A weekly round up of the latest planning and property news from the Central London boroughs

Camden

EG reports that Stanhope and Mitsui Fudosan have been selected by the British Library to develop a 2.8 acre site to the north of its Grade 1 listed building at St Pancras N1, as a £1bn centre for commerce, knowledge and research.  Roger Stirk Harbour and Partners have been appointed as the scheme architect.  Around 100,000 sq ft of new British Library space, including a northern entrance and HQ for the Alan Turing Institute, the national centre for data science research will be developed.

EG reports that HS2 has officially launched its search for a development partner to deliver the regeneration of London, Euston, NW1.  Around 4.5m sq ft could be built on a 15 acre site with a build cost close to £2.5bn. Deloitte is running the competition to find a development partner.  The winner will work with HS2, Network Rail, the station design contract winner and local authorities.

EG reports that Israeli entrepreneur Teddy Sagi is close to agreeing a deal to buy the freehold of BUPA House, WC1, as he builds up his Bloomsbury, co-working empire.  BUPA is selling the 96,1000 sq ft Bloomsbury Way building and moving its London HQ to Stanhope and Mitsui Fudosan’s Angel Court, EC2.

City of London

EG reports that Hong Kong-listed China Resources Land is making its first property acquisition in the UK with the £307m purchase of a trophy City of London office block.  The state-backed property developer and investor has place 20 Gresham Street, EC2, under offer for around £307m – a net initial yield of 4.1%.

EG reports that US private equity firm Starwood Capital has instructed Cushman & Wakefield to sell One Braham a planned 18-storey office tower in Aldgate, E1 for £65m.

PW reports that Deka Immobilien has completed the off-market acquisition of Cannon Place for £485m. It has bought the entity that owns Cannon Place, which was developed by Hines in partnership with Network Rail and London Underground in 2011.  The Foggo Associates-designed building sits above Cannon Street station in the City of London and provides 418,198 sq ft of grade A office, retail and ancillary space. It is fully let to six office tenants and one retail tenant. Savills represented Deka on  the acquisition while CBRE represented the seller.

PW reports that serviced office provider London Executive Offices (LEO) has completed a 29,500 sq ft letting at One King William Street in the City of London. It has signed a 15-year lease on the fifth, sixth and seventh floors of UD Europe and Kajima’s 100,000  sq ft building. The  deal boosts LEO’s portfolio to 785,000 sq ft in central London and complements its City addresses at 1 Cornhill, 5 Cheapside, 85 Gresham Street and 148 Leadenhall. Cushman and Wakefield and CBRE are letting agents on the building, LEO was represented by  CBRE.

PW reports that Angel Court owners Mitsui Fudosan and Stanhope have confirmed three office lettings totaling more than 90,000 sq ft at their 300,000 sq ft prime office building in the City. Leading the new lettings, health company Bupa has signed for 56,000  sq ft of space on a  15-year term on Angel Court’s lower floors. Bupa will move its global headquarters to Angel Court from its existing premises in Holborn, London, by the end of the year. Alongside this, a new financial services trade association, which will bring together  six member organisations from across the UK, has signed for 25,000 sq ft on the building’s fifth floor.

City of Westminster 

PW reports that Native Land has acquired the long leasehold interest in Regent House, a 1960s building located within The Portman Estate and close to Oxford Street that has been earmarked for a major redevelopment. The site has the benefit of a planning consent  for a mixed-use scheme comprising 43,000 sq ft of grade A office accommodation over six floors as well as 24 private residential apartments. In addition, there will be four ground/lower ground retail units, which will be leased back and directly controlled  by The Portman Estate. Regent House will be Native Land’s first development on The Portman Estate. Construction is due to begin in 2018, with completion in 2020. Cushman and Wakefield acted for The Portman Estate.

PW reports that coffee brand Nespresso is set to open its second London cafe after leasing a unit at 32 Broadwick Street in Soho from Great Portland Estates

PW reports that Million-pound apartment sales in England and Wales have nearly trebled in the past decade, according to research. Data gathered by Lloyds Private Banking showed 2,967 flats worth £1 million or more were sold last year, a 196 per cent jump from 1,002 in 2006. A total of 96 per cent of the properties were based in London and where they made up 35 per cent of all million-pound addresses sold there. Westminster is home to the most expensive apartments in the UK, with an average price of £2,215,073, according to Lloyds.

Hackney

EG reports that a 3.5-acre Tesco site is set to be redeveloped to become the centrepiece of Hackney Walk a 1m sq ft fashion inspired neighbourhood.  Tesco will remain in situ in a newly developed smaller format store.

Islington 

PW reports that Co-working space operator the Boutique Workplace Company has signed a lease to take the whole of 29 Clerkenwell Road, in London’s City Fringe.The building totals 18,000 sq ft, including the lower ground floor, ground floor and four floors, and  will become the  Boutique Workplace Company’s 28th centre in London.

RBKC

PW reports that Catalyst has announced United Living as partners on its flagship regeneration of Portobello Square in RBKC. The design and build contract will include an option to be extended to include Phase 2B after the delivery of 91  new homes (60 at social rent and 31 for private sale). Demolition of the existing buildings is well underway and construction will begin on site in July 2017, with handovers expected to be complete by spring 2019.

Southwark 

PW reports that M7 Real Estate is set to leave its head office in Southwark for a new 22,236 sq ft base at Skanska’s Monument Building in the City. It will occupy the third and fourth floors of the 94,000 sq ft development, which is located next to the Monument  to the Fire of London. The office relocation will  give M7 additional space for its expanding business. The deal leaves just  one floor at the Monument Building unoccupied. Existing tenants include Booking.com and Portuguese bank Caixa Geral de Dépositos. The retail units are let to Olive and Squash and  Le Pain Quotidien.  Savills represented Skanska in the transaction and Compass Real Estate advised M7.

Tower Hamlets

EG reports that four years after ABP emerged as the frontrunner to transform London’s Royal Albert Dock, E16, the  land has  finally been released by the Greater London Authority to the Chinese company to pay for development.

PW reports that Financial technology company NEX Group is in advanced negotiations to move its London headquarters to the London Fruit and Wool Exchange. The firm is set to sub-let 115,000 sq ft of space from law firm Ashurst, which pre-let the whole of the  275,000 sq ft building in 2015. If the deal completes, NEX will relocate to the M&G Real Estate-owned office, in Spitalfields, from its Broadgate office, where it has been based for 13 years, in early 2019.