City & Docklands makes flexible office debut
London residential developer City & Docklands is to launch its first-ever flexible office scheme at the Barbon Buildings in Red Lion Square, WC1.
It marks a change of strategy for the firm, which has traditionally focused exclusively on luxury apartments for sale but is now seeking to introduce office space as it ramps up its operational platforms and build-to-rent presence.
The new office venture will offer 14,000 sq ft of space across four buildings, with individual units of between 230 sq ft and 1,300 sq ft.
London residential developer City & Docklands is to launch its first-ever flexible office scheme at the Barbon Buildings in Red Lion Square, WC1.
It marks a change of strategy for the firm, which has traditionally focused exclusively on luxury apartments for sale but is now seeking to introduce office space as it ramps up its operational platforms and build-to-rent presence.
The new office venture will offer 14,000 sq ft of space across four buildings, with individual units of between 230 sq ft and 1,300 sq ft.
Tenants will be able to acquire licences on a six- to 12-month basis for a fully furnished space.
The first building at 14 Red Lion Square will be available from July, with offices spread over five storeys, ranging from 230 sq ft at £4,200 per month to 764 sq ft for a whole floor at £8,300 per month.
Desk rates will range from £464 to £632 per month and include rent, business rates, cleaning, security, bespoke signs, high-speed internet and all service charges.
The Barbon Buildings
City & Docklands acquired the site at 13-17 Red Lion Square in 2015 from a private seller for £21m.
Its first move was to refurbish 13 Red Lion Square, the red-brick Halsey House, to deliver 13 luxury city centre apartments, priced from £700,000 to £1.8m.
The buildings at 14-17 Red Lion Square, designed by Nicholas Barbon in the 1600s, will now be redeveloped into period-style flexible office space, branded the Barbon Buildings.
Simon Passer, head of acquisitions at City & Docklands, said: “This is a hybrid offering of managed office space. We are targeting the more mature occupier, who values privacy and wants to feel more at home. It has all the flexibility and the feel of a permanent address.”
The offering distinguishes itself from co-working competitors such as WeWork and The Office Group, which has an office at Summit House at 12 Red Lion Square. But this doesn’t mean co-working is off the cards for future developments.
BTR meets co-working
A range of flexible workspaces will soon become a standard part of the offering within large City & Docklands schemes, where it will seek to retain an asset for long-term returns and provide improved amenity space.
CEO Gary Sacks said: “The truth is we haven’t really been an operational business; we have developed and sold.”
In 2000, City & Docklands launched Life Residential as a platform to manage its growing portfolio of third-party-owned rental properties.
“Life was created to serve our landlords and it became very successful. Now, where we have the ability, we try to hold the property and operate it.”
Following on from its flexible office debut at Red Lion Square, City & Docklands will look to develop 10,000 sq ft of co-working space at its 578-flat build-to-rent scheme at One West Point.
Sacks said: “City & Docklands is moving heavily into the BTR sector and we will incorporate flexible working space to service the tenants and the wider community.”
City & Docklands was established in 2004. It has completed 15 developments, delivering more than 2,600 homes, with a further 800 under construction and in the pipeline. It has two large BTR schemes at One West Point and Mitre Yard, managed by its platform A Way Of Life and a portfolio of 4,300 properties operated by its brand Life Residential.
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