Scottish Power is believed to have decided against locating its new headquarters building within Glasgow’s International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) on the banks of the River Clyde in favour of the former Elphinstone Tower site in Glasgow’s central business district.
Scottish Power, advised by CBRE, had been in detailed talks with Scottish Enterprise to build a new 220,000 sq ft headquarters facility at its 220 Broomielaw and 236 Broomielaw waterfront sites withing the IFSC. Broomielaw had been tipped as the company’s favoured location. However, the site was put up for sale through Colliers International just before Christmas after a deal could not be finalised.
Scottish Power’s Spanish owner, Iberdrola, is said to prefer the 1.4 acre Elphinstone site which sits on India Street and St Vincent Street in the city centre. The site was originally proposed to house Scotland’s tallest building, a 40-storey office and residential tower.
But the developer, Elphinstone, announced in July 2008 that the building had been cancelled owing to the difficulties arising from the subprime mortgage crisis – one of the main financial backers of the project was Lehman Brothers, which failed two months later. Elphinstone called in administrator KPMG in September 2010 to deal with ongoing trading losses and cash flow problems.
It is believed that Scottish Power will pay around £5m for the site. Developers will be invited to tender proposals for the scheme in the coming months.
lisa.pilkington@estatesgazette.com
