Local family owned trading business, the RO, based in Potters Bar, has once again used their annual charity quiz to raise over £10,000 for an important local charity. The quiz, held annually at the Wyllyotts Theatre, has now raised in excess of £75,000 for Hertfordshire-based charities. ADD-vance, the beneficiary of this year’s event, is comprised of a dedicated group of professionals, who are also parents of children affected by ADHD and / or Autism. Their mission is to sup

Rebalancing of portfolio continues with sale of property in Market Harborough and acquisition in Langley Family owned trading company, The RO, is pleased to announce the purchase of Waterside Court, Langley for £6.25 million and the sale of its warehouse assets in Market Harborough, Leicestershire for £3.25 million.  The sale provides further opportunity for the RO to redeploy its capital into new investment opportunities in 2019. One such deployment is the acquisition of Wat

The RO is pleased to announce the disposal of Phoenix House in Brighton and West Park House in Southampton, both to local authorities for in excess of £11m. Phoenix House has been sold to Brighton and Hove City Council for £6.8m and West Park House has been sold to CIFCO Capital Limited (an investment company serving the Joint Capital Investment Strategy and Investment Fund of Babergh District Council and Mid Suffolk District Council) for £5.1m. The sale of both properties ge

The RO is pleased to announce the appointment of Steve White who joins the RO as Group Commercial Director. Steve joins the RO from Grant Thornton Corporate Finance, where he was a Director, and one of the leaders of the Grant Thornton Corporate Finance Central team. He will primarily be based in the Group’s Potters Bar headquarters and will report to Group Managing Director Edward Rowlandson. In his previous role at Grant Thornton, Steve spent time developing and leading the

RO is pleased to announce that they are the first Company to have secured Fitwel certification for a multi-tenanted building in Europe, at the Dakota building in Weybridge, Surrey. Fitwel is a simple, easy to apply healthy building measure that is quickly gaining traction in the UK and Europe. The Dakota building is the first UK Fitwel certified scheme outside of London and it is also the first time a multi-tenanted building has secured the certification in Europe. This innov

The RO is pleased to announce the successful sale of Norwich House, Hull, to Augustus House Limited for £1,073,000; as well as the sale of 1-4 Station Approach, Frome, for £1,000,000 to Station Approach Frome Ltd . Both sales represent a further realisation of a strategy to focus on gateway cities and market towns for the property division of the Hertfordshire based family owned trading business. The Group will redeploy this capital into further investment opportunities in i

The RO has continued its recent strong run of activity by announcing two more deals as part of its strategy to refocus its core real estate portfolio. The Group is pleased to announce the acquisition of a multi-tenanted office property, Admiral House in Windsor, which has been purchased for £4 million from Jansons Property, at a Net Initial Yield of 5.66% as well as the sale of Dukes Park in Harlow, to CBRE Global Investors for £3.5 million, equating to a Net Initial Yield of

The RO is pleased to announce the acquisition of a nine acre development plot that has been purchased for £2.45 million from Amesbury Property Company Limited. The site has the potential for industrial, distribution and trade counter units, and will benefit significantly from the A303 infrastructure improvements in a key regional gateway location. Offering a range of development opportunities, the land is situated on Solstice Park, near Amesbury, in central southern England

The RO is pleased to announce the sale of its remaining interests at Newhall Square in Birmingham for £1.85 million to Marchmont Farms Ltd. The property is located on the southern fringe of the Jewellery Quarter and fronts the busy Charlotte Street, between the Travelodge and the Stay City hotel schemes, both of which were developed and subsequently sold by the RO for a total consideration of £27 million. The sale of 6‐7 Newhall Square ends RO’s involvement and current i

The RO is proud to announce that its housebuilding subsidiary Metis Homes has won the Gold Award in the Best Small Housebuilder category at the WhatHouse? Awards 2017. The awards event is widely recognised as the biggest and most prestigious event for the nation’s new homes builders. Metis was founded in 2008 by Adam O’Brien, alongside respected industry professional Tony Burton with strategic investment and support from the RO, an entrepreneurial family company which has bee

The RO is pleased to announce that they have completed the purchase of 31-33 East Street, Chichester, for £4 million from M&G Real Estate. The property comprises two prime retail units over ground and basement levels, with three self-contained residential flats and a maisonette above, which are all fully let on assured shorthold tenancies. This property is located in an extremely desirable prime pitch on the north side of East Street, within Chichester’s pedestrianised retai

