Allianz Insurance is looking to sell its 122,515 sq ft head office in Guildford, Surrey, as part of a sale-and-leaseback deal, ahead of moving its headquarters.
The insurer has appointed JLL to seek offers of more than £15m for its offices at 57 Ladymead. A deal at this price would reflect a capital value of £122 per sq ft.
It plans to relocate its head office operations 15 months after selling the site. During that period, it will leaseback the whole building at a peppercorn rent. There would be no dilapidated liability upon expiry of the lease back.
The insurer is in the process of appealing Guildford Borough Council’s decision to refuse proposals to turn the upper floors of the office block into 108 flats.
Under those plans, the first, second, third and fourth floors of the block would offer 36 studios, 35 one-bedroom flats and 37 two-bedroom flats. Parts of the ground floor would remain as offices, with the remainder turning into cycle facilities and other amenities.
The application for the site was rejected due to flooding concerns.
Tim Dawes, planning development manager at Guildford Borough Council, said in a planning document rejecting the scheme: “The site suffers from a high risk of flooding, the proposed use is incompatible with the flood risk of the site, and it has not been demonstrated that safe means of access and egress could be provided for the proposed development.”
Yalpesh Pajwani, head of property and workspace services, said: “We are always looking at the best way to support our employees and customers and that includes taking the long view and adapting our property footprint and branch network when we need to.
“We can confirm we are intending to put our head office building in Guildford up for sale and are currently exploring our options for the site.
“We want to be a fantastic place to work and know that this statement means different things to different people so we are continuing our focus on creating collaborative, sustainable environments that complement our new flexible ways of working.”
The offices are also being marketed with scope for conversion to either a student accommodation, industrial or retail warehousing scheme.
JLL is also advising the insurer on its office search.
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