One of the largest chartered accountants in the South has relocated to larger premises in a freehold deal through commercial property consultancy Hughes Ellard.
Rothmans’ move to the refurbished building at 69 High Street, Fareham, brings together the firm’s branches at West Street, Fareham, and Little Park Farm Road, in nearby Segensworth.
The move to the Grade II* listed property also marks an increase in the number of staff for Rothmans, which was founded in 1955 and is one of the region’s longest-established practices.
Hughes Ellard, which has offices in Fareham and Southampton, was shortlisted by the then building’s owner, National Counties Building Society (NCBS), to provide strategic property advice and market the 4,349 sq ft freehold building, with Hughes Ellard’s Harnish Patel appointed.
The building, which sold for an undisclosed sum, was built in 1878, when Prime Minister was Benjamin Disraeli, Queen Victoria was given a telephone demonstration by Alexander Graham Bell and Joseph Swan announced his invention of an ‘incandescent’ light bulb.
Graham Jelley, Manager of Premises and Facilities at NCBS, said: “We drew up a shortlist of local and national property consultants and Hughes Ellard was our preferred partner – Hughes Ellard advised and managed the process which allowed us to focus on our core business.
“Harnish and the team at Hughes Ellard managed the process in a highly professional manner. Harnish’s local and wider knowledge of the office market, regular communication and reactiveness ensured a suitable purchaser was sourced within a sensible period.”
NCBS is the UK’s largest single-office building society and, headquartered in Epsom, Surrey, provides services to more than 50,000 customers in England and Wales.
Martin Osborne, Senior Partner at Rothmans, said: “We are delighted with the location of our new office and the service and timing of the move provided by Hughes Ellard has been excellent.
“As well as offering an easily accessible and central location, with car parking and the train station nearby, the premises provide a superb environment for our clients and staff.
“By combining the teams from both offices into this new larger office, we are able to extend even further the level and range of expertise and services we offer.
“As well as retaining all 22 staff from both the previous branches, a further two qualified accountants and three trainee accountants have been recruited as part of our continuing expansion drive.”
During the past year Rothmans have opened new offices in Petersfield, Southampton and Sutton; the company has also created a new insolvency arm, Rothmans Recovery Ltd, with offices in Portsmouth, Salisbury and Bristol.
Rothmans has 11 branches across the region – Chandler’s Ford, Fareham, Havant, London, Petersfield, Portsmouth, Ringwood, Salisbury, Southampton, Sutton and Winchester.
Harnish, a commercial property specialist at Hughes Ellard, said: “The acquisition by Rothmans of this historic landmark office building in Fareham went to the letter and we wish the company every continued success in the firm’s new premises.
“It is always good to see local and regional firms continue to grow and create further employment across the region despite wider market fluctuations.
“The regional South Coast market is challenged with a shortage of quality business space across the office and industrial commercial property market. This demand has resulted in an noticeable increase in capital values, created upward pressure on rent levels and a reduction in occupier incentives being offered by landlords.
“We expect this trend to continue into the latter part of 2016 despite the forthcoming EU referendum, turbulence in the commodity markets and mainland Europe, the USA and China.”
The freehold deal involving 69 High Street, Fareham, is the latest for Hughes Ellard, which recently topped a closely-watched office space league table for the third consecutive year.
Hughes Ellard recorded 44 deals, involving a total of 274,000 sq ft, along the M27 Corridor between Southampton and Portsmouth.
Estates Gazette, regarded as the UK’s bible for the commercial property sector, compiled the league table from transactions recorded between September 2014 to August 2015.
