Welcome to the fourth update of 2019, giving you an up-to-date view of the west London offices & property market in West London. Featured in this issue: Market Summary, Take-Up, Earls Court Sale and Planning & Developments Review of 2019
MARKET SUMMARY
West London Offices & Property News
SUPPLY & TAKE-UP
IN HAMMERSMITH & FULHAM
The world’s largest cosmetics company, L’Oréal, pre-let a huge 124,000 sq ft part of the next phase of White City Place just before Christmas. This is a clear sign that even a French company sees some certainty around the Brexit issue following Boris Johnson’s large majority general election victory in December thanks in the main to the swing of former safe Labour seats in the north of England.
L’Oréal have signed for the ground and upper 5 floors of the 11th floor, 240,000 sq ft Gateway Central building that will now be constructed for 2023. They will relocate their 1,000 employees from 255 Hammersmith Road overlooking Hammersmith Roundabout and the Broadway. Allies and Morrison are the architects of the building which will include a 250-person roof terrace.
Another sign of improving confidence in west London this quarter was the sale of the 292,000 sq ft Kings Mall Shopping Centre by Schroder UK Real Estate Fund to the parent company of IKEA. They will open a town-centre anchor store in the revamped shopping centre. The purchase price and future investment in the shopping centre has been reported as £170m.
Office supply in Hammersmith & Fulham continues its downward trend, from 7.6% to 7.2% in Q4. This level is nearly half that of its peak at 14.5% in Q2 2016. If supply reduces further in 2020, rent-free periods will begin to reduce and rents increase.
YOOBIC paid £56 per sq ft as they expanded to circa 9,000 sq ft in
Frost Meadowcroft client, Axa’s
Smith’s Square at the front of the Assembly at 77 Fulham Palace Road.
TAKE-UP
In 2019 take-up was
638,183 sq ft, a very similar
level to that in
2018 – 676,721 sq ft, a record year and 3 times that of the take-up in 2016 – 201,000 sq ft.
IN PUTNEY
THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS
Frost Meadowcroft client, Thackeray Estates, are constructing a new media style office: The Assembly Rooms on Putney High Street.
Thackeray Estates have begun pre-marketing the new 23,000 sq ft office building on Putney High Street, converted from a former cinema. Featuring high ceilings, roof terrace, 30 cycle bays and trendy exposed services. Completion is scheduled for Summer 2020. The Assembly Rooms were built in the 1870s and converted into the Princess Picture Palace in 1911, a one-screen venue with 350 seats. It was re-named Assembly Rooms Cinema in 1913 and closed in 1920.
IN WHITE CITY
Rents are already beginning to rise in White City, with £56 per sq ft paid by the Singaporean investment company, Mapletree, for the 14,600 sq ft part 4th floor of West Works at White City Place.
Q4 HEADLINES
West London Offices & Property News
Delancey Buy Earls Court for £425m
In Q4 Delancey agreed to buy Capital & Counties’