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Case Studies

Real results for the businesses in the building — rates saved, rents reduced, claims settled.

Business Rates Revaluation 2026: has your property been assessed correctly?

The 2026 Rating List is now live, setting rateable values through to 2029. Many bills have risen, but an assessment issued by the Valuation Office is not automatically correct.

I CAN CHILDRENS CHARITY

CLIENT BRIEF AND OUR RESPONSE I CAN is the children's communication charity, experts in helping children develop their sppech, language and communication skills, so no child is left behind. At…

Is your office space Covid-19 secure? and fit for next year?

As the UK and London office occupiers try to contain the pandemic and return to some normality, businesses have been asked to ensure they can provide a ‘Covid-secure workplace’. Earlier…

CHARITY BEGINS WITH HOMES

A private client of Ask-re, AGSiml Limited has acheived a long-held ambition to do something effective and long-term for local people in need of low-cost rented homes. Some years ago,…

MARYS MEALS EUTHENI SCHOOL MALAWI ASK4US PROJECT RAISES £9,547

We have supported Mary's Meals for many years and have always wanted to sponsor a kitchen as our next step. Instead, we've decided to go for a whole school. We…

MARYS MEALS EUTHENI SCHOOL MALAWI ASK4US PROJECT

Ask-re is sponsoring Eutheni School in Malawi, as part of our personal contribution to feeding, educating and immunising children in need, in this case, 830 boys and girls at the…

ASK-RE BUYS MOTORBIKE FOR GURKHA WELFARE TRUST MEDICAL TEAM IN NEPAL

The Gurkha Welfare Trust were in need of sponsorship for motorbikes, and approached Ask-re to consider sponsoring a motorbike for the Medical Team working in Nepal. To show our gratitude…

HEARD IT ON THE GRAPEVINE...

The grapevine is aquiver with speculation surrounding how the Valuation Office Agency VOA is going to handle the enormous back-log of business rates appeals that are still outstanding, with more…

FROM ONE PERFECT PARTNERSHIP TO ANOTHER

Our client, Matches Fashion, was recently in the press as being hailed as the next ‘biggest luxury company’ following an 85% increase in online sales since 2013 when the CEO,…

ALFA CAPITAL MARKETS

CLIENT BRIEFAlfa Capital Markets is an international investment banking business, based in London, dealing with a broad range of securities transactions in the UK’s financial markets. Prior to the termination…

TELSTRA

CLIENT BRIEFTelstra is the leading telecommunications and information services company in Australia. Telstra Europe Ltd had a lease end on their data facility at Brookmount Court Cambridge of 14,000sqft, following…

KENT COUNTY COUNCIL

CLIENT BRIEFWhen Kent County Council vacated their premises in central Canterbury, the landlord served them with a claim for terminal dilapidations, which totalled just over £650,000. Kent County Council employed…

PRAMERICA - A Grand Result, or Two!

CLIENT BRIEFOur client, based in Grand Buildings, Trafalgar Square, engaged the services of ask-re to advise on the best way to mitigate their business rates liability for their offices after…

PROXIMITY LONDON

CLIENT BRIEFOn the face of it, this business rates appeal had no obvious chance of success for us and our client. Despite the 2008 lease rent being set some way…

TELSTRA

CLIENT BRIEFOur client, Telstra the Australian Telco was facing a double-threat on its London Head Office; a hike in rent from £35psf to £65psf; and worse, the loss of its…

FROM SUGAR TO COTTONS TO NEWS!

Who knew that ED & F Man were the UK’s No.1 importers of molasses… and coffee…and major exporters of London office space? CLIENT BRIEFHaving negotiated the acquisition of 46,000sq ft…

HOT CAKES AND COOL RENTS!

CLIENT BRIEFThis is an excellent example of what makes Ask-re different from other agents and a uniquely effective and valuable partner to our clients. We were instructed by our client…

GREAT SCOTT, WE'VE DONE IT AGAIN!

