The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Waterfront providing region-wide benefits
Commercial property market in the wider area also getting a boost as developers look to Tayside for new opportunities
Dundee continues to bask in the limelight as the city’s waterfront regeneration encourages developers, occupiers and investors not previously represented in the city to consider it as an exciting new opportunity.
Those formerly active in Aberdeen are also looking to Dundee as a more cost-effective option.
Measured against a background of limited take-up of commercial development land in Dundee in recent years – as the city recovered from the impact of the recession and an overhang of supply – this new interest is encouraging.
It also appears to be having a positive impact on the wider Tayside areas.
As Aberdeen adjusts to a painful market correction, developers and investors are looking for opportunities in new markets.
Occupiers, with a new-found focus on cost saving and value, are also considering locations outwith Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, which remain highcost locations in comparison to Dundee, Tayside and Angus.
Aberdeenshire-based housebuilder Kirkwood Homes is an example of a developer previously not active in Tayside, but this year has turned its sights on the region.
At the start of the year the firm announced it was looking to acquire two Dundee sites.
It is currently seeking planning consent for 45 residential units on the site of the former St Joseph’s RC Primary on Bellfield Street and is looking to secure permission for a second development in Broughty Ferry.
Orchardbank Business Park in Forfar, a commercial site being developed by Angus Council and Muir Group, is also appealing to occupiers looking for more cost-effective premises.
Ryden, sole letting agent at the development, has seen a marked increase in interest in the park from a range of occupiers, most notably from those not currently represented in the Angus or Tayside areas.
These firms would further enhance the desirability of the business park and Forfar as a whole.
The recently-submitted planning application for a 38-bed hotel at the park being a prime example.
Orchardbank has plots from 0.5 acres to 9.9 acres and is located next to the A90.
There are a variety of existing office and leisure operators.