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Given its importance, Locate East Sussex and its local authority sponsors have made a strong and on-going commitment to a programme of property research. This has led to a series of studies into the County’s property industry which are published below. They are helping us to understand what is going on at a time of massive structural change as property responds to the on-line revolution: a trend greatly accelerated, in the last months, by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The first studies are market evaluations based on qualitative research. Market information has been collected in a series of interviews with commercial property professionals who know the patch and were able to give a candid account of market trends.
We hope you find them interesting and useful read.
In 2002 Stiles Harold Williams conducted research and a subsequent report named ‘Room to Grow’ on commercial property and space within East Sussex. The report identified the poor capital investment record in business space in both West and East Sussex since the mid to late 1980s.
This report, named Room to Grow II revisits that research in the modern day to provide an update on opportunities and shortfalls within the commercial property market to assist with future land allocation.
The focus of this report is to;
I. Examine the potential gap between current and future provision.
II. Assess the situation over a five-year period and longer if possible.
III. Look at factors driving changes in growth and demand.
These quarterly reports will inform you of all the latest movements in the commercial property market in East Sussex
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This major report takes a detailed look at East Sussex Commercial property and its suitability for the future.
Based on a series of searching interviews with property professionals, and drawing on many other sources, we take stock of business class space and look at employment land supply in East Sussex from a market perspective and look at the key issues. The report is intended to provide evidence to strategic partners who are potentially in a position to influence planning policy and improve outcomes.
"I must congratulate you on your report. I think it is first class. Not just because I agree with most of what you say, but because it is very well constructed and your points very well made. A report of this type is very much overdue."Derek Godfrey Construction Consulting Services
Property News
With 29 new business incubator units set to be made, the construction of Churchfield Business Centre on Sidney Little RoConstruction begins at Churchfield Business Centre on new incubator units and sets to bring new opportunities in Hastings, East Sussex.
Knights Farm West Employment Park on the A22 at Lower Dicker, on the fringes of Hailsham is likely to involve several phases of development over the next 10 years or more. It is expected to create hundreds of jobs for local people and especially those in new housing developments being built across the district.
Ten years in the making, Flimwell Park in East Sussex, is finally coming to the end of its development, design and construction process, which has transformed a woodland space into an inspiring new model for a sustainable woodland community that blends living, working, recreation and learning.
Construction will begin on 1 November to build a new 2 storey business centre containing 29 small business incubator units at Churchfields Industrial Estate in Hollington. The new building will be known as Churchfields Business Centre.
The units will range from 315.6sqft to 323.8sqft in size, and can be used for office, light industry or high-tech.
Award-winning Sussex-based housing company, Goscombe, has partnered with OSCO Homes from Manchester to bring a new modular manufacturing hub to Sussex.
Together, they will build and operate a production facility with embedded skills training academy to deliver much-needed new social and affordable homes to the Sussex region.
Over five million pounds has been awarded after Lewes District Council successfully bid for the award from the Future High Streets Fund.
The bid entitled 'Re-imagining Newhaven', focuses on offering a wide range of services for visitors and residents by re-purposing derelict and under-used buildings, and diversifying the town centre to help build the local economy and strengthen the community with money spent more locally.
Lewes District Council has agreed to bring forward plans to create jobs and boost Newhaven's economic growth by redeveloping the former UTC building.
While being empty for more than a year since it closed as a technical college, the Grade II listed building has had a council commitment to put forward £500,000 in match-funding to complement the £1.3 million put forward by the government via the Getting Building fund.
Eight projects, put forward by East Sussex County Council, will receive funding from the recently announced South East Local Enterprise Partnership’s (SELEP) £85 million share of the Government’s new Getting Building Fund to deliver jobs and help East Sussex economy recover.
More than 8,000 sqm of commercial space will be unlocked, and over 400 new learners will have access to new skills facilities and programmes.
Established in May 2016, Developers East Sussex is a subgroup of Team East Sussex.
The group is committed to making a difference to East Sussex’s growth agenda to bring about:
DES operates through a subscription-based membership. Developers based in East Sussex who want to join the group should contact East Sussex County Council
Locate East Sussex has prepared a series of short monthly reports on the impact of coronavirus on East Sussex commercial property for its local authority sponsors.
These reports take us through the latter stages of the first lockdown and the recovery phases of the coronavirus pandemic to illustrate the changing impact of the crisis on the County’s commercial property market.
Taken together, these documents summarise progress over this period since the Land & Premises Supply Study, a market evaluation which was finished in May 2020 (see below). Each report is based on interviews with a wide range of commercial property professionals across the County, including developers, landlords, a lawyer, and many specialist commercial property agents, giving a granular view of the coronavirus crisis from all perspectives in the property supply chain.
June 2020 Update
July 2020 Update
September 2020 Update
October 2020 Update
November 2020 Update
January 2021 Update