Salloway Property Consultants have disposed of the freehold interest of modern office premises within Turnpike Business Park, Swanwick, on behalf of private clients. The building, known as Network House (Unit 9 Turnpike Business Park), comprises a detached two storey office building which provides a net internal area of approximately 4,425 sq ft with 20 dedicated on-site car parking spaces. Hugo Beresford, of Salloway Property Consultants, who acted on behalf of the vendor, said: “The property was popular with both investors and owner occupiers, given that it provides modern office accommodation with good parking provisions and excellent road connections – I am delighted to have completed the sale to Curve Digital and wish them every success at their new premises.” Curve Digital, who are a specialist in CGI and high-end photography with offices in both the Midlands and Los Angeles USA, provide their services to a variety of clients within the automotive and advertising industry. The acquisition of Network House represents a relocation of their UK base of operations from Eastwood, Nottinghamshire to larger and more prominent offices that are able to facilitate the company’s rapid and continuing business growth. Nick Limb, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Curve Digital, said: “We are really excited to create a cool space here, which is perfectly situated for our staff, allowing room for the growth we need.”

An historic building in Derby which was once at the centre of the city’s railway industry has been fitted with a host of hi-tech smart innovations to create the ideal 21^st Century place to study and work.

The installation, in the former Grade II-listed former Derby Midlands Carriage Works at the Derby College Roundhouse campus on Pride Park, has taken place as part of a project to turn the building, which is known as the Engine Room, from a restaurant to a meeting and training space for the college’s business partners.

The work was carried out by city-based IT and building technology firm Scenariio, which is based in Siddals Road and has previously carried out work on behalf of Gymshark, Severn Trent Water and Tarmac.

It was called in to ensure that the new facility offered optimum user comfort while minimising running costs and, in response, installed AV equipment, movement-tracking sensors, temperature, CO2 levels and humidity sensors, along with an intelligent PoE – which stands for Power over Ethernet – lighting system.

It also installed booking software for desks and rooms that lets users book space on site or remotely.

The technology will ensure that the LED lights are turned off or dimmed when rooms are empty, while the lights next to the window use daylight harvesting, which automatically reduces their output in response to level of the brightness outside.

Known as circadian lighting, it replicates the tone of light given by the sun throughout the day, which has been proven to ensure maximum productivity and accuracy for users whilst reducing absenteeism.

Data cables, which also power the lights, have been laid along the building’s ironwork to transfer information from the various sensors and the lights, sending the data to a screen in the room and to a smart director in the college’s IT, with all of the information available to view via an app on their phone, desktop, laptop or tablet.

The result is a system which provides an instant snapshot of what areas of the building are being used, the occupancy levels, how comfortable their experience is and what the energy usage is, 24 hours a day.

George Pritchard, technical director at Scenariio, said: “The Engine Room is a hugely important building in Derby’s history and it’s wonderful to think that our technology has helped to give it a new lease of life as a work and study space that’s fit for the 21^st Century.

“Just because the building is more than 100 years old doesn’t mean that it has to be uncomfortable for people to work in or can’t be energy-saving, and it’s a great example of what we at Scenariio can do.

“The need for organisations to encourage people back into the workplace post-pandemic, the rising cost of energy and the need for organisations to reduce their carbon footprint is shining a light on how they need to improve and upgrade their premises.

“Expensive, overcrowded and badly lit offices are no longer acceptable, which is why our technology is becoming more and more in demand.”

Ian McCormick, director of IT at Derby College, said: “We are really pleased with the ease of use and data we are getting from the system Scenariio installed for us.

“It is great that one of our spaces is a leader in smart technology in the education sector, whilst the energy and efficiency savings delivered are especially important to us. Scenariio did a great job on design, install and support and we look forward to working with them again in the future.”

