Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Grade A office properties command respectable take up rates

Grade A office properties command respectable take up rates
By Linette Lim | Posted: 26 July 2011 2110 hrs

SINGAPORE: Grade A office properties in the Marina Bay and Raffles Place vicinity have been commanding respectable take-up rates.

Overseas Union Enterprise's OUE Bayfront, which obtained its temporary occupancy permit (TOP) in January, has committed leases of 77 per cent of its 500,000 square feet of net lettable area.

OUE said that its latest tenants include international law firm Hogan Lovells International and Union Bancaire Privee.

Just across the road, Ocean Financial Centre Phase 1 has an occupancy rate of 82.6 per cent. The building received its TOP in April and has 850,000 square feet of office space.

"It would have been easy for these buildings to rent out all its space but the issue here is to maintain its rents at a certain rate," said Donald Han, vice-chairman, Cushman & Wakefield, adding that the rents in these buildings are likely to "cross S$13 per square foot".

Mr Han also said that so far, office rents have grown about six per cent per quarter. He expects this to slow to three to four per cent as tenants move to newly completed buildings in the Marina Bay area, resulting in vacancies in older ones.

With more office space coming up around the Marina Bayfront area some wonder if older buildings around Raffles Place could see tenants migrate.

For now, though, this seems unlikely.

"Raffles Place will still hold its own. This is because of the clustering effect there, transportation and its reputation," said Nicholas Mak, executive director fo research & consultancy at SLP International.

-CNA/ac

- wong chee tat :)

NTU rated 5-star university

NTU rated 5-star university
Posted: 26 July 2011 1910 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is the first university in Singapore to be rated five stars under a new QS Stars rating system.

The new system is a comprehensive evaluation by Quacquarelli Symonds, an information provider for higher education that is behind the annual QS World University Rankings.

According to QS, a typical five-star university is generally world class in a broad range of areas, enjoys a high reputation and has cutting edge facilities and internationally renowned research and teaching faculty.

NTU joins an international league of similarly acclaimed universities such as Cambridge, Stanford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that have also been awarded a five-star rating.

The QS Stars rating system examines institutional performance against a greater range of criteria than are included in any university ranking.

Universities receive an overall star rating out of five, but also receive individual ratings in 30 different areas covering research, employability, teaching, infrastructure, internationalisation, innovation, engagement, as well as their ranking within a specialist subject.

Managing Director of QS Asia, Mandy Mok, said NTU has performed exceptionally well in all eight key areas.

It earned full marks for graduate employability, internationalisation, innovation and knowledge transfer, and community engagement.

It also achieved full marks in many of the criteria in the other four key areas.

Overall, NTU was given 948 points out of a maximum of 1,000 points.

NTU President, Professor Bertil Andersson, was presented with the QS Stars 5-Star certification, at NTU's University Awards Dinner on Monday.

- CNA/ck

- wong chee tat :)

Om Mani Padme Hum



- wong chee tat :)