The awards annually celebrate built and natural environment projects that demonstrate excellence in the categories: Regeneration, Building conservation, Community benefit and a commitment to value for money and sustainability. Investment property is no longer a viable option for many large financiers so awards like this help to bring the buildings industry back to the forefront of investors’ minds.

The 2008 RIC awards winners were announced in October and the winner of the esteemed project of the year award went unsurprisingly to St Pancras International. This commercial property project is an example of real estate excellence and is a magnificent £800 million architectural restoration and extension of a unique London landmark. The station that first opened in 1868 was seen as a stunning accomplishment of Victorian engineering and commercial property. In today’s London the St Pancras International station now houses the Eurostar and has been dubbed the “cathedral of railways”. It is far more than simply a train station though and its recreational value rivals that of large international airports and shopping centres. It has been redeveloped as a grand retail and hospitality destination with many businesses there including top quality retail outlets and even Europe’s largest champagne bar!

Previous RICS awards winners include the Spinnaker tower, Portsmouth which is a 170 metre tall visitor attraction that overlooks the historical Portsmouth harbour and the Solent and the Eden Project in Cornwall.

This is a great bit of news in an otherwise gloomy time for commercial property and should hopefully generate lots of interest amongst real estate investors over the next year. Due to the huge downturn UK commercial properties should offer some extremely appealing return on investments and provide investors with some great value deals in 2009 and 2010.

The commercial property market has been one of the credit crunch’s biggest victims. A previously booming industry has seen huge downturns and is still expected to fall further in value. Previous commercial buildings that once had leasing waiting lists are now standing empty with landlords having to offer all kinds of inducements and incentives in order to entice tenants in.

Dominant high street brands such as Focus and Land of Leather are some of the latest retailers that have had to seek concessions from their landlords as the impact of reduced consumer spending has taken its toll. Landlords and businesses have to remain ever reactive and innovative in order to stay afloat during these hard times. UK commercial property owners do appear to comprehend the downturn and are remaining vigilant and working out two-way deals between themselves and their tenants that are in all parties’ best interests. If you are currently looking for commercial property for lease or for sale within the UK there are some great bargains to be had.

Foreign investors have cottoned on to this and see the UK as an ideal area for long-term commercial property investment. A high percentage of office blocks, retail outlets and other commercial buildings are likely to come under foreign ownership over the next two years where investors will be taking full advantage of the current value declines within the industry. Previously iconic commercial buildings could be sold off at bargain prices to investors willing to wait for the market to right itself before they see returns on their investments.

Investors are pulling out of commercial property fast and in doing so are leaving a very much tenant driven market behind. These are unstable economic times and tenants are looking to landlords to help them out with their commercial property lease agreements. As a result landlords are offering better value inducements, incentives, lettings agreements and rents than ever before in order to ensure their buildings do not become empty.

Despite the huge downturn in commercial property investment there are still some areas within the commercial real estate sector that are deemed viable investments. Student accommodation investors are still hoping for a successful new year and are counting on the fact that in times of recession many people put off entering an uninviting job market that is often only looking for experienced employees and look instead to improve their long-term professional prospects through training, qualifications and academic achievement. This combined with the fact that there is a shortfall in modern halls of residence and you get a potentially great investment formula in spite of the recession. Many commercial buildings are emptying fast, already standing vacant or are nowhere near full occupancy however, this formula is likely to mean that any commercial property investment into student accommodation is likely to see almost full occupancy even if some of the students drop out, which inevitably happens every year with a small percentage.

Good economic conditions and favourable credit options meant that 2005 to mid 2007 were extremely good years for the hotel transactional market. However, over the last year or so the lack of available debt and increased costs has seen a sharp decline of transactions within this marketplace. The current economic climate is not a healthy one for the UK hotelier commercial property market but, there are still opportunities for financially strong real estate buyers to make some extremely clever investments. Commercial properties that come on the market as a result of the credit crunch could be snapped up at bargain prices and could prove to be valuable long-term investments.

UK hotel owners have seen declines in room rates, occupancy and room yield throughout 2008. As a result hoteliers have been providing increasingly discounted rates in order to entice more customers and stop customers from transferring over to the budget hotel market. Despite this the PKF Hotel Consultancy services latest report showed that room rate, occupancy and room yield were down in London and throughout the UK.

The US hotel market is seeing similar if not stronger declines over this same period. Understandably it seems to be the tourist areas such as warm weather, leisure-orientated and seasonal markets that have been and are predicted to be worst affected. The PKF report shows that five of the top seven forecast city declines in revenue per available room are expected to occur within the state of Florida. So far most US hoteliers have stood their ground and have not been providing discounted rates despite the declining demand, in fact room rates actually increased in some areas in 2008. However, in 2009 a decline in room rates is expected as a result of the current demand decline. As a direct result further decreases in hotel commercial property and commercial real estate transactions are forecast throughout the US.

The city’s most deprived areas are going to be targeted with the £77 million of funding that is going to be provided over the next three years. Boris Johnson is adamant that London commercial property schemes to improve the most rundown areas of the city must go ahead and states that the funding will play a vital role in making this happen. This combined with the fact that the UK commercial property market is now one of the best value in the world in terms of investment, according to the annual strategy review by global property fund manager La Salle Investment Management, means that London commercial property is likely to start seeing an upside in the next few years, despite the negative impact and effects of the credit crunch so far. The UK has fallen first and hardest across global commercial property markets, which now makes it one of the most attractive areas for investments, especially from Middle East investors. Recent commercial property news has been all doom and gloom so it is great to have some positives on the horizon. UK real estate is starting to generate real interest from overseas investors who see that it has great long-term investment returns potential. The huge downturn for commercial property has meant that there are now some extremely appealing properties available for sale that could be snapped up at absolute bargain prices.

La Salle’s research has shown that direct investment into UK commercial property is around 55% lower for 2008 than the same period in 2007. The UK real estate market is still expected to see further declines and price and rent reductions as a reaction to the current economic climate but by mid 2009 there are likely to be improvements on the horizon, which is great news for London commercial property investors. Like financial services the commercial real estate industry has been extremely hard hit by the current economic climate both in the UK and worldwide so it is great news that there seems to finally be an upside to it all. The UK property sector appears to be remaining reactive and innovative to the current changes which will stand them in good stead for future recovery.