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.
Aberdeen Investments, on behalf of the Standard Life Pooled Pension Property Fund, has agreed on a prelet of its 13K SF Wigmore Yard development in the West End to wealth management firm TrinityBridge, formerly Close Brothers Asset Management.
Wigmore Yard, located at 42 Wigmore Street, will become the new London headquarters for TrinityBridge, and 300 employees will move there in October. The rent was £105 per SF and the lease term is 10 years, while the development is targeting BREEAM Outstanding designation.
The building is being refurbished with end-of-trip facilities, a landscaped courtyard and several roof terraces.
“We are extremely proud of what we have achieved at Wigmore Yard, a truly hidden gem on one of Marylebone’s main streets and are delighted it will be the new London headquarters for TrinityBridge,” Aberdeen Investments Fund Manager for the Standard Life Pooled Pension Property Fund David Stewart said in a statement.
LEASING
Global Holdings Management Group has let circa 16K SF of workspace to two companies at its 210 Pentonville Road office scheme in London’s Knowledge Quarter.
Artificial intelligence business Tessl has taken 11K SF on the fourth floor, while management consultancy Argon has leased 5,200 SF on part of the third floor on a 10-year lease with a tenant break in the fifth year.
The building comprises approximately 90K SF of office accommodation and has been substantially refurbished to Grade A workspace.
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Global Holdings Management Group has also agreed on a five-year lease with healthcare communications business Lucid Group to take 8K SF of workspace at its South Bank office scheme Twenty Two Upper Ground, which will act as the company’s new London headquarters
Part of the Sea Containers development, Twenty Two Upper Ground consists of 62K SF of workspace spread across eight floors, which includes SeaCo and the soon-to-be-completed Barge Crescent, a 35K SF development. Twenty Two Upper Ground still has 39K SF of workspace available.
Bluebook and USP have been appointed leasing agents for Twenty Two Upper Ground.
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Life Science REIT has signed an agreement for a lease of 6K SF at the Innovation Quarter at Oxford Technology Park with Oxford Expression Technologies, a biotech company specialising in protein production for vaccine development, disease research and drug testing.
Life Science REIT, through investment adviser Ironstone Asset Management, will fit out the ground-floor shell of the premises to Containment Level 2 laboratory specification and the first floor as fitted offices. The lease will be granted on completion of the works in the second quarter.
OET will pay an annual rent of £46.50 per SF on a 10-year lease, which sets a new rental record for the park, Life Science REIT said.
DEALS
Greykite European Real Estate Fund I has signed contracts to acquire a 1M SF multilet industrial portfolio in Sweden, which will seed Lagerhome, its newly formed European multilet industrial platform, targeting circa €1B of investment over the next 18 to 24 months.
Lagerhome is targeting investments in supply-constrained industrial submarkets in the UK and Germany, while the 27-property Swedish portfolio is in industrial submarkets around Sweden’s two largest cites, Stockholm and Gothenburg.
The portfolio is being acquired from Regio, a commercial real estate company backed by the Third Swedish National Pension Fund, AP3, and will be managed by minority joint venture partner Broadgate Asset Management.
The transaction follows the formal launch of Greykite and the fund in March 2024.
FUNDING
Investec Bank has provided a joint venture between a logistics fund sponsored by CBRE Investment Management and Chancerygate with an £18M senior loan for the development of a 93K SF Grade A industrial scheme in Croydon, south London.
Called The Works, construction started on the development in March and, once complete, it will comprise three buildings subdivided into 15 units. These will range from circa 2,400 SF to 16K SF, with an option to combine units, targeting third-party logistics and distribution occupiers.
The scheme is targeting a BREEAM Excellent certification and an A+ energy performance certificate rating for all units. The Works is in a predominantly industrial area to the north-west of central Croydon.
This facility is Investec’s first transaction with CBRE IM, while Chancerygate is a longstanding client that has around 1.4M SF of urban logistics space under construction or ready for development at 11 sites across the UK.
PLANNING
The City of London has approved plans for Assemblies, a co-living-led development at 150 Minories, to be delivered by residential developer Hub and Bridges Fund Management.
Repurposing the existing structure of the building, the partnership will deliver 277 co-living homes alongside amenities and improved public realm with new pedestrian links. It will be Hub and Bridges’ second office-to-residential conversion in the City.
Assemblies has been designed by architect Morris+Company and will include a pocket park, health hub, coworking space and café, plus a new public pedestrian route through the building.
DEVELOPMENT
British Land has announced a new partnership with Co-Laboratories to deliver a range of coworking laboratory space at its Regent’s Place campus.
The new 6,500 SF of shared lab and coworking space at 184–192 Drummond Street is the first of its kind to be offered at Regent’s Place and will offer lab bench and desk space on a short-term, flexible basis, targeting early-stage biotech businesses with between one and 20 employees.
Co-Laboratories will manage the new space, located in London’s Knowledge Quarter, on behalf of British Land.
PEOPLE
CBRE’s Ciaran Bird is to step down from his role as CEO of the UK and Ireland advisory business, and the company has initiated a search for a new leader for this business. Bird will continue to lead the UK and Ireland business until a successor is in place.
“I have had the best job imaginable for the past dozen-plus years. After all this time, I’ve decided that the time is right for a new leader to take the reins of the UK business,” Bird said in a statement.
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Knight Frank has announced the establishment of a new UK board, led by UK Managing Partner and Chair Stephen Clifton. The UK board is made up of 13 senior members from across Knight Frank’s teams.
The UK board has been created to shape and drive Knight Frank’s long-term strategy and structure in its home market, the company said.
Additional board members include Tim Hyatt, head of residential; Tim Robinson, head of commercial; Katie Oliphant, London offices; Rory Penn, chair of private office and head of London residential sales; Ian McCarter, head of London office leasing; Rupert Dawes, head of global residential; Karen Bowes, chief people officer; Edel McGrath, chief information officer; John Rockel, head of residential strategy; and Fiona Wilcocks, head of the executive office.
