The Market in 2009
01 Mar 2009

Notts based architects Rayner Davies have had a challenging year, and while the market remains tough, embracing the changes seems to be the key to keeping one step ahead…
“The last year has seen probably the greatest change in the property and construction market that I can remember,” says Steve Rayner.

The private housing market, once a main stay of Rayner Davies, has now almost completely evaporated. Initially when City Living first took off we undertook a large number of schemes, often to listed buildings in conservation areas and produced some stunning apartments, says Steve.

“This market has now completely dried up and it is unlikely to resurrect itself for some time.  It is arguable that, as have most cities, Nottingham now has an oversupply of apartments and as such that type of development may never return at all.” 

“Luckily we have managed to push into other areas and also other geographic locations, opening our Kent office has provided us with further options. We are now looking at schemes across the Midlands and into East Anglia as well as our connection with Kent and the south coast. The Thames Gateway Regeneration Area is interesting and is throwing up a few possibilities for us.”

The retail market is interesting at the moment, says Steve. “We have seen a move in our workload from the high quality retailer down to the value retailer. While a couple of years ago we were doing schemes for Hugo Boss, Replay and other high end retailers, we now find our work comes from stores such as Poundland and Lidl.  Whilst perhaps not as glamorous, they still present their own challenges and done in the right way they can prove architecturally interesting. Work on Listed buildings is often sensitive and takes time, but we have been involved in a growing number of projects, including the recently completed phase 1 of the YMCA in Nottingham, the creation of a new gym.”

Another change in working patterns over the years is out of town business parks, says Steve. “Typically, redundant agricultural buildings are being brought back into use as commercial space.  These are popular not just with small business, but often large companies who want a local office, but don’t want or need to be in the city centre.  This is an area that will no doubt grow in future years.”

Another interesting development we have noticed is the change in strategy of some clients, said Steve. “We have always undertaken work for property funds, but this has tended to be relatively minor and usually centered around a desire to improve a particular property for a new tenant.

“Property funds have perhaps had it relatively easy over the last ten years in that they have haven’t really had to do a great deal to keep the value of the fund rising. Now that businesses are going out of business or rationalising their requirements, the funds are seeing a decline in value.  This is prompting them to look at their substantial portfolios with a view to working the assets probably for the first time.  In many cases, the assets are under utilised and added value can be found.”