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.
Related Argent has received planning consent for the second building in its new commercial district at Brent Cross Town, a nine-storey, mass timber office building designed by architect Bennetts Associates.
The planning approval has been granted as activity at Brent Cross Town continues to progress with five buildings, including residential and student rooms already under construction alongside associated infrastructure and key amenities.
Brent Cross Town is being delivered by Related Argent and Barnet Council and is among Europe’s largest urban regeneration projects. The new district will be anchored by Sheffield Hallam University’s first campus outside northern England.
The first residents of the new homes under construction will move in from the end of 2024.
The 3M SF commercial district is next to the new Brent Cross West railway station, which opens in autumn 2023, and the timber building, 2 Copper Square, will provide 138K SF of workspace over eight levels, with a large communal roof terrace.
DEALS
Moda Living and Aviva Capital Partners have created a joint venture that will invest in a 4-acre regeneration site in Digbeth, Birmingham, for 1,000 build-to-rent homes.
The £400M Stone Yard scheme will transform a brownfield site close to Birmingham New Street Station and HS2 Curzon Wharf. It had been acquired from Gallagher Developments and Court Collaboration.
It is Aviva Capital Partners’ first move into the build-to-rent sector.
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Kadans Science Partner has acquired Harrow House in Oxford from Oxford Biomedica in a sale-leaseback transaction. Harrow House is a purpose-built manufacturing facility that will be leased back in its entirety to Oxford Biomedica.
The cluster is anchored by the University of Oxford, and with the acquisition of Harrow House, Kadans’ portfolio comprises more than 65 buildings and numerous projects under development in the Netherlands, UK, Germany, Belgium, France and Spain. The company is majority-owned by AXA.
Kadans was supported in this transaction by Knight Frank, and Mills & Reeve acted as legal adviser for Kadans. Plainlaw acted as legal adviser to Oxford Biomedica.
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King’s College London has teamed up with Pioneer Group, a life sciences real estate and venture building company, to develop 95K SF of incubator facilities at a cost of £180M.
The facilities will be divided between two locations and will cater to university enterprises and early stage companies, helping them to produce new technologies that will help improve patient treatment and care.
The collaboration aims to revitalise two empty sites on the south bank of the Thames, providing wet and dry laboratories, offices and coworking space, and access to equipment. Meanwhile, the areas will also be configured to support high-tech spinouts at early stages of development.
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Segro has completed the acquisition of 419 hectares at the former Radlett Aerodrome in the Upper Colne Valley, Hertfordshire.
The land is close to the M1, M25 and A1(M) and sits alongside the Midland Main Line railway. The three sections of land that make up the site have been acquired for £120M, of which 50% is deferred for 12 months, from Hertfordshire County Council, Tarmac and Gorhambury Estates Co.
Under Segro’s ownership, the site will be developed into a rail freight interchange supported by up to 3.6M SF of modern, sustainable logistics warehousing, including ancillary B1 (office, light industrial, research and development) and B2 (general industrial) warehouses.
Work is expected to start this summer with the initial focus of this multiyear investment programme on creating the rail connection and preparing the site for development.
LEASING
Specialist medical logistics company Medequip has taken a new 31K SF unit at Horizon 120 Business & Innovation Park in Braintree, Essex.
Medequip has agreed to a seven-year lease on the 160K SF Unit 2 Hyperion, one of three units at the 100-acre speculative logistics/industrial development forward funded by CBRE Investment Management.
MK2 Real Estate’s lease consultancy team advised Medequip on the letting. Knight Frank and Coke Gearing acted on behalf of CBRE Investment Management.
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Flexible workspace operator Runway East has signed a joint venture partnership agreement with the current leaseholder and its landlord, Abrdn, to deliver over 45K SF of flexible office space at 24-28 Bloomsbury Way, London.
Following a major refurbishment and fit-out this summer, it will be open to Runway East members in the winter of 2023.
Once complete, Runway East Bloomsbury will be home to more than 800 members, from startups to small and medium-sized enterprises to satellite corporate offices. The building will offer space for teams of between four and 100, as well as a 120-person event space, a secret garden, breakout space, over 40 meeting rooms, phone booths and a boardroom for up to 20 people.
The deal was brokered by flex/JV specialist Douglas Green of g8 Consult.
DEVELOPMENT
Landsec has reached practical completion at n2, the latest addition to its Nova development in Victoria, providing 165K SF of prime office space and improving the connectivity between Victoria’s Nova and Cardinal Place.
Landsec said n2 is 86% let or under offer, with 25K SF over two floors still available.
Located next to the Grade II-listed Victoria Palace Theatre and directly above Victoria underground station’s ticket hall and tunnels, n2 is the penultimate phase of the Nova masterplan.
It includes offices across 16 floors, each with access to outdoor space in addition to a communal terrace and clubroom for all occupiers on Level 15.
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Landid and Elwood Fund Management have secured planning consent for the transformation of a former 1975 cash depository at 38-44 Gillingham Street into a flexible office space in Victoria.
Alongside eight floors of flexible office space, the new building will have a 1K SF café at ground level and four roof terraces with a collaborative space for the tenants.
Acting as development manager on behalf of Elwood Fund Management, Landid plans to transform the 44K SF Gillingham House into workspace spanning over 100K SF, and it is working with architecture and design practice TP Bennett and sustainability specialist Atelier Ten.
The strategy will retain 60% of the structure area and 70% of structure volume to keep embodied carbon to a minimum, the company said.
The existing glass facade will be replaced with new brick facades to improve operational efficiency, while the cooling and water recycling systems in the building will help to achieve a 17% reduction in operational carbon emissions.