CLIENT BRIEFOur client, a well-known restaurant operator that occupies this well-known fish restaurant faced an extremely complicated rent review in which the premises had to be valued to the higher…

NHS BURY

CLIENT BRIEFUnder pressure NHS Bury called us in over Christmas 2010 to conduct an audit of principal property costs like rates, rents, dilapidations and service costs, on the basis of…

AMV BBDO

CLIENT BRIEFAMV is part of the BBDO network, the third largest Agency network in the world, parented by Omnicom Group the World No.1 media conglomerate - and our long-time media…

CDS CO-OPERATIVES

CLIENT BRIEF In 2014 we were asked by our client, CDS Co-Operatives, to settle a rent review at their premises on Marshalsea Road for the lowest possible rent in their…

3 MEN AND A BABY...

CLIENT BRIEFOriginally instructed by ED & F Man Holdings to reduce their business rates liability at the Cotton’s Centre on London’s South Bank, we then proactively assisted them to evaluate…

SHUTTERSTOCK aka Rex Features

CLIENT BRIEFOur client, Shutterstock formerly Rex Features asked us to look at reducing the business rates liability on their office building in Midtown. Having investigated the Rateable Value assessed for…

LONDON OFFICE MARKET

London Office Market - Rent Reviews... Remember Those? All markets are cyclical. What goes up, must come down and all commercial markets, including the London West End office rental market,…

FOOD FOR THOUGHT?

London Restaurants... Food For Thought? 2013 was a year of transition across the board, exacerbated by the preceding 3-4 years of relative economic stagnation. The doom and gloom that followed…

THE CHANGING FACE OF BUSINESS IN LONDON

But Which Part Of London And Why? A recent report published by accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young, looks at the most popular locations, within the UK, that entrepreneurial start-up ventures…

SURVEYORS: THE EXPERT WITNESSES

NEW RULES NOW APPLY! The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors is our governing body, whose rules we are obliged to follow and about which we need to tell our clients.…

WHATS HAPPENING TO OFFICE RENTS IN LONDON?

Rising Tenant Demand, Delayed New-Build Supply and UK Economic Recovery Leading to Strong, Long-Term Commercial Rental Growth in London Currently favouring landlords, this trend is set to continue for several…

DAPHNE'S RISES FROM THE ASHES

After a disastrous fire led to its shut-down in the Spring of 2014, the new gloriously refurbished Daphne’s Restaurant, one of the jewels of Richard Caring’s Caprice Holdings portfolio of…

KLM / AIR FRANCE

CLIENT BRIEFAsk-re completed the fit-out of the combined head offices at Plesman House, near Heathrow The fit-out of the 18,000sq ft building, formerly part occupied by Alitalia, was completed in…

MCCANN ERICKSON

CLIENT BRIEFMcCann Erickson is a global advertising agency network whose mission is “to help brands discover their true story” and who have worked alongside huge brands like Coca Cola, Mircosoft,…

BUONGIORNO!

CLIENT BRIEFIn late 2013 our client, Buongiorno, dramatically downsized their office space but found that their current premises were still too large for their needs not an uncommon issue!. Facing…

ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES

CLIENT BRIEF The Association of Colleges AoC is a not-for-profit membership organisation set up in 1996. AoC represents and promotes the interests of more than 360 further education, sixth form,…

ICAN CHILDREN’S CHARITY

CLIENT BRIEF ICAN is the children’s communication charity - experts in helping children develop the speech, language and communication skills. As a follow-up to ‘a word of mouth’ recommendation, ICAN…

VIDEOLOGY

CLIENT BRIEF Videology videologygroup.com is one of the world’s largest video advertising platforms. When their landlords announced plans to substantially redevelop and convert the 145,000 sq ft Centrepoint office tower…

CCT VENUES

CLIENT BRIEF CCT Venues provide spacious conference venues and training facilities for a wide range of events. We were instructed by CCT Venues to carry out a “search and find”…

DCMS

CLIENT BRIEF The Department for Culture, Media & Sport DCMS is here to help make Britain the world’s most creative and exciting place to live, visit and do business. DCMS…

