Taylor Scott International News
Slow broadband is a major constraint in the successful letting of commercial workspace in the countryside in the UK and has an impact on rents achievable according to new research. It is also becoming more of an issue in some locations for residential property available to rent, the latest analysis sector survey report from real estate firm Savills shows. The survey reveals that nearly 70% of respondents confirmed slow broadband is a constraint on letting residential property in rural areas and 80% confirmed slow broadband is a constraint on letting commercial workspace. The survey also showed that in many cases a poor speed deters potential tenants from even making an appointment for a viewing and where space is let, on average rents are 16% and 25% less respectively where the broadband speed is slow. ‘Broadband speed is now generally one of the first topics raised by perspective tenants who are looking to rent some commercial office space in a rural area,’ said Ben Knight, director of Savills Rural. ‘Where it is poor vacant periods are often longer and in some cases there is no demand for a building however good the space and other facilities are. And with more people choosing to work from home for at least part of the week it is becoming a more common question from perspective residential tenants,’ he explained. The report suggests that landlords looking to develop commercial space should assess the speed of broadband as part of the viability study and are in cases shelving a project if the speed is poor or taking matters into their hands and creating high speed networks using grant funding where applicable. While the start-up costs are significant around £20,000-£30,000 in the first year, annuity income from those using the broadband is a valuable new income stream and of course the likelihood of finding tenants for the commercial space greatly improves the report says. Two estates which have successfully developed their own broadband schemes are The Alscot Estate in Warwickshire and The Rushmore Estate in Dorset. The Alscot Estate near Stratford-upon-Avon established the network South Warwickshire Broadband in 2014 which has led to a diverse range of businesses occupying premises and a 100 per cent occupancy rate. The tenants all have access to upload and download speeds of up to 36Mb per second plus voice over internet protocol (VOIP) and cloud services. ‘The benefits to the estate of having full occupancy with happy tenants are extremely valuable. Increasingly estates are having to diversify away from agriculture as farm incomes are pressurized by weak commodity prices and former traditional farm buildings provide attractive offices once converted,’ said Knight. ‘At Alscot we were able to immediately connect a gaming business taking one of the serviced offices so that they were up and running within 24 hours, which created a great relationship with the tenant from the outset,’ he added. The Rushmore Estate in Dorset via Wessex Internet is now able to offer residential and commercial… Taylor Scott International
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