with the capacity to benchmark and examine performance against competitors and developers with the ability to evaluate development prospects and potential demand".

businessparks.nethas already established a "club" of founder members and interested parties, which include: Arlington, Argent, ProLogis Kingspark, Development Securities and Cable & Wireless; and property consultancies, King Sturge, Knight Frank, Strutt & Parker, FPDSavills and CB Hillier Parker.

Andy King says that institutions and funds required an independent overview of the UK business parks market, to identify "winners and losers". "The power of this corroborated data will also appeal to the City analysts and can provide policy makers with the facts and figures to identify the 'ingredients' required to replicate the success of California's Silicon Valley in the UK".

David Williams, of FPDSavills, says: "This type of information is genuinely needed. When working at the coalface trying to produce availability schedules on out-of-town offices, we continually have to reinvent the wheel for every schedule, as availability changes daily. Having a system like businesspark.net, which we and our competitors can directly up-date from our desks, will greatly assist all agency practices, particularly in terms of data sent to clients".

The scope of businessparks.net data is also appealing to the major corporates, which have spread tenancies and ownerships across the UK and Europe. Cable & Wireless has subscribed to the service and others who have been examining businessparks.net include construction companies, architects and lawyers.

In addition to businessparks.net, there are a number of other sister products in an advanced stage of construction, these include:

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  distributionparks.net;

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  retailparks.net;

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  leisureparks.net;

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  worldparks.net;

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  europeanparks.net;

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  servicedoffices.net; and

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  cityoffices.net

Access to the site is simple: www.businessparks.net The businessparks.net service is available by subscription at graded levels of access, starting at £500 per annum and provides information on business parks in the UK, including location, size and owners, lease terms, investments, tenants, historic transaction analysis and details of current and projected construction.

For further information contact: Andrew King: 0181 658 8000, or Antony Slumbers: 0171 439 7575.