Nottingham City Council is on track to deliver or support the development of 1,000 affordable homes. The Council Plan outlined the target, including newly built homes, new acquisitions and homes for the homeless such as temporary accommodation. The current projection is for the target to be exceeded, with 1,049 units available or due for completion. To date, 151 new council homes have been completed, with a further 351 in the process of being built. Planning permission has also been granted for 24 more homes on the Oakdene site in St Ann’s. A further 52 new build affordable homes have been completed on private sites through planning agreements, some of which have also been acquired by the council to add to its housing stock. The council has also converted nine upper floors over council-owned shops into new affordable flats for rent and bought 162 properties from the private sector market to further increase the number of council homes. Housing Association partners have also been providing new affordable housing in Nottingham which is available to people on the council waiting list through the Homelink Partnership. Between them Housing Associations have built 76 new affordable homes with a further 182 homes currently being built on various sites across the city. A further 142 units of homeless accommodation have been provided across Nottingham by the council and its partners with an additional 13 currently in development. Portfolio holder for housing & human resources, Cllr Toby Neal, said: “We have made increasing the number of affordable homes available to local residents a priority and I’m pleased with the progress we’re making towards meeting our target. “We are building good quality homes with high energy efficiency standards, giving the opportunity for more local families to choose a decent home which is so important towards ensuring good health and wellbeing.”

Developers are set to progress plans for 165 homes off Cork Lane, Glen Parva, after the Planning Inspectorate, a Government appointed organisation, made its decision in relation to Blaby District Council’s refusal of the application. Following a public inquiry into the refusal decision, made in May 2022, the Planning Inspector has granted reserved matters approval for the scheme. It means developers Glen Parva JV LLP can progress to the next stage of the process, which will be to submit a further application to the Council to explain exactly how they will deal with the risks associated with contamination of the site due to its previous use as landfill. This is required before any work can start on the building of up to 165 homes on the 12.5 hectare plot, a former brickworks and clay pit-turned landfill site. This is important in ensuring robust remediation and mitigation works against any migration of landfill gas, particularly methane gas. When received, this application will be considered by the Council to ensure the developer can take the necessary steps to address any threats posed to future occupants and surrounding residents. If the Council is not satisfied then it can refuse the application and the development may not proceed. The background to the appeal goes back to 2016 when outline planning permission was given to the original application to build up to 165 homes on land off Cork Lane, Glen Parva. A reserved matters application was received by the Council in 2019 which sought approval for the appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of the development on this former landfill site. In the reserved matters application the developer had made changes to the originally agreed approach to contamination. Concerned that this new strategy may not be sufficient to eliminate risks from landfill gas, Council officers recommended refusal and at committee the application was denied. Glen Parva JV LLP appealed this decision and a public inquiry was held last November. During the run-up to the inquiry, new evidence was put forward by contamination experts from both sides. This led to both parties agreeing in principle that the site could theoretically be remediated satisfactorily through measures including installing an underground protective gas curtain wall, increasing the depth of the capping layer and carrying out further monitoring. The Planning Inspector agreed with this new approach and in his decision letter Mr Darren Hendley stated: “I conclude that the proposal would not have an unacceptable effect on the public health of the future occupiers of the proposal and the occupiers of nearby residential properties by way of land contamination.” Councillor Ben Taylor, portfolio holder for planning delivery and enforcement and corporate transformation, said: “This is a very complex issue and a very complicated site given its history and the potential risks its development poses. “This appeal decision is just one step in a long process to ensure any development on this site is carried out in a manner which protects future and existing residents. “While, on the new advice of experts and after changes to the development layout were made, common ground has been reached on the ability to remediate the site it remains that as a Council we must be wholly satisfied any remediation plan is sufficient to ensure householders’ safety.” Glen Parva JV LLP made a claim for costs against the Council. This claim was refused, with the Planning Inspector concluding the Council had been reasonable in taking the land contamination information submitted in the reserved matters application into account when coming to its decision. He determined the Council’s actions had not caused procedural unfairness to the developer.

Plans for a new hotel in Skegness have been approved by East Lindsey District Council. Burney Property Group are behind the proposals for the former Crazy Golf site on South Parade, which has been left vacant for the past four years. The new scheme involves two units on the site; a six storey Travelodge hotel with 80 rooms, and a drive thru Starbucks restaurant. A design statement indicates that the development would create a significant number of local job opportunities, and have knock on beneficial impacts associated with the wider regeneration and investment in the local area. EV charging points would be included in the development, along with cycle parking spaces, 65 car parking spaces for the hotel and 17 spaces for the Starbucks unit. A publicly accessible food and drink outlet is also proposed on the hotel’s fifth floor, with panoramic views across Skegness beach and coastline.