Office Building — Sale — Long Leasehold
Heron House, Warwick Science Park
Warwick Science Park, Coventry
Heron House is an office building on Warwick Science Park in Coventry — a well-established location for science, technology, and engineering businesses. The property had been on the market for around a year before Steve Bell was instructed. In that time it had generated little to no serious interest. On the face of it, an office building on a science park in a strong location should not be a difficult instruction. The issue was not the property or the location. It was what had been happening in the name of marketing it.
Heron House carried a covenant placing a specific restriction on the buyer: to purchase the property, the buyer's business had to have some form of scientific basis for its work. The previous agent had been showing the property to a broad range of prospective buyers without regard for the covenant — businesses that could never have legally completed the purchase were being invited to view, wasting everyone's time and giving the impression of activity without any prospect of a result. After a year of this, the property had a history of failed viewings and no meaningful progress.
Steve took over the instruction and repositioned the marketing entirely. Rather than presenting Heron House as a general office opportunity, the approach was rebuilt around the specific profile of buyer the covenant required. The target audience was narrowed to engineering and technical businesses — specifically those that would see the Warwick Science Park location as an asset. Direct outreach was made to engineering firms in the region. The property description was rewritten to speak to what mattered to that audience: the building specification, the science park infrastructure, proximity to Warwick University.
An engineering firm for whom Heron House was a strong fit was identified and engaged. They proceeded to purchase the property. The transaction was not straightforward — the long leasehold structure meant three parties were involved in the legal process, and the SIPP trustee on the buyer's side proved difficult to contact at critical stages. Steve managed both sides actively throughout, maintaining communication between all parties and keeping the process moving. The sale completed. The covenant was satisfied. A property that had sat on the market for a year was completed within a reasonable timeframe from instruction.
You've been so professional and helpful. Communication has always been prompt, and you navigated the sensitive challenges with the buyers very well. I wouldn't hesitate to use you again or recommend your services, even though you're a Coventry City fan.Nigel Shanahan — Heron House, Warwick Science Park
A strategy call is the fastest way to identify what's holding your property back and what needs to change.