Camden

Property Week reports that a part-let retail and office property in Hatton Garden, London, is to go under the hammer at Strettons’ March auction, with a guide price of £1.95m. The freehold property in the Holborn area is one of 40 lots to be up for sale at the online auction. The Hatton Garden mixed-use property, which was built in 1910, provides 3,734 sq ft over four storeys, with a prominent retail unit occupying the ground and lower floors, with four self-contained office suites on the upper floors. It currently produces a rental income of £30,000 per annum, with potential for more when fully let.

City of London

Property Week reports that Standard Chartered has signed a new reversionary lease at its global headquarters in London, committing to its long-term future at the City of London. As part of the lease restructure at 1 Basinghall Avenue, landlord Zeno Capital and asset manager Oxygen will be working with the FTSE-listed bank to undertake a full refurbishment project and install new employee amenities, wellbeing facilities and new office technology. The building upgrade project starts this year and will complete by 2026, targeting BREEAM ’Excellent’ and LEED ‘Gold’ or equivalent.

The City of London Corporation is funding a “cultural transformation” of Smithfield ahead of the Museum of London’s 2026 move to the location. Over the next three years, the museum will deliver a free, world-class programme of neighbourhood activities aimed at ‘activating, animating and enriching’ the area. School workshops, family programming, community-led projects and public events will all be held in the streets around Smithfield Market. A new temporary community space will house creative and social activities, while a training, work experience and mentoring scheme will be offered to over 500 young people in the City and Islington. The activities are being funded with a £650,000 grant from the City Corporation’s Neighbourhood Fund – derived from a levy on new developments in the Square Mile.

Property Week reports that WeWork’s flagship flexible office location in the City of London has reopened following a major revamp to “meet the evolving needs of the modern workforce”.The global flexible workspace provider’s Moor Place, situated in Moorgate, offers eight floors of dynamic, mixed-use office space to members and also functions as the firm’s HQ.

The City of London Corporation has announced that a former Government communications chief has been appointed as the new Executive Director of Corporate Communications and External Affairs at the City of London Corporation. Emily Tofield will provide strategic leadership of external and internal communications at the Square Mile’s governing body when she begins her new role in June.

City of Westminster

Property Week reports that Maslow Capital, a provider of real estate development finance, has agreed a £114m loan for Union Property Development to build a 356-bed student accommodation scheme in Paddington. The redevelopment will see an existing purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) asset undergo a refurbishment by the developer, which is part of property group Union Property Services. As well as accommodation, the new scheme will also provide social and well-being amenities, including a residents lounge, individual and group study areas, laptop bar, gym, laundry and internal cycle storage facilities.

EG reports that Lord Sugar has put a seven-storey office block in the West End up for sale, hoping to attract offers of around £55 million. CBRE is marketing 215-227 Great Portland Street, W1, known as GPS House, on behalf of Amsprop, Sugar’s real estate investment group. Amsprop purchased the building from Derwent for £23 million in 2007.

Property Week reports that Grosvenor is set to double the size of its indirect real estate investment business, Grosvenor Diversified Property Investments (GDPI), to around £1.5bn in equity over the next five years. GDPI said it invests globally alongside specialist local partners that understand the changing demands of real estate in their markets. By only investing Grosvenor’s own capital, GDPI said it can build strong alignment with these partners and has versatility in committing capital from the shorter, to the longer term. This approach has seen it realise 16 investments to date, delivering an average IRR of over 20% pa, according to Grosvenor.

Hammersmith & Fulham

Property Week reports that Chelsea Football Club is reportedly considering plans to bulldoze and redevelop Stamford Bridge and build a new stadium costing up to £2bn. Owner Todd Boehly wants to replace the club’s current stadium with a new, 60,000-capacity state-of-the-art arena, according to reports in the Daily Mail. But the plans face several major hurdles, including the presence of railway and tube lines, an adjacent cemetery and an underground river surrounding the site. The move would also require Chelsea to play at another London stadium, either Fulham’s Craven Cottage, Twickenham or Wembley while the new stadium is developed.

Kensington & Chelsea

Construction Enquirer reports that developer Ardmore has signed a £200 million deal to build462 apartments across seven new blocks for joint venture developer MARK and Seven Capital. The tallest block, on the corner of West Cromwell and Warwick Road, will rise up to 33-storeys, making it one of the tallest buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Southwark

EG radius reports that Regal London has bought a site opposite the proposed Bakerloo Line station on Old Kent Road. The developer is planning a 900-bed  student led accommodation scheme, which will also feature a further 220 affordable homes. The scheme will also include commercial and community spaces, alongside considerable new public open space and major infrastructure upgrades.The 0.7 hectare site is located at 747-759 Old Kent Road and 765-775 Old Kent Road.

The Architect’s Journal reports that Morris + Company has submitted plans to redevelop a corner plot on south London’s Borough High Street into student dorms, homes and workspace. The Kings Place scheme, midway between Borough and Elephant and Castle, includes 444 student rooms, eight homes for ‘key workers’ and 2,124m² of employment floorspace.

General

Property Week reports that industry experts have warned the government’s proposed new Infrastructure Levy, the consultation for which launched last week, could cause delays for developments. The technical consultation on the Infrastructure Levy, which would replace section 106 contributions for most developments, is designed to make developers pay a “fairer share” for local infrastructure, including roads, GP surgeries, and schools.Under the proposals, instead of developers negotiating the amount they contribute to the local community when forwarding a new project, councils would be given a “right to require”, allowing them to dictate how much of the levy is delivered through affordable housing in new developments and how much is used for local infrastructure. The proposed changes would be introduced through a 10-year ‘test and learn’ period.

Property Week reports that the UK’s single family housing market is growing rapidly, with more deals completed in Q1 this year than in the whole of 2022 and £8bn of capital heading to the sector in the next three to five years, according to Knight Frank.Launching its 2023 Single Family Housing Report yesterday, the property consultancy said more than £450m of single family housing deals were agreed in Q1 2023, surpassing the full-year 2022 investment total of £330m.

EG reports that pharmaceuticals giant Eli Lilly has shortlised three preferred locations across central London as it prepares to return to the capital after 89 years. Lilly UK appointed CBRE on its search for workspace in the capital in October last year, as previously revealed by EG. It is reportedly seeking around 65,000 sqft.

Property Week reports that Barratt London has launched a hunt for one or more funding partners for a £280m build-to-rent opportunity comprising three schemes in London. The three assets, known as Project H, will provide a combined 777 homes once completed in Hayes, Harrow and Hendon and can be acquired separately or collectively.Barratt said the launch of Project H marks its commitment to the BtR sector, “formally unveiling their ambitions for the sector”.