This new digest has been prepared on behalf of London Property Alliance by Concilio communications consultancy as part of a service agreement to provide information for our members.
Camden
Estates Gazette reports that Stanhope has submitted plans for an extension of the British Library in Euston, NW1, as part of a joint venture with Mitsui Fudosan. The scheme will feature about 600,000 sq ft of commercial offices, 100,000 sq ft of new library space and a new home for the Alan Turing Institute.
City of London
Property Week reports that Boxpark will open a new sister concept called BoxHall City at Metropolitan Arcade on Liverpool Street. The hospitality group has just agreed a 15-year lease with TfL, the site’s freehold owner, for the historic central London building, which first opened in 1912. According to the group, the new concept will be an “all-day social dining experience including food, drink and events all under one roof”. The 17,000 sq ft building has a ground floor and a small pre-existing mezzanine with 266 internal seating covers. The new site proposals also include 16 kitchen units and two internal bars, subject to planning permission. Alongside the food offer, the venue will be home to signature bars specialising in a quality range of draught, tank and craft beers.
Property Wire reports that Apt Completes City of London 656-Bed Student Housing. London based architecture studio, Apt, has completed Urbanest City, a 656-bed student accommodation and office scheme achieving BREEAM Excellent. The mixed-use building offers a new, high-profile destination in the City of London and includes high-quality student housing, incubator and flexible office space, as well as a café and a public exhibition space which houses a preserved section of the original Roman London City Wall that once delineated the Roman city of Londinium. Following planning approval for the scheme (designed by Hopkins Architects) in 2017, client Urbanest appointed Apt to develop the design, optimise the proposals and take the project through to completion. Construction began in January 2018 and continued through the Covid-19 lockdowns with site specific protocols.
Hackney
Property Week reports that UBS Asset Management Real Estate & Private Markets (REPM) is providing equity funding for a new hotel and office asset close to the City of London. The transaction is formed as a joint venture, with UBS-AM REPM providing funding alongside development partners BSW Land and Property and the Pickstock Group, and, once completed, will have a value of over £100m. The 23-storey building on 39 East Road will include 18 floors of hotel space, 25,000 sq ft of office space, providing a broad offering to tenants in the Central London sub-market. The development is underpinned by a 30-year lease to hotel operator Motel One. The office space at the site aims to facilitate new hybrid working models. The asset, which will be owned fully by UBS close to both the City of London financial district and the tech hub around Old Street and Shoreditch.
City A.M. reports that the 150-year-old St Michael & All Angels Church in Hackney is to be turned into workspaces, as London’s offices fall further away from tradition post-pandemic. Boutique developer Aitch Group and property investor VFund have entered a joint venture to restore and develop the Grade I listed building, which is one of just six left in the borough. The so-called work campus, which will consist of two buildings called Vetus and Novum, has already snagged the approval of the council. Trehearne Architects, the firm behind buildings across Pall Mall, Victoria and the West End, has designed the proposals.
Islington
Notting Hill Genesis reports that they have bought more than 50 affordable homes right in the heart of Islington. All the households, who transferred from fellow housing association Places for People last month, are paying a social rent.
Kensington & Chelsea
Property Week reports that Frogmore and C1 Capital have purchased Hilton London Olympia as part of a series of joint-venture hotel acquisitions worth £150m. The 405-bedroom hotel on Kensington High Street was bought for £130m. The newly formed joint venture has also purchased the Park Inn by Radisson, Northampton, for £15m and Stifford Hall near Thurrock for £7.2m. Both properties are in the select service budget hotel market and offer conference and wedding facilities. Frogmore and its partners have committed around £70m in equity to the projects, which will include funding for repositioning and rebranding. Frogmore said the impact of Covid-19 on the hotel industry provided opportunities to purchase hotels in attractive locations. “Our strategy is to source hotels that are underperforming or in need of capital expenditure to revitalise the offering and improve the hotel performance,” said Jo Allen, chief executive at Frogmore.
Tower Hamlets
Bloomberg reports that a peek into BT’s New London HQ shows Hybrid Work is here to stay. Telecom giant aims to close 90% of its U.K. offices and work from 30 hubs. A walk around the new BT Group Plc headquarters in London gives a glimpse into how hybrid working is shaping the offices of the future. The 3,500-capacity tower, which overlooks the City of London’s Aldgate district, will open fully at the end of April. It’s part of BT’s plan, announced in 2019, to shut hundreds of offices and move staff into 30 high-tech buildings across the U.K. by the end of 2025. Inside the London hub, tables are equipped with high-definition screens and cameras, while private meeting rooms host virtual catch-ups between in-person staff and remote workers. A tech bar for laptop repairs is kitted out to support work-from-home enthusiasts as quickly as those in the office.