ADMIN-RE

CLIENT BRIEF Admin Re®, a division of Swiss Re®, acquires and administers books of life insurance that are closed to new business. ask-re were appointed to advise on the future…

FINANCIAL OMBUDSMAN SERVICES

CLIENT BRIEF The Financial Ombudsman Service was set up by law as an independent public body. Their job is to help settle individual disputes between consum-ers and businesses providing financial…

HARVIE & HUDSON

CLIENT BRIEFHaving been established since 1964 with two stores in the renowned menswear destination, direct descendent of founder Thomas George Harvie, Richard Harvie has worked in store for several years.…

NATIONAL READERSHIP SURVEY

CLIENT BRIEFNRS provides readership research for print and digital advertising in Britain, covering over 250 news brokers and magazines, showing the size and nature of the audiences they achieve. Having…

SOPEXA

CLIENT BRIEFSopexa UK is a marketing and PR agency specialising in food and wine. It is part of Sopexa Group, the benchmark agency specialising in food, wine and lifestyle with…

CUTTING RENT AND GETTING PAID TO DO IT - A Tenant’s Tale

Out of nowhere, Ask-re have renegotiated an existing lease liability for a sitting tenant, producing a chunky front-end payment as well as cutting the rent and extending the lease to…

FINE CATCH

CLIENT BRIEF Our client, a well-known restaurant operator that occupies this well-known fish restaurant faced an extremely complicated rent review in which the premises had to be valued to the…

CELTEL INTERNATIONAL

CLIENT BRIEF Ask-re carried out a ‘search and find’ for discreet office space in London’s West End on behalf of Celtel International B.V which is better known as The Mo…

CORPORATE SERVICES GROUP

CLIENT BRIEF Our client Corporate Services Group better known as Blue Arrow and Man Power occupied the 1st floor of Cardinal House as their London HQ under a lease expiring…

DIMENSIONAL FUND ADVISORS

CLIENT BRIEF The initial contact from the client was an instruction to “search and find” new office premises, and following the successful negotiations, design and manage the 1st floor offices…

Ask-re Pops Rent Review Bubble for Intertek Landlord

CLIENT BRIEF All businesses are impacted by rising property costs and the demanded 21.5% increase in rent at Intertek’s premises in Knowlhill, Milton Keynes was no different. Intertek instructed ask-re…

£525,000 Claim Settled at £15,000

CLIENT BRIEF We were instructed by “a leading firm of Holborn based solicitors”, which was relocating from leasehold premises after 30 years of occupation. The accommodation totaled approximately 14,000 sq…

LOYDS NURSING HOMES PORTFOLIO

CLIENT BRIEF Loyds Nursing Homes, part of Arizim plc, the major Israeli plc, purchased a portfolio of 64 nursing homes. There were many issues to sort including the payment of…

MARC RESTAURANTS

CLIENT BRIEFMarc is a corporate occupier being restauranteurs. They hold leases on restaurants and offices in Central London including the building above. Ask-re was instructed to negotiate the rent reviews…

MATRIX - RELOADED

CLIENT BRIEF Our client Matrix securities had occupied No. 7- 9 Savile Row, London for a long period. It grew from a modest beginning. With three leases and the last…

GOLDEN RESULT

CLIENT BRIEF Our initial instructions from the client were to dispose of their existing Head Office at 105 Piccadilly W1. The lease had 3 years to run until the expiry.…

Ask-re Expertly Saves Proximity £578,777

CLIENT BRIEF Proximity engaged the services of ask-re to advise on the best way to mitigate their business rates liability for its principal office in Old Marylebone Road, NW1. The…

Ask-re hauls in a Fine Catch

CLIENT BRIEF Our client, a well-known restaurant operator that occupies this well-known fish restaurant faced an extremely complicated rent review in which the premises had to be valued to the…

Ask-re Makes its Marc!

CLIENT BRIEF Our client, Marc, a well-known restaurant operator run by Marlon Abela occupies this discreet Michelin starred restaurant in Mayfair. The restaurant is probably unique in Mayfair in being…