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

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City of London

Property Week reports that Landsec has signed Adam Breeden’s new immersive, Formula 1 racing simulation experience at One New Change, a retail and leisure destination in the City of London. A first of its kind, the new attraction and global-first will bring something truly unique to London and One New Change, building on the growing popularity of one-of-a-kind leisure experiences and the increased demand for competitive socialising across the capital. The new attraction will operate across 14,700 sq ft and will launch at One New Change in fourth quarter of 2022.

Camden

Building Design reports that Matthew Lloyd Architects is set to get the go-ahead for infill plans that will add 56 new homes to the Tybalds Estate in Holborn. Camden council planning officers are recommending the practice’s proposals for the 360-home estate for approval at a planning committee tomorrow. Lloyd’s scheme would add the new properties in two terraces of mews houses of up to three storeys, three apartment blocks of up to seven storeys and “underbuild” units delivered in lower-ground-floor storage areas of three of the post-war estate’s current blocks. The application also delivers a new tenants and residents association hall and adds a lift to existing block Devonshire House.

Hackney

Property Week reports that David Beckham’s esports company Guild has taken a 10-year lease on a landmark building in Shoreditch, east London for its new headquarters.  Guild Esports has taken 9,831 sq ft at Truman Estates’ 2 Chance Street. Its new HQ will include retail, an academy and a professional esports center. Oli Cohen, senior leasing adviser at Belchak Corin & Co, which acted for Guild Esports, said: “This will be a stand-out concept in the heart of Shoreditch that will revolutionise the way that esports is seen.”

Kensington and Chelsea

Property Week reports that Knight Frank and Savills have put a five-property freehold in Notting Hill, London, up for sale with a multi-million-pound price tag. The six-property residential site, which is spread over 2-4 and 12-14 Lansdowne Walk and owned by charity The Sheppard Trust, is configured as two blocks and contains private gardens. The agents said they were seeking offers in excess of £28m for the properties, set on the border of Holland Park within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. “The sale provides a rare and exciting opportunity to reposition and reconfigure five buildings on one of Notting Hill’s most prominent streets,” said Luke Hawkesbury, Savills’ development director.

The Retail Bulletin reports that a New luxury retail destination launches in Knightsbridge. Called The Collection, the building on Knightsbridge Gate is a new modern mixed-use scheme behind a Grade II listed façade that offers retail, office and residential accommodation. The site contains up to 12 individual retail units, which can be flexibly combined, to deliver a range of units totalling approximately 24,000 square feet across the ground and basement floors. The new destination has been launched by Colliers alongside Knight Frank on behalf of APML Estate.

Lambeth

Property Week reports that an office let to WeWork near Waterloo has been put on the market for a price close to £1bn. The building, which is Shell’s London headquarters, is being marketed by developer Almacantar for £935m, according to the Financial Times. The paper said a deal at the asking price would reflect a 4% yield and would be among the biggest office transactions in London since the start of the pandemic. The news follows Singapore-based investor Sun Venture’s purchase of 120 Moorgate from WeWork Capital Advisors for £148m – two months after Property Week reported it had gone under offer on the building. Other high profile deals in the capital includes Google’s decision to buy its own HQ for £762.5m; Goldman Sachs’ acquisition of a 75% stake in EDGE’s forthcoming London Bridge office scheme; Ekistics Property Advisors’ purchase of the long leasehold of 19-20 St James’s Street from WELPUT for £118m; and Brunswick Property Partners’ completion of the purchase of office building The Eversholt in Euston for £110m.

Southwark

Property Week reports that Southworks, the smart building in south London dubbed ‘the smartest office in the world’, has landed sustainable food company Upfield as its newest tenant. The business, which plans to move in this summer, has signed a lease for 10,000 sq ft of the new development, encompassing the whole fourth floor and adjacent roof terrace. Developed by MiddleCap and designed by SPPARC, Southworks is a seven-storey, 70,000 sq ft scheme located on Rushworth Street in Southwark, close to Borough Market.

Property Week reports that Fabrix has acquired Chatelain House at 202 Walworth Road, in Southwark, for its closed ended i2 fund for £15m. The acquisition is the tenth made by the fund, which is dedicated to repurposing under utilised space in London. Since its launch in 2018 Fabrix has now deployed £180m through the fund and its associated co-investments. The 1960s built Chatelain House was formerly the offices of Southwark Council and had previously received planning permission to be demolished and redeveloped as residential. Fabrix bought the 45,000 sq ft building, which has been unused for several years, from a residential developer and will take a ‘reuse first’ approach, assessing how many of its components could be effectively futureproofed and repurposed.

