Camden

The Architects’ Journal reports that Camden Council have approved plans for a new entrance building at Great Ormond Street Hospital. The £190 million scheme designed by BDP Architects will see the delivery of a new main entrance alongside 30 consulting rooms, 120 beds, training areas, a cancer centre and intensive care units. Plans for the 23,000 sqm development have been underway since 2017, with around 100 letters of objection when the proposals were submitted in May last year. Great Ormond Street chief executive Matthew Shaw said the approval marked an “‘important step towards more children and young people being able to receive care and treatment in the best possible environment.” The decision will now go to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan for final approval.

City Matters reports that BlackRock Alternatives Real Estate has joined forces with British Airways’ pension scheme and Singaporean fund GIC to deliver Tribeca King’s Cross, its major life sciences development. BlackRock is developing the 830,000 sqft project by Regent’s Canal in partnership with Reef Group, and announced on Tuesday that BA and GIC had entered the joint venture. The five-building development will feature modern laboratory workspace alongside retail, restaurants and 69 residential units. The London BioScience Innovation Centre (LBIC) was announced as the first occupier to sign up for the development in November 2022, taking a 25-year lease for just under 40,000 sqft.

City of London

Bisnow reports that Singaporean investor City Developments Ltd (CDL) are in talks to purchase the St Katherine Docks marina and office complex on the eastern edge of the City. If agreed. The deal would mark one of the largest new London office deals since interest rates spiked last summer. CDL are reportedly offering around £400 million for the 515,000 sqft scheme, which current owners Blackstone previously opted to refinance rather than sell in 2018. St Katherine Docks is central London’s only marina and comprises 445,000 sqft of office space alongside 70,000 sqft of shops, restaurants and bars and a 10-achre marina.

Property Week reports that campaigners from a group of heritage organisations have joined forces to oppose Sellar and Network Rail’s redevelopment of Liverpool Street Station. The Liverpool Street Station Campaign (LISCCA) was originally formed to prevent the demolition of the station in the 1970s and has now been reformed by the Victorian Society partnership in Save Britain’s Heritage, The Twentieth Century Society, Historic Buildings & Places, The Georgian Group, Civic Voices, London Historians and The Spitalfields Trust to oppose the proposals. Their petition states that the £1.5 billion proposals, including a 21-storey tower, will be a “harmful” and “insensitive” addition to the Grade II listed station and set a “terrible precedent” where “no building is safe”. If approved, construction on the project is set to begin in the second half of 2024.

Property Week reports that Great Portland Estates has completed the sale of 50 Finsbury Square for £190 million. The City office block which comprises 129,200 sqft has been sold to German family office Wirtgen Invest Holding in a deal which reflects a topped-up net yield of 3.85%. The property is currently let to Inmarsat Global which has pre-let the entire office space, with a number of smaller retails at ground level.

City of Westminster

Property Week reports that Westminster City Council is to launch a Design Review Panel to help “shape the future” of Westminster. The panel, comprised of 20 interdisciplinary members with expertise including sustainability, retrofitting, placemaking and estate regeneration, will provide independent expert advice for major developments within the borough. Member for Planning and Economic Growth Geoff Barraclough, said the panel would “embed best practise across the expertise needed to deliver a fairer Westminster”, ensuring high standards and transparency for one of the busiest planning authorities in the country.

Property Week reports that developer Native Land has won its appeal against Westminster City Council for residential development plans on Eaton Terrace in the Belgravia area. The developer’s proposals for Kilmuir House, a six-storey building comprising 60 homes between one and three bedrooms, were rejected in June 2022 due to insufficient affordable housing provision with just 4 of the proposed units at affordable levels. However, the refusal was overturned last week after the planning inspector ruled that there was no breach of Council policy in the scheme. The scheme will also feature 800 sqft of flexible retail floorspace at ground floor level.

EG reports that developer Hines has submitted plans for a nine-storey development on Soho’s Dean Street. The proposals will see an existing office block anchored by a Tesco Express at ground level demolished to make way for a 9 storey development to provide 78,000 sqft of office space. The plans also include provision for a restaurant or retail offering at ground floor level alongside a reimagined “Soho Bazaar” which will operate as multi-functional public space. If approved, construction is due to start this summer with building works complete by autumn 2026.

