About Alchemist

Track Record

Brian's abbreviated track record is:

• In 1989 Brian advised Guardian Royal Exchange (GRE) in their purchase of the Covent Garden Estate, London for £84.5 million. Brian then joined GRE and was responsible for all letting decisions for Covent Garden Market as well as many of the redevelopment options for the rest of the estate which was either listed or in a conservation area. Brian helped to establish the Covent Garden Trust which was a body given responsibility for overseeing all matters relating to any proposed changes to the 175 year old buildings. The trust was made up of representatives from the local authority, local residents, the private sector and interested historical bodies such as English Heritage. In 1990 Brian was asked to join the management body of the trust.

• Brian was responsible for the development management of “The Square” a 750,000 sq ft shopping centre outside Dublin which at the time was Ireland’s largest shopping centre. Built on three levels around a central core The Square was built on time and on budget despite the design being extended during the build phase. Each of the three levels of the centre has its own exterior surface level car park and there are 9 staircases, 7 lifts, 4 escalators and 4 travelators linking the various levels internally.

• In 1997 one of Brian’s joint venture companies, Ballyrawer Estates purchased three small local shopping centres in Banbridge, Carrickfergus and Belfast in Northern Ireland. The portfolio of shops had been very badly managed and all the units had problems being either vacant, with rent arrears, or outstanding rent reviews or lease renewals. This provided exciting asset management opportunities. Banbridge was purchased for £125,000 and sold one year later on resolution of the problems for £365,000. Carrickfergus was bought for £235,000 and sold three years later for £725,000. Kings Square, Belfast was bought for £345,000 and was retained and extended. An additional six units were constructed for £500,000 and it was eventually sold in December 2005 for a value of £2.7m.

• In 1999 Brian working as managing director of The Baronsgate Group was appointed as designer and development manager for “Lisburn Square”, a mixed use retail office and residential scheme in the heart of Lisburn, Northern Ireland. Lisburn Square was designed to resemble existing 150 year old buildings in Lisburn but was in fact of entirely new design and construction. The centre comprised 28 shop units, 12,000 sq ft of office accommodation, 45 apartments, a bar/restaurant, 3 other catering outlets, a tourist information centre and a civic amenity suite all built over a 212 space underground car park. Lisburn Square was designed to be ahead of existing standards for disabled accessibility and has won many awards for design, disabled access and tourism facilities.

• Alchemist Developments purchased a former Arnold Clark car sales in Prestwick for £475,000. Two shop units were built on the site at a cost of £390,000. The shop units were let to Tesco and Superdrug at a combined rental of £94,000 pa. These units have been valued at £1.7m. The Tesco lease is for 15 years and the rent is reviewed annually on an RPI basis. There is also additional land at the rear which has been valued at £300,000 making a combined total value of £2m.

• In 2003 Brian purchased the Castle Centre in Antrim again, this time for Baronsgate Estates, for £14m. Brian had previously asset managed this centre for Aquis Estates. A development plan was carried out to buy out Tesco from the shopping centre and their 20,000 sq ft unit was then split into four smaller units. One was pre-let to New Look and another to Clinton Cards. A third unit was let to Bonne Marche. The Castle Centre was then sold in 2005 for £22.4m.

• Alchemist Properties owns a grade B listed 70,000 sq ft multi storey Victorian warehouse in Kilmarnock. The building was the original whisky warehouse built for Johnny Walker. The property was purchased for £650,000. The building is to be refurbished and Alchemist has agreed a pre-let with East Ayrshire Council for all of office accommodation at an income of £517,500 pa. Due to its listed status the building also benefits from substantial grants and tax allowances that are worth more than an additional £2 million to Alchemist. Alchemist have also agreed an option to sell the building to EAC for £6,650,000.

• Over the course of his career, Brian has been directly responsible for well in excess of £1 Billion of investment and development projects in real terms. Projects Brian has been responsible for have won a large number of awards for disabled access, conservation and urban regeneration. Among other awards, one of Brian’s shopping centres was placed third in the best shopping centre in Europe awards at MIPIM in France. Another has been voted best shopping centre in Britain and best shopping centre in Europe.

• Towards the end of 2006, realising that a property crash was imminent, Alchemist switched strategies and decided to take advantage of the high prices available in the market and has since carried out only sales, selling properties in Aberdeen, Ayr, Cowdenbeath, Dumfries, Edinburgh, Fort William, Stockton and Stranraer. The Company concentrated on reducing its bank debt and is now very lowly geared compared to its competition. In March 2008 new bank facilities were arranged for a period of 5 years at a margin of 1% over base rate.