Waterfront Business Park
Location: Brierley Hill
Client: Waterfront Property Investment LLP
Area: 228,000 sq ft
Waterfront Business Park was constructed in the late 1990s as part of the Merry Hill scheme, which features the well-known Merry Hill Shopping Centre that sits adjacent to the business park. This multi-let office and industrial development, comprising nine separate buildings totalling 228,000 sq ft, was purchased by Bridges Fund Management in 2019.
Bridges is known for acquiring assets in challenging areas with significant potential for growth, and Waterfront, being situated in the Black Country, fitted well.
They received advice on the £15.5m purchase from KWB, and the acquisition was made with a strategy to refurbish and market the Park’s vacant space, and sell off individual buildings as investments. Subsequently, KWB was appointed to manage the overall development.
With Waterfront Business Park already home to a number of long-serving tenants, KWB inherited the responsibility for a wide variety of occupiers. These included Higgs & Sons Solicitors, Emerson Network Power Ltd, Dudley College of Technology, HMRC, Royal Mail and West Midlands Ambulance Service, which occupied two units, one being for its 111 call centre operation. Since the acquisition, Optical Express has now taken space to operate a laser eye surgery at the park.
KWB is required to provide a range of services to ensure the effective management of the business park and the satisfaction of its existing occupiers. Furthermore, these services are to optimise the overall appeal of the scheme to potential investors for individual buildings and to attract new occupiers.
The service charge scheme includes both the management of specific individual properties as well as the overall business park. Across the whole development, KWB collects service charges and delivers landscaping services, litter picking, CCTV and management of the 620-space car park.
Where units are leased by tenants, KWB provides a full property management service and collects both rent and service charge. KWB is responsible for a variety of aspects, including maintenance of fire alarms and air conditioning, refuse collection and cleaning of the property.