EG reports that Grosvenor has signed its first tenant for its office development at 65 Davies Street. The landlord is reported to have let two floors at around 23,000 sqft to European alternative asset management firm Hayfin. The company is the first to take space in the building which is located above the Elizabeth Line station at Bond Street. The development totals 67,568 sqft and is set to complete in September this year.

Property Week reports that developer Hines has pre-let three floors of its The Burlian development in Mayfair. An Asian multinational company is reported to have taken the space totalling 14,250 sqft at the Dering Street building. Hines is currently undertaking a comprehensive regeneration of the 33,000 sqft, 8-storey office scheme, which also features 2,260 sqft of amenity space, after purchasing the building in February 2020.

Southwark

Property Week reports that Paragon Bank has provided a £29.6 million support package to support the development of a 267-bed purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) scheme. The Tribe Student Accommodation scheme will be 10 to 12-storeys tall, with around 2,766 sqft of retail and restaurant space on the ground floor. Construction is already underway, with expected completion due for the 2024/25 academic year. Tribe director Laurence Quail said the scheme was “part of a wider programme that will upgrade the Old Kent Road Area” as it undergoes significant redevelopment. He added that Paragon’s investment indicated their understanding of the PBSA market and welcomed the opportunity to work alongside the bank.

EG reports that Jastar Capital has acquired a 75-key aparthotel in London’s Bankside development Create REIT for more than £40 million. Native Bankside is the UK’s first BREEAM outstanding aparthotel and will continue to be managed by Native Places under a new long-term management agreement. Jastar Captial is reported to be growing its presence in the UK hospitality sector, with other recent purchases including Wardrobe Court in London. Acquisitions director Jay Matharu said “We are excited by the potential for aparthotels, and there is no better asset in the sector south of the river than Native Bankside.”

Tower Hamlets

Building Magazine reports that Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has confirmed he won’t intervene in Tower Hamlets Council’s decision to reject proposals for a new Chinese Embassy at the former Royal Mint site in Wapping. The council’s Strategic Development Committee universally rejected the scheme designed by David Chipperfield Architects in December 2022, despite planning officers recommending approval. China purchased the 5.4 hectare plot to the north-east of Tower Bridge for around $312 million in 2018.

General

EG reports that cash-rich investors and family offices are likely to seize a greater proportion of the London office investment market this year. According to research from Knight Frank, UHNWs are likely to plough £2.4 billion into London offices in 2023, a 60% increase on last year. Based on a full-year investment prediction, this would mean they accounted for 25 percent of the market compared with the historic 20 percent average.

Property Week reports that a lack of best-in-class assets and increasingly selective buyers are likely to cushion the pricing of London core offices from downward pressure, according to Savills. Core office opportunity availability has declined more than 60% since peaking in the first quarter of 2022, a trend that is set to maintain core pricing at its current level. Savills estimate that central London turnover totalled £13.5 billion in 2022, with a record first quarter accounting for 46% of turnover. Savills’ Richard Garside said that “uncertainty around both local and global political and economic shocks” had knocked investor confidence in the remainder of 2022, but forecasted that “a lack of best-in-class assets” in 2023 will ensure that “the pricing of these buildings continues to be cushioned from pressures felt elsewhere in the market as investors become more and more selective.”

Property Week reports that flexible workplace start-up Hubflow is launching a rapid expansion of its office network, with a five-year plan to open 100 new locations in London. The company currently has several “at-capacity” bespoke serviced office locations in London, including the former Rolls Royce headquarters in Victoria, and is reported to have already agreed deals on a suite of new locations including Bank, Mayfair, Paddington and Waterloo. Hubflow was established in spring 2020 by developer Gary McCausland and digital project manager Declan Mellan.

Property Week reports that Network Rail and TTL Properties are primed to build 20,000 homes on brownfield sites across London and the South East in the next 10 years. The organisations plan to use their estates to deliver the homes, a “significant proportion” of which will be avoidable. TTL is a division of Transport for London, and both organisations collectively own 14,000 acres of space across the capital. The first phase of the joint venture is to identify the sites, with early work anticipated to be completed in 2023 ahead of the planning phase.