Month: October 2022

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Commercial Property North London – shows evidence of heating up…

In the markets for Commercial Property, North London is showing signs of heating up. There has been mention of a new property bubble, born out of the ashes of the last, with politicians and senior economists equally at pains not to exaggerate the problem. The last boom crashed with the credit crunch, that saw values in parts of the capital plummet by as much as 50 percent. The low interest rates and quantitative easing brought in to fix this, as well as the weak pound, meant that investment has flowed back in – and the time scale for new development meant that bottlenecks further increased demand. There has been great interest from outside the UK, with Far Eastern investors looking for deals here. A shop for sale in London can be a goldmine in the right hands – either for your own business or to rent out. Shops to let in North London have seen steadily rising rents in recent times. And although this might seem like a problem, it perversely gives rise to new opportunities for those prepared to act quickly.

The dynamic of ever-increasing rents has not met with unanimous approval. Although it is seen as a sign of a healing economy, the reality on the ground can be quite different. Traders who have worked for years in the same street are seeing their rents rising beyond what they can afford, as the property market speeds ahead of the retail sector of the economy. The result: the price of what they sell rises, and both shoppers and vendors move online looking for cheaper alternatives. Gaps are appearing once again as traders find it too expensive to stay.

Some sectors are immune from these changes. An eatery or a coffee shop for sale in London has a better chance of making things work – you can’t buy the coffee-drinking experience online. So some shops to rent in North London can challenge the trend, whilst others will simply swallow the higher prices and see their margins squeezed (or the difference passed on to customers). The thing to remember is that commercial property London is not a homogeneous picture: different sectors and areas act very differently. The news might be driven by the health of grade A office space in the Square Mile; the reality on the ground for retail is quite different. Opportunities still exist for buyers and sellers, landlords and tenants; it’s just a question of finding the right shop and timing.

Please visit https://www.claridges-commercial.co.uk

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Brise Soleil: Functional, Beautiful and Eco-friendly

In today’s world, architects are becoming more and more fond of using large expanses of glass in their designs, especially in industrial buildings. This creates a striking facade, however, these buildings can be prone to overheating and lack of ventilation. This is where external louvres can prove a wonderful asset. These ventilating features consist of wooden, aluminium or glass slats placed periodically down the side of a building in order to encourage circulation of fresh air.

Glass louvres are especially popular in big cities or other heavily populated areas, where the air is polluted, or in excessively hot or cold climates.

Many people walking past a building which has external louvres installed will not realize their practical advantages, as louvres can be so aesthetically pleasing that they can be mistaken for a mere design feature with no useful function. However, louvres not only function as ventilation features or temperature control, they can also be used to keep sand from entering a building, as well as preventing noise pollution.

For larger buildings, or buildings frequented by the public, such as museums or galleries, architects often choose brise soleil. French for ‘sunbreakers’€™, these features reduce heat gain within a building by controlling the amount of sunlight that penetrates the (often glass) walls. They have the added advantage of shading visitors around the building from sunlight or rain.

The structure of brise soleil vary wildly from one project to the next, but typically they consist of a horizontal projection made of steel. Some structures are much more complex, however, with architect Jean Nouvel designing an elaborate facade of multi-layered patterns evocative of ancient Islamic screens on his Burj Qatar skyscraper. Structures can also be made to move with the sun: for example, the Quadracci Pavilion at the Milwaukee Art Museum includes a wing-like structure that opens during the day to shade visitors from the head, and closes at night. These dramatic brise soleil are wonderful examples of how function and design can combine to create iconic buildings that are highly practical in their conception.

Obviously, one of the main advantages of louvres is temperature control, and this is why they are so well respected as eco-friendly features. In fact, glass louvres don’t just deflect excess heat, they actually absorb it, retaining it to be released to heat the building in the winter. In this way, louvres are capable of helping to regulate a building’s heat, from cool in summer to warm in winter. External louvres can even be integrated with solar energy, as they are perfectly positioned to house delicate solar panels.

Please visit https://www.maplesunscreening.co.uk/