Lawson Commercial have just been instructed to market a spacious refurbished unit on the Squires Farm Industrial Estate at Palehouse Common on the outskirts of Uckfield.

This particular building has a gross internal area of just under 4,000 sq ft on the ground floor together with 4 very useful offices at 1st floor giving some further 720 sq ft many of which have lovely views across open farmland.

There is good parking and lorry access.

The property is available on a new lease at rent of £30,000 pa.  There are not too many industrial units available in the area currently and this particular building has the benefit of a B2 consent having previously been used for truck servicing. It would generally lend itself to a wide variety of industrial type occupations and is well worth viewing.

Lawson Commercial have just been instructed to market the former Steamer Trading premises in Station Approach Heathfield.

They are located in the Old Station which is an imposing detached building with car parking at the front providing character business business. Ideal as an office with some storage or alternatively could be retail once again for a specialist retailer. It could also convert quite well to a small restaurant.

There is access to an attractive garden at the rear which could be used for additional outside seating in good weather.

Some 1.200 sq ft overall with 4 car parking spaces. Available on a new lease at a rent of £16,500 pa. The Landlord is prepared to carry out certain refurbishment works depending upon an occupier’s requirements as there is a considerable amount of shelving in the building currently which could be removed.

Viewing strongly recommended

Located in Jarvis Brook, Crowborough, next to Owlsbury Coachworks, is a former motor repair premises which has just become available.

The premises includes 3 buildings, 2 of which interconnect, giving some 1,200 sq ft in total. The property has been used as a motor repair centre for many years and includes an inspection pit together with parking outside for 5/6 cars.

It is available on a new internal repairing lease at a rent of £750 per calendar month exclusive of rates and would be ideal for a startup motor mechanic.

The former Philmac building on Diplocks Way, Hailsham has been reduced in price by £125,000 to a new lower price of £1.1 million.

This spacious factory/warehouse of just under 10,000 sq ft together with attractive 1st floor offices occupies some 12,330 sq ft in total.

In addition there is a very useful yard/parking area of around 6,000 sq ft with direct loading access into the warehouse.

The Vendors are now keen to find a buyer for this property and have reduced the asking price to encourage an early sale. Viewing is recommended.

Lawson Commercial have been instructed to market some commercial premises with development potential right in the heart of Herstmonceux village.

The property comprises 1,520 sq ft of office, workshop & store in a very good location being almost opposite The Sundial restaurant. Planning consent has already been granted for conversion of the space to a 3-bedroomed house. It would thus be ideal for a small builder, investor or developer who is looking for a modest project to carry out. 

Alternatively, rather than implementing the planning consent,  it could be just the ticket for a business looking for some predominantly ground floor office/workshop space with an attractive elevation.

Offers are invited in the region of £230,000 for the freehold interest with the benefit of the planning consent.

Lawson Commercial have just been instructed to let a brand new building of 3,242 sq ft in Dunly Wood, just off the A267 at Cross-in-Hand, near Heathfield.

The unit is situated in wonderful surroundings in the middle of a 65 acre wood and has agricultural/forestry use making it ideal for anybody in that type of business.

A 2 or 3 year lease is on offer at £18,000 per annum + vat. It is unusual to have a building which has been specifically designed for forestry use but it would be great for storing equipment, cutting of timber etc.

Although set in picturesque surroundings in the middle of this 65 acre wood it only yards away from the A267 on the outskirts of Heathfield affording easy access to the main road network.

Just become available is a takeaway/retail shop at 28 High Street, Heathfield which is at the eastern end of the High Street just past the junction with Station Road.

In front of the shop is free lay-by car parking. The shop has 570 sq ft on the ground floor with 2 rooms on the 1st floor which is actually at ground level at the rear due to the slope of the land. The premises are available as a lockup shop/office. Alternatively the takeaway use could be continued either as an Indian as existing or a different food such as Southern fried chicken or kebabs. The property is available on a new 5 year lease at a rent of £15,000 pa.

Lawson Commercial have let Unit 1 Plot 14 Bell Lane, Uckfield, the former VPS premises behind the Esso petrol station, to Keep Powder Coating, a local business who already occupy Units 2 & 3 in this terrace and wished to expand.

The unit is just under 1,600 sq ft on the ground floor together with mezzanine offices of 463 sq ft as well as an annexe to the ground floor of 395 sq ft making just under 2,500 sq ft in total.

We are delighted that we have been able to help Keep Powder Coating with their expansion plans. It is always good to see a local business doing really well and needing more space.

