Commercial property expert Vail Williams’ Crawley office is soaring after a string of successes for the company’s clients.
The regional team is preparing to celebrate its achievements at a special event on May 20 for clients and business partners, hosted at the sleek Gatwick showrooms of US electric car trailblazer Tesla.
In fact, Tesla is among the series of companies to have benefitted from Vail Williams’ expertise recently when it took up the lease at County Oak Way with landlord Lookers Group Plc, brokered by the Vail Williams Crawley office.
One of the largest transactions in Crawley was another major deal handled by Vail Williams. Its team acted on behalf of Surrey County Council on its £9.75 million purchase from Thales of a 10.16-acre site on Gatwick Road, in the heart of the Manor Royal Business District.
Surrey County Council is now proposing to construct a major B1 office facility with a small element of neighbourhood retail.
Some of the best office space in the Crawley/Gatwick region is also on the way thanks to support from Vail Williams for Churchill Court, a campus of three detached office buildings totaling 106,000 square feet.
Vail Williams acquired the investment for the landlord, Clearbell Capital LLP, and is now acting as letting agent too. The facility is undergoing a comprehensive refurbishment to Grade A standard, starting with Valiant House in the autumn.
Some 600,000 square feet of employment space will also be arriving in the region with the help of Vail Williams which is acting as joint letting agent on behalf of Glenbeigh Developments – the company behind The Hub, Burgess Hill which has secured planning approval.
Construction is anticipated to begin later this year on what is one of the biggest employment development sites in Sussex. There is already good interest for pre-let opportunities.
Fresh from brokering a £4.2 million land deal in Sussex for Elekta’s brand new cancer treatment centre of excellence, Vail Williams is now leading the bid to gain planning permission.
The 4.73-acre site at the entrance to Crawley’s Manor Royal Business District – one of Europe’s largest business estates – was secured by Vail Williams in 2013 for Elekta Ltd, the Crawley-based world-leading manufacturer of treatment solutions for cancer and brain disorders.
Elekta Ltd intends to develop a new multi-million-pound world class facility called Cornerstone to promote excellence in radiotherapy and healthcare engineering. It is scheduled to open in 2017 and will provide a campus facility for its 900 plus staff in Crawley. In addition, the buildings will allow for Elekta’s future growth.
Vail Williams has submitted a planning application to Crawley Borough Council for the landmark development comprising a pair of strikingly designed four and five-storey buildings totaling over 150,000 square feet. It will house teams of engineers, scientists, clinicians and customer facing professionals.
Peter Sudworth, Vail Williams Partner, said: “The last few months have been an incredibly successful time for our clients, and we’re very proud to have made our expert contribution to their property and business development.
“We’ve played a role in some of the region’s biggest transactions, planning applications and property deals. Those projects have brought investment, jobs and development. We’re looking forward to achieving even more for our clients.”
