The Cambridge commercial property sector has in the last 12 months continued to see good levels of development activity, despite the ongoing challenges that Covid brings to the construction industry.
At the forefront of this sector is local Cambridge firm, Construction Advantage Ltd. Based in one of their previous projects at 48 Empire Street, Construction Advantage Ltd offers a complete property development package to their clients – from initial feasibility studies and cost consultancy, through project, development and construction management plus design and build.
The business has excellent working relationships with local contractors, tradespeople and professionals and has a policy to buy local whenever practical.
This successful formula has seen the completion late last year of the new Hunting & Fishing store in Oliver Street, forming part of a new retail precinct opposite Mitre 10 that also includes the relocated Guthrie Bowron store and existing FiT gym. Waipa Council have already indicated their desire to see the Carters Flat area evolve from its traditional industry uses to a more mixed-use focus including retail, commercial and residential.
At 1902 Cambridge Road the Construction Advantage Ltd team are building a new standalone office building next to one of their previous projects, Little Thinkers Childcare. Working closely with the developer and LAD Architecture the Construction Advantage Ltd team identified a shortage of good quality office accommodation with construction now underway to deliver this latest building for an existing local business. Plans have also been made to develop out the site on the other side of Little Thinkers later this year to provide two new retail and office buildings in an area which will see further residential development in the short to medium term.
Director of Construction Advantage Ltd, John Mason, sees the company as being Waipa centric and offering a niche development service locally. “We provide end-to-end services, managing projects from start to finish, dealing with everyone from lawyers, Council, agents and funders. Our continued growth in the last 12 months has seen us make some key hires to grow the team and support our existing and future pipeline of projects”.
This period of growth has coincided with the
challenging backdrop of Covid with the construction industry facing constant challengers from costs escalation and shortage of materials. John says, “Being local and using local businesses has been key in assisting us managing the Covid fall out and mitigating cost increases which the whole industry has faced”.
The importance of buying local and being proactive has been highlighted with their current project at The Village @ Leamington. This is the final Stage 3 development of land next to the Five Stags pub which started last year to build basement car parking, ground floor commercial space and two floors of 30 apartments. With the steel frame now up to roof level this project is the largest construction project underway in central Cambridge with completion expected later in the year.
Given Waipa Council remain keen to see further multi-storey development in the town the team at Construction Advantage Ltd are well placed to support local property owners and achieve their own vision of “turning construction ideas into valuable property assets”.