Estates Gazette reports that Canary Wharf Group has announced a partnership with the charity behind the Eden Project in Cornwall to revamp the estate’s public realm and waterways, and their contribution to biodiversity. CWG said its goal was to make a “blueprint” for sustainable cities. Chief executive Shobi Khan told EG: “We have the restaurants, the residential and schools. We have universities coming here. We have world-class office space and transportation links. And we are also a leader in sustainability, so partnering with Eden, which is world-renowned in terms of biodiversity and its impact on nature and people, means we get best practices from them that help us continue to try to make urban spaces interact with nature and with people.”
Property Week reports that Tulip Real Estate has acquired 133 apartments at Amory Tower in Canary Wharf, further expanding its portfolio of luxury serviced and short-let accommodation in London. Tulip said the investment in the rental apartments further “diversifies its portfolio of property assets in London and the Home Counties”. Siddharth Mahajan at Tulip Real Estate Group, said: “Tulip’s reputation is based on the quality of our developments and our renowned service delivery, underpinned by our strong financial performance. “Our investment in the Amory Tower is just the latest milestone in Tulip’s growth, and we look forward to strengthening and diversifying our property asset portfolio further in the coming months.”
Property Week reports that two prominent London hospitality and leisure figures have joined forces to open a carnival games concept, Fairgame, at Frobisher Passage in Canary Wharf. Richard Hilton, founder of upmarket fitness brand Gymbox, and Paul Campbell, chairman/NED of Hawksmoor, will open the 15,500 sq ft venue, which will offer customers the chance to play a range of nostalgic games, in the next few months. The venue will feature three bars, private hire areas, three street-food kitchens and a 400-person-capacity covered riverside terrace, with food trucks and an outside bar. Stuart Fyfe, managing director, retail leasing, at Canary Wharf Group, said: “As Canary Wharf evolves, the addition of world-class leisure attractions will become critical. Fairgame will undoubtedly be a huge addition to our offer, with a first-class experienced team, a stunning fitout and an amazing concept. It is certain to be really popular.”
Wandsworth
Property Week reports that Thackeray Group has put the Assembly Rooms office development in Putney on the market for £30m after fully letting the scheme. Thackeray has appointed Tydus Real Estate and Knight Frank to sell the Assembly Rooms, the first new office development in Putney for over a decade. A price of £30m would reflect a net initial yield of 4.65%. The 26,624 sq ft office and retail space also provides a gym and a panoramic roof terrace. Antony Alberti, chief executive of Thackeray Group, said: “The letting of the Assembly Rooms endorses our decision to carry out the first office development in Putney for a decade. It provides a fantastic urban lifestyle working environment with meticulous detail given to materials, integration of technology and energy efficiency.
General
Property Week reports that the JLL prime central London (PCL) sales Index recorded a 3.3% annual increase in residential prices during the first quarter of this year, with prices up 0.6% on the final quarter of 2021. Sale prices are now 4.7% higher than pre-pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, but there has been a 10% fall in properties on the market now compared with a year ago. PCL recorded a 7% annual increase in sales according to LonRes, making the first quarter the busiest first quarter in five years. In the lettings market, the index recorded a 15% annual increase in achieved rents in the first quarter of 2022, the highest annual rise for over a decade. This follows a 10.4% annual fall a year ago when rents “bottomed out across PCL”. Achieved rents are now 3.1% higher than pre-pandemic, but stock levels are down 77% on March 2021.
Evening Standard reports that turning London’s office blocks green will cost £30 billion, says Savills. Under proposed regulations all commercial office buildings will need to register an environmental performance certificate (EPC) by 2025. London landlords will have to spend £30 billion upgrading older office buildings to hit proposed government environmental standards, according to a leading property agent. Savills UK said commercial landlords will need to spend up to £40 per sq ft (£430 per sq m) to make necessary improvements. Across all the capital’s office stock, Savills estimates the cost of bringing buildings up to standard will be £30 billion. Under proposed regulations all commercial office buildings will need to register an environmental performance certificate (EPC) by 2025. By 2027, a minimum EPC Grade ‘C’ rating will be needed to receive any further rent from tenants or to re-let a property.
Property Week reports that a total of 36 housebuilders have signed up to the government’s pledge to pay for the removal of unsafe cladding, with Michael Gove stating there is “nowhere to hide” for those yet to commit. In an announcement this morning, housing secretary Gove said he had agreed a wide-ranging solution with the housing industry that will see developers pay just over £2bn for remediation works on their own buildings. This follows the majority of major UK housebuilders signing the pledge last week. However, it is understood that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) has asked 53 companies to sign up, leaving 17 yet to pledge. The government also said the industry will pay a further estimated £3bn over the next 10 years through an expansion to the Building Safety Levy, chargeable on all new residential buildings in England.
