Private European real estate giant Redevco has provided its first loan as part of a push into property lending, backing an office retrofit in the City of London.

Redevco provided a £48M facility for the acquisition and refurbishment of the 56K SF 10 Salisbury Square. Original Works, an office retrofit venture between $65B global fund manager Invesco Real Estate and UK development manager Simten, is leading the project.

Original Works launched in January this year, aiming to undertake £500M of London retrofit projects. 10 Salisbury Square is its first scheme.

The Redevco loan is structured as a green loan in accordance with Loan Market Association Green Loan Principles. The project is a retrofit and extension of the existing property that will deliver Grade A office space with high sustainability ambitions, including an energy performance certificate A rating and BREEAM Outstanding.

By not knocking the building down and building a new one, less carbon emissions are created, Redevco said. Its debt platform will look to lend to other such sustainable projects, it added.

Redevco is the property company that grew out of clothing retailer C&A. It has a portfolio valued at €9.5B (£8B).

Simten launched in 2017 and has a development pipeline valued at £2B.

While offices in central London still have a fighting chance of remaining offices for the foreseeable future, those in more suburban locations are being converted to housing at an increasingly rapid pace.

Resolution Property just won planning permission to turn the 117K SF Vantage office building in Brentford, west London, into 178 apartments.