The RO is pleased to announce that they have completed the purchase of 1 Dorset Street in Southampton from Aberdeen Standard Investments for £5.2 million. This brings RO’s total of sales and acquisitions to in excess of £60 million over the last 15 months. This is the third major acquisition the RO has made in Southampton, bringing its total investment in the City to over £16 million, following the purchase last year of Waterside Place, located on the marina and a short walk

The RO is pleased to announce the sale of Discovery House is a 9,034 sq ft office building arranged over two storeys and is completely self-contained. Vision Park is located about three miles north of Cambridge, just off junction 32 of the A14. It has been owned by the RO since 2014 with Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) in occupation. The purchaser of the property is The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society who also own five other office properties on Vision Park. The price r

Employees from the RO Group in Potters Bar have been helping out at Mudlarks Community Garden to support the Hertford based charity with its efforts to look after vulnerable members of the local community. Mudlarks supports adults with learning disabilities and mental health issues offering therapy, training and work experience in horticulture, conservation and environmental awareness. With the help of their dedicated volunteers and staff they have created a valuable communit

12 month real estate dealflow now in excess of £54 million The RO announces the sale of its property in Lytham St Anne’s to Savills Investment Management for £6.7 million, bringing its total of sales and acquisitions to in excess of £54 million over a 12 month period. The property in Lytham St Anne’s was originally acquired with two floors of tired offices above retail space. With a strong location underpinning the investment opportunity, the RO was able to acquire planning t

There is a common misconception that homelessness is a problem associated only with the major metropolitan conurbations, but the sad fact is that many people including a large number of young and vulnerable adults across the shires often face a night without safe and secure accommodation. Herts Young Homeless (hyh) is a charity founded with a mission to prevent homelessness in Hertfordshire by empowering individuals to make positive informed choices and to support young peopl

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has named 25 real estate companies in its annual report of the fastest-growing and most dynamic small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) across the UK. To be selected for the list, the RO demonstrated not only positive growth in revenue over the last three years, but also strong sector performance. Xavier Rolet, chief executive of the LSE is quoted as saying: "Four years on, LSEG’s ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Britain’ report continues to highli

The RO is pleased to announce the appointment of David Kershaw as General Manager of RO Real Estate with immediate effect. David, who joins from Balfour Beatty Group, brings over 30 years of complementary management experience in property and construction. He will primarily be based in the RO’s London office, but will report directly to the Group’s Managing Director Edward Rowlandson, based in the family business’ headquarters in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire. Amongst other resp

The RO announces that they have completed the purchase of West Park House in Southampton from Lanyon Quay Ltd for a total consideration of £4 million. West Park House occupies a prominent location within the City Centre, on the corner of Cumberland Place and Bedford Place, in the established central business district and overlooking Watts Park to the front. This is the second major acquisition the RO has made in Southampton following the purchase last year of Waterside Place

RO Real Estate, the UK commercial property investment and development company, has completed the acquisition of a multi-let office building at 49 Clarendon Road, Watford, Hertfordshire. RO has purchased Victoria House from Cheshire West and Chester Council for £5.815 million, which reflects a net initial yield of 7.16%. The 21,834 sq ft three-storey office building, which is in the heart of Watford’s prime office centre, has 4,704 sq ft of office space available in three suit

Following two years' work, Metis Homes has secured approval for their new development of 27 new homes at the old Station Yard in Sutton Scotney, just north of Winchester. The homes have a contemporary feel with a traditional palette of materials to be used. Adam O’Brien, MD of Metis Homes, said: “this new planning permission finally solves the puzzle of a difficult brownfield site that’s laid redundant and derelict for more than a decade. I am proud of our professional team a

RO Real Estate, the UK commercial property investment and development company, has completed two lettings, totalling 6,060 sq ft of office space at Katherine House in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, generating an additional rent roll of £120,340 p.a. RO has leased 2,443 sq ft of space to Next Step Care Management, a nationwide organisation offering alternative residential accommodation to young people, on a 10 year lease. A P Xpress, a design company supplying printed labels to t

RO Real Estate, the UK commercial property investment and development company, has completed the sale of a 31,667 sq ft Poundland store in Dudley, West Midlands to B&M Retail Ltd for £1.925 million. The property comprises 31,667 sq ft of space over three floors and is situated on the prime pitch in the High Street which benefitted from a multi-million pound improvement programme in 2015. Dudley is well located to the east of the M5 motorway and there are good rail services fr

Winchester based, Metis homes is delighted to announce that it has won Silver at the WhatHouse? Awards 2016, which were held today at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. The award was presented to Managing Director Adam O’Brien in front of over 1,700 industry professionals, the largest ever audience for the awards. Now in their 35th year the WhatHouse? Awards are widely recognised as the most prestigious in the housebuilding category and are referred to as the Oscars of the