L&G to fund £100m GPU Edinburgh hub
L&G is in advanced talks to forward fund the development of the Government Property Unit’s new £100m office in Edinburgh.
The GPU’s 190,000 sq ft flagship Scottish Hub will be at Artisan Real Estate’s New Waverley development between Calton Road and New Street near Waverley Station and will be constructed over two buildings.
The prelet for the space, which it will take for 20 years, is the largest office deal in the Scottish capital for more than two decades.
L&G is in advanced talks to forward fund the development of the Government Property Unit’s new £100m office in Edinburgh.
The GPU’s 190,000 sq ft flagship Scottish Hub will be at Artisan Real Estate’s New Waverley development between Calton Road and New Street near Waverley Station and will be constructed over two buildings.
The prelet for the space, which it will take for 20 years, is the largest office deal in the Scottish capital for more than two decades.
The deal will bring L&G’s funding commitment to GPU hubs to more than £700m.
The institutional investor, which specialises in regeneration projects, has agreed funding agreements for the GPU’s 110,000 sq ft office in Bristol, at Salmon Harvester Properties 3 Glass Wharf on Avon Street, and it is working with Rightacres and Cardiff City Council on a 300,000 sq ft headquarters at the Central Square regeneration scheme.
In August, L&G also bought the India Buildings in Liverpool for £125m where it has prelet 270,000 sq ft to HMRC.
Most recently, the investor agreed to forward fund HMRC’s 238,988 sq ft office at Miller Development’s Arena 3 in Birmingham. The government prelet is the largest office leasing deal in Birmingham for more than a decade.
The GPU has been looking for 13 UK office hubs across the country to use as regional bases which will form part of a wider government strategy to overhaul its property portfolio and increase efficiencies.
When complete, the Scottish office will be home to 2,900 civil servants from several UK government departments.
It is also looking to support regeneration and regional office markets and has already selected or signed for sites in Cardiff, Bristol, Croydon, Glasgow and Canary Wharf.
When the Edinburgh funding deal completes, it will be the latest in a string of funding agreements between the two parties as part of the GPU’s national drive.
Knight Frank is advising L&G; JLL is the retained property adviser for the GPU.
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