We’re proud to announce that Dan Howie of ESH and Will North rowed into English Harbour, Antigua on Sun 26 Jan signalling the end of their participation in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge and finishing an outstanding first in their ‘pairs’ category

The boys, aka Atlantic Row 2013, completed the world’s toughest rowing race, totalling 3,000 miles, in 53 days, 9 hours, 30 minutes and 4 seconds.  Challenge highlights included dolphin and shark sightings and being overtaken by a pod of whales, which helped boost morale whilst they battled against stormy weather, over 40 foot waves, excruciating sores, rolling (twice!) and surviving for nearly two months on freeze dried food rations!

Upon finishing, Dan Howie commented:  “We are ecstatic to have won our class in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge.  Nothing could have prepared us for the treacherous conditions at sea and it feels phenomenal to have overcome the challenges and won our class.  Thank you to all who have supported us along the way.”

Donations can be made to their chosen charities at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=AtlanticRow2013.com.

Dan Howie of ESH and his friend Will North are now over a week into their epic 3,000 mile row across the Atlantic Ocean, raising money for Cancer Research UK, Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research and St Anna’s home and school for children in Ghana.

The start date was delayed by two days due to bad weather conditions so the boys departed La Gomera on Wednesday 4th December.

The first week has been difficult with a storm sweeping the Atlantic and the Canary Islands and headwinds of up to 25-30kts meaning the teams have made little progress.  Two teams have already pulled out of the race and Dan has reported some technical issues on his boat which he was hoping to fix.

On a brighter note, weather conditions have now improved and Dan and Will are finally able to start rowing in earnest, vowing to row as hard and as fast as they can to make up for lost time.

Follow their progress at http://www.jellyfish.co.uk/atlanticrow2013/ and http://www.taliskerwhiskyatlanticchallenge.com/

Dan Howie of ESH and his friend Will North are into the final week of their epic row across the Atlantic Ocean. Having already rowed over 2,500nm, Dan and Will are leading their class, the pairs, and have an estimated finish time of 22:03 on 27th Jan.

Parts of the journey have been challenging, including capsizing twice, fixing broken equipment, suffering painful sores on hands and other body parts, being bombarded by flying fish and jumping into the ocean to clean barnacles off the bottom of the boat – all the while keeping a keen eye out for sharks nearby!  Despite all this, the boys are continuing to slog on at an average speed of 2.4 knots and even found time to call the ESH team back in the office for a pep talk.

In the meantime, ESH are continuing to avidly follow their progress at http://www.jellyfish.co.uk/atlanticrow2013 and http://www.taliskerwhiskyatlanticchallenge.com/ and have started an arrival sweepstake, the proceeds of which will be donated to the boys’ charities (donations can be made at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=AtlanticRow2013.com).

Next stop:  Antigua!

Helical Bar has completed the acquisition of Huddersfield Retail Park, Beck Road in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire from Administrators at PWC appointed over Castlemore Securities Ltd.

The purchase price of £17 million reflects a net initial yield of 7.2%. The real estate strategy for the site was worked up with Cordatus Real Estate and PWC’s real estate team. Edgerley Simpson Howe advised the vendor. The 96,977 sq ft property, which benefits from Open A1 planning consent, comprises two terraces of three units on a 6.5 acre site offering 304 car parking spaces. The Park is fully let to a strong selection of retailers including Matalan, Dunelm, Aldi and B&M on long leases (the weighted average unexpired lease term is 12 years without breaks, 10 years including breaks). Five of the six units were let between 2009 and 2012 and so the rents are low (an average of circa £13 psf), offering opportunities for future rental growth. In addition, a number of the leases have fixed increases. Matthew Hammond, Partner at PWC said: “Following wide marketing of this asset, we were pleased to generate a competitive bidding process with several institutional investors, generating an attractive price for the Administration” Michael Cunningham, Director at Cordatus said: “The park was sold following completion of an asset management plan which included leasing 13,500 sqft of vacant space, extending the principal lease on the park and extending the car park. We are delighted at the contribution these initiatives made to securing this sale.”

Standard Life Investments, represented by Edgerley Simpson Howe, have completed lettings to The Range and Bargain Buys at Meadowhall Retail Park, Sheffield.

The Range are taking an assignment and reversionary lease on a unit extending to c.41,000 sq ft, providing a term certain of 15 years. Bargain Buys, the new fascia from Poundworld, are taking a unit of c.12,500 sq ft on a new 10 year lease.

The park extends to c.211,000 sq ft and other retailers include Toys R Us, PC World, Currys, Aldi, B&M and Hobbycraft.

The former Matalan unit at Birmingham Road, Wolverhampton has been subdivided and re-let to Aldi, Poundworld and Iceland.

Aldi took a unit of 16,355 sq ft on a new 20 year lease whilst Poundworld and Iceland took units of 5,100 sq ft and 7,000 sq ft respectively on new 15 year leases. The new retail terrace is located opposite Fitness First and St Johns Retail Park where retailers include Next, PC World, Currys and Homebase.

The landlord, Realis Estates, was represented by Edgerley Simpson Howe.