The commercial property market locally performed strongly again last month with good levels of activity in the industrial and office sectors.

In Bordon, the sale of the nine-acre Lion Court to Fishron Securities was completed and was rapidly followed by the letting of the 26,000 sq ft of industrial space, laboratories and offices on site.

The properties had become vacant following the relocation of German pharmaceutical company Fresenius Kabi, but the new owner, a property investment and development company represented by Curchod & Co, moved quickly to secure a letting of the buildings to Richers & Vision, a Bordon-based firm involved in the return management and refurbishment of electrical consumer goods.

Since it was established in 2010, Richers & Vision has refurbished more than 3,500,000 individual products which might otherwise have ended in landfill.

Along this theme, businesses working to protect the environment were a feature of the office market over the past month, with Curchod & Co being involved with finding a new home for an environmental consultant in Godalming, where the firm worked alongside its joint agent, Owen Isherwood, on the letting of 1,003 sq ft of office space at Godalming Business Centre to ACD Environmental. The firm has taken a five-year lease on Unit 7.

Curchod & Co has also assisted FSE, a provider of funding for high-growth businesses, to identify and acquire a new HQ office property in Ancells Park, near Junction 4A of the M3. Having outgrown its previous property in Camberley, FSE retained the firm to identify a suitable property within the Blackwater Valley area.

Nick Reeve of Curchod & Co said: “While it may appear to be a good supply of office space available at the current time, the reality is that in any given size band, there are often only a few properties available, and we were pleased to have assisted FSE in securing the property that fulfilled some very specific occupational requirements.”

Meanwhile, in Alton, the industrial market remains robust, with a unit of 5,200 sq ft at 4 Mill Lane in Caker Stream Road being let to local firm Rediweld. 

Additionally, a deal with a high-profile tenant, on a neighbouring unit of the same size, is rumoured to have been agreed upon.

In Farnham, the former Wellington pub, at the junction of Farnborough Road and Alma Lane, which was previously occupied by Optiplan, has been sold with planning permission for a mixed-use development with residential apartments on the first floor.

Less than two miles away, on the edge of Aldershot, The Royal Pavilion, a 204,835 sq ft office campus set within around 35 acres of woodland and parkland, is up for sale as an investment. Currently leased to CSC Computer Sciences until January 2025, the property currently produces an annual income of over £3.4 million, so any investor will need deep pockets if they want to buy it!

By Richard Dunmore