Good morning. Here’s your daily round-up of the latest news and views from EG and a collection of real estate-relevant headlines from the nationals.
Two big, impending office leasings to kick off your Friday. First up, Bruntwood SciTech is close to signing Auto Trader for 100,000 sq ft at No.3 Circle Square in Manchester.
The deal is set to be a 10-year lease at around £40 per sq ft, and would see the company exit Abrdn’s 1 Tony Wilson Place on First Street, where it has been based for a decade.
Next, Stanhope looks likely to bag Legal & General for its Woolgate Exchange, EC2. The financial services group is near to sealing a deal for 130,000-140,000 sq ft.
The company appointed JLL to help it downsize to 150,000 sq ft in the City, as it is approaching a lease expiry on its 200,000 sq ft at One Coleman Street, EC2.
This week’s big interview is with John Macdonald-Brown, founder of consultancy Syzygy, on his years of work trying to drive the decarbonisation of real estate.
“The vast majority of institutional real estate is under pressure from their investors, their occupiers and government to decarbonise,” he says. “There are some very ambitious targets being set in boardrooms, which is laudable,” he says.
“But we are at a point in time now where everyone is going, ‘OK, but how do we actually hit those? How do we do this?’ It’s a tough market – there is less cash flow, higher interest rates and, still, the pressure is on. Now clients want to know what they should be looking for when they are buying a building, and they often ask us.”
All the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals:
L&G nears deal for new London HQ
Auto Trader gears up for 100,000 sq ft Manchester HQ move
Law firm letting takes JJ Mack to two-thirds full
Syzygy founder John Macdonald-Brown on living the green dream
Meet EG’s public sector forum
Sustainable cities: the countdown accelerates
Harworth furnishes logistics site with Dunelm letting
Caddick cleared for resi-led Leeds scheme
Rishi Sunak rules out general election on 2 May (£)
Commercial property woes send Savills’ profits tumbling (£)
UK statisticians threaten strike action over back-to-office mandate (£)
Only 10% of UK levelling up funds spent, say MPs (£)
Chinese home prices fall as property slump deepens (£)
Soho’s Groucho Club to open branch in tiny Yorkshire village (£)
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