Completion of this transaction took place just before the Christmas break and Keep Powder Coating have already started moving into their new unit which was extensively refurbished by VPS following their relocation out of Uckfield.

Partner Chris Lawson, looks back and reports his thoughts on the commercial property market throughout 2018.

Overall I would describe 2018 as a steady year with a good strong market making regular progress through the year. I am sure we are all looking forward to the news media having something else to report other than Brexit. The supposed nervousness which was widely predicted in the media didn’t seem to be much in evidence in the Wealden area. Demand was fairly constant although some decisions took longer to achieve and equally deals seemed to take longer to go through to completion. However generally businesses were not put off from expanding.

Notable transactions which completed during the course of 2018 included the acquisition of 2.5 acres of the Ashdown Business Park at Maresfield by wholly owned German company Vega Controls. After varying the existing planning consent on that site they intend to start construction of their new UK headquarters building of just under 40,000 sq ft, of which about half will be offices, in early 2019. So no apparent Brexit fears there.

The march of online retailing continues to affect the larger shopping centres. However it was quite noticeable that some of the smaller towns such as Uckfield, Heathfield, Crowborough and Hailsham appear to be more adaptable and we saw a strong demand for retail outlets with these towns providing an attractive variety of independent retailers. An important factor is that these towns benefit from free car parking. Councils and in particular councillors and planners need to wake up to the fact that shopping centres such as Tunbridge Wells, Crawley and Eastbourne are going to continue to decline unless something is done about traffic congestion and parking. They could abolish rates all together for the retail sector but at the end of the day retailers will only survive if customers visit their premises and spend money there. Our roads are riddled with potholes and too congested. In these larger centres parking is difficult and incredibly expensive – or you have not got the right app on your phone! This turns shoppers off from visiting and the alternative of just clicking and it is delivered to you in a day or so is for many so much more convenient.

Retailers also need to focus on customer experience and service and this is where independent retailers can score over the bigger chains because they are run quite often by the owner/proprietor. In my experience they generally provide a much higher level of customer service. The demand for retail premises in the smaller towns with free car parking remains strong and there are hardly any vacant premises.

As in 2017 the demand for offices was not as strong but then there was not a huge supply either.  A lot of the medium quality space, particularly that above shops in High Streets, has been reconverted back to residential use. There was a noticeable demand for high quality new space with good broadband and mobile phone signal plus air conditioning. Most popular were buildings in the more rural locations especially those with character such as feature beams and fine views but still having ready accessibility.

The sector which continues to power ahead and where there is the highest demand is industrial and workshop premises. Back in 2017 there was a shortage of space in this sector and that continued in 2018. There is still a shortage of such space throughout the local area and those which come to the market tend to find occupiers extremely quickly. This has led to a rise in rental values per sq ft and in many Wealden towns these are now the highest we have seen in 30 years.

The demand for freehold commercial property is huge and will, I believe, remain so driven largely by owner/occupiers as well as investors some of whom are moving out of the Buy To Let market into commercial property. There was strong competition for the few freeholds that became available during the year with multiple offers leading often to a best bids situation.

2017 was a good solid year with some evidence of business hesitation. Although business was not exactly booming several businesses saw an opportunity for growth although the big limiting factor was, in the industrial sector, a shortage of units. The same is still true in 2018 and we look forward with optimism to 2019 when we hope the level of activity continues to rise.

My message in 2017 was that local businesses have problems in expanding and there was a shortage of opportunities for businesses from outside the area wanting to relocate because of a lack of suitable space. That remains true today and, with the huge amount of housing proposed to be built over the next 10 years there needs to be a political will locally to make more sites available for commercial development.

Ashdown Business Park in North Wealden is now nearly full. There are only 2 sites still available and we hope that planning consent will shortly be granted for a new 80 bed Premier Inn hotel and a Costa Coffee drive thru, the latter being the first in East Sussex. If businesses are to continue to thrive in East Sussex to provide employment for the increasing population considerably more thought needs to be given to providing room for business expansion.

Lawson Commercial have been instructed to find a new tenant for a prominent lockup shop with basement in Uckfield High Street.

The former Rose & Olive Tearooms at 156 High Street is now available and would lend itself to a wide variety of retail activities. There is some 454 sq ft on the ground floor plus a very useful staff/store/function room on the lower ground floor together with 2 cloakrooms of 575 sq ft.

The property is being offered on a new 5 year lease at a rent of £12,000 pa. This is a good location in this busy High Street being right by the pedestrian crossing towards the top of the High Street and virtually opposite Piazza Express.