This Week's London Deal Sheet
The deal sheet is a weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email mark.faithfull@bisnow.com.
Native Land has received approval from the London Borough of Southwark for Building 1, an 80K SF sustainable office building at its Bankside Yards development.
Native Land will develop the 18-storey office building, designed by Make Architects, which sits in a riverside location in Bankside, with the office floors having views of St Paul’s Cathedral, the City and the Thames.
The building sits above Blackfriars Station, and the approval represents a change from the original consented residential building to strengthen the growing market for smaller, higher-quality workspaces, the company said. The building is made up of 6K SF floorplates capable of connecting in pairs to create 6K SF to 12K SF suites.
Native Land added that it is well advanced in delivering new workspace at Bankside Yards. Arbor, the first office to complete at Bankside Yards, has attracted tenants including law firm Lewis Silkin and the Carbon Trust. Native Land said the 1.4M SF Bankside Yards development will be the UK’s first major mixed-use regeneration scheme with net-zero emissions in operation.
DEVELOPMENT
Mixed-use developer Socius has confirmed a partnership with Railpen, the investment manager for the £35B railways pension scheme, for Botanic Place, a major new office development in Cambridge city centre.
Railpen acquired Botanic Place, which is adjacent to Cambridge Botanic Gardens and close to the city centre and primary rail link, in summer 2022. The site comprises an existing office building, the Flying Pig pub and an adjacent site with planning consent in place for a new £500M scheme designed by architect AHMM, which will deliver circa 500K SF of workspace.
Socius will deliver the new office scheme with the vision to become the most sustainable and intelligent office in Cambridge, the company said. Construction is expected to commence in autumn 2023.
ACQUISITIONS
M7 Real Estate, the pan-European investor and asset manager specialising in multitenanted properties, has acquired a further seven industrial and warehouse assets in the UK on behalf of a joint venture targeting value-add UK real estate with a fund managed by global investment and technology development firm D. E. Shaw.
The acquisitions comprise two multitenant light industrial assets and five single-tenant warehouses with a total floor area of 465K SF. The assets are located in key regional markets, including Manchester, Coventry, Newcastle and Basildon.
These transactions grow the portfolio to 22 office, logistics, light industrial and retail parks totalling 1.2M SF, and M7 acts as asset manager for the JV’s portfolio, which is 98% occupied. M7 was advised by DTRE, Addleshaw Goddard, Hollis and Nova-Ambiente.
FINANCE
JR Capital has extended its partnership with Chancerygate by establishing a second £150M fund to invest in income-producing multilet UK urban logistics assets.
The fund’s first close has raised £40M of equity from JR Capital’s Middle East-based private and institutional client base, giving Chancerygate an initial £80M to deploy. Both Chancerygate and JR Capital have co-invested in the new fund.
At the same time, it has been announced that the fund has made its first investment with the acquisition of Port Road Business Park in Carlisle. The park comprises 20 units totalling 108K SF, with occupiers including Travis Perkins, Wolseley, Menzies Distribution, the NHS and Sky. The asset was acquired for £7.4M and has a net initial yield of 8.1%.
LEASING
Topland Group and Beltane Asset Management have secured social media platform TikTok for a major London office pre-let at their Verdant development in Farringdon.
Comprising 140K SF of offices, the scheme is in the heart of the Cultural Mile and connects 150 Aldersgate Street and 3-4 Bartholomew Place in Farringdon. It is due for completion in the third quarter of 2024.
“Our decision to build speculatively demonstrates our confidence in the London office market, which has now been borne out by signing such a quality client,” Topland Managing Director Mark Kingston said in a release. “Verdant provides truly sustainable next generation office space which appeals to a wide range of occupiers.”
Leasing agents at Verdant were Cushman & Wakefield and BH2.
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Property investment management company AshbyCapital has let 23K SF at The Kensington Building to EssilorLuxottica, a specialist in the design, manufacture and distribution of ophthalmic lenses, frames and sunglasses.
Completed in 2022, The Kensington Building is the first new headquarters office building in Kensington in more than 35 years. It offers nearly 95K SF of high-quality office space with flexible floorplates and ceiling heights of up to 5 metres. Cushman & Wakefield represented EssilorLuxottica.
In all, nearly 72K SF remain available over five floors, and agents for the building are Cushman & Wakefield and EiA Real Estate.
MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
PfP Capital, the social value and ESG-focused real estate fund manager, which is part of Places for People, has acquired the UK’s first real estate B-Corp accredited organisation, igloo Regeneration.
PfP Capital and igloo have been working together since 2018 through a joint venture partnership formed following Places for People’s acquisition of the igloo Regeneration Fund's joint venture holdings and development pipeline.
As part of the acquisition, igloo’s founder and sole shareholder to date, Chris Brown, will step down as igloo chair and move to an advisory role. John Tatham and Alex Notay from PfP Capital will join the igloo board as nonexecutive directors.
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Independent real estate consultancy Hollis has completed its acquisition of Launder Steedman, a specialist commercial property service charge consultancy.
As part of the acquisition, Launder Steedman founder and owner Nick Launder will join Hollis as a consultant.
The acquisition of Launder Steedman is a strategic decision by Hollis to grow its service charge offering, which is led by Director Iain Feasey. It represents the start of a period of proactive growth for the firm that operates out of over 20 offices throughout the UK and Europe, the company said.
RETAIL AND COMMUNITY
Preloved fashion concept store Charity Super.Mkt will open at Brent Cross on 27 January for a four-week pop-up, offering a curated selection of secondhand garments and bringing together donated clothing sourced from 10 UK charities under one roof for the first time.
The brainchild of Wayne Hemingway, it is the first time that national and local charities have collaborated for a multicharity physical retail store, creating a new destination for customers to shop with purpose as the secondhand fashion market booms globally.
Taking over the former Topshop in Brent Cross, contributing charities include Age UK, All Aboard, Barnardo’s, Cancer Research, Emmaus, Havens Hospice, SCT, Marie Curie, TRAID and Shelter.
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Build-to-rent operator Get Living has partnered with Hypha Studios, a charity matching creatives with empty spaces for free, to convert a former Sainsbury’s store into a creative space for emerging design talent at East Village, London.
The gallery spaces will showcase works by local artists and emerging talent from Goldsmith University students and will be open to the public from 27 January until 26 February and on 10 March, respectively.
