by Denis Hall
A leading British oil company — thought to be British Petroleum — are at an advanced stage of negotiations in a deal which would make them one of the biggest tenants on the 350-acre Stockley Park near Heathrow.
The company are rumoured to be finalising an agreement with the Stockley Park Consortium in which they would take all of the 250,000 sq ft of space now being constructed.
British Petroleum have been busy acquiring space into which to expand during the past nine months.
Last September, BP bought Helical Bar’s 165,000-sq ft office development at 99 City Road, EC1, for about £60m.
BP will start decanting staff from Britannic House, Moor Lane, EC2, to City Road on completion next summer.
Soon after this purchase, City sources were tipping BP Oil International as the purchasers of Charterhall Properties’ 225,000-sq ft development at 225 City Road.
Part of BP’s space requirements were fulfilled in February when British Petroleum Oil moved into their 200,000-sq ft building between Hemel Hempstead and junction 8 of the M1.
Stockley Park currently provides eight buildings totalling 500,000 sq ft. A further 1m sq ft is to be built in 11 buildings.
The 100-acre development is surrounded by 250 acres which will form a district park.
Other tenants in the scheme include Toshiba International, Marks & Spencer, Fujitsu, Control Data, Apple Computers, Dow Chemicals and Electronic Data Systems.
Last July, a consortium led by Elliott Bernerd and Stuart Lipton — who originally assembled the site of Stockley Park — bought the business park from Mountleigh Group.
The purchasers — Stanhope Properties (of which Mr Lipton is chairman), the Kajima Corporation, Elliott Bernerd’s Chelsfield, and Prudential Assurance Co — are reputed to have paid about £170m.
Letting agents for Stockley Park are Jones Lang Wootton and Grant & Partners.