Property Week reports that The Edition Group has secured a £10.3m loan to refinance a selection of industrial assets in London’s Bermondsey area, Property Week can reveal. The four-year loan, provided by wealth manager Investec, will go towards developing the assets, which currently hold a combined value of £15.8m, into a mixed-use development. The assets have been part-tenanted with short leases to enable planning works to progress as the priority. The deal was arranged through real estate advisory firm LEXI Finance. “We were very impressed with the dual efforts of LEXI and Investec to structure a loan that matched our ambition for the project,” said The Edition Group’s director, John Smart. “This is a landmark project for Edition Group and our team. We are looking forward to working with the council to bring forward plans that reflect the vibrant Bermondsey community.”

Tower Hamlets

Property Week reports that NHS Property Services (NHSPS) has submitted plans to redevelop five underused plots of land in Whitechapel to create a near 1 million sq ft life sciences cluster next to the Royal London Hospital. The plans, submitted on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), aim to help deliver a joint long-held vision for life sciences in Whitechapel shared with Barts Health NHS Trust, Queen Mary University London, the Greater London Authority and Tower Hamlets Council. The proposals will see the land developed into a life sciences cluster with a mixture of small, medium and large commercial life science companies co-locating to 902,000 sq ft of modern lab-enabled buildings.

Estates Gazette reports that the investment firm set up to float three sites formerly owned by co-living operator The Collective has revealed new details of its proposed deal – and what it hopes to achieve once the IPO is done and dusted. GCP Co-Living REIT aims to raise £300m in a listing set for early March. It will then buy a £425m seed portfolio comprising three sites formerly owned by The Collective, which entered administration last year – two landmark operational schemes at Old Oak, NW10, and Canary Wharf E14, and a scheme under development at Westbourne Park, W9. The deal will be a test of investors’ appetite for listed real estate.

Westminster

Property Week reports that an augmented reality experience inspired by Sir David Attenborough’s Green Planet TV series has opened at 55 Regent Street, London. Visitors to the Green Planet AR Experience will be given 5G mobile phones and a headset to take a personal tour of the green world led by a virtual Sir David Attenborough. The attraction opened earlier this week and will run until March 9. The concept was created by entertainment studio Factory 42 and BBC Studios. Scientists and horticultural experts at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew have been involved in the creation of the digital plant life that will be seen at The Green Planet Experience, to ensure the experience is scientifically accurate.

Property Week reports that Valesco Group has taken a 6,000 sq ft floor of grade-A, sustainable office space at Lazari Investments’ 25 Berkeley Square in Mayfair, central London. The European real estate investment and asset manager recently redeveloped the building, which was built in 1906. It said the building had achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating thanks to a focus on energy efficiency and sustainability. Valesco added that its fit-out will achieve the highest level of ESG accreditation including net carbon zero, zero waste to landfill and SKA Gold.

General

Estates Gazette reports that Microsoft powers up hunt for new London HQ. Microsoft is set to give London’s office leading market a significant boost as it draws up plans to leave it UK headquarters in Reading, Berkshire, for a new base in the capital. The computing giant is understood to be hunting for 500,000 sq ft of office space in central London – a move which would see it join the likes of Apple, Google and Facebook with offices in the city. It has appointed Cushman & Wakefield to handle the requirement as it prepares for a lease expiry at its Thames Valley Park Campus in five years.

Property Week reports that Housebuilders and housing developers could be blocked from planning permission on future schemes if they do not pay for the removal of dangerous cladding. In an amendment in the Building Safety Bill, the government has outlined more steps of how cladding remediation will be paid and has warned that those “not doing the right thing” will be prevented from participating in the housing market. The measures, which are due to be debated in the House of Lords next Monday, specify that developers and landlords will be required to pay in full to fix historic building safety issues, even on non-cladding costs.

Property Week reports that Mipim’s organisers have said that the event is “on track for 17,000 delegates” as the annual property jamboree returns to its regular March slot for the first time since 2019. Property Week understands that so far “at least” 10,000 delegates have signed up to attend the trade show in Cannes. The 17,000 figure would mark a sharp increase on the 4,000 to 5,000 Mipim organisers told Property Week attended in-person at the Cannes conference in September last year. However, the figure is down on the 26,800 delegates Mipim organisers said the event had in 2019.

Property Week Reports that High cost of construction materials to continue to disrupt sector, sky-high prices for construction materials will continue to challenge the construction industry for the foreseeable future after reaching record highs in 2021, reveals exclusive Linesight data. The consultancy’s Quarterly Construction Materials Costs report reveals that supply chain disruption and continued high production costs are expected to remain an obstacle for British construction this year, resulting in cost increases in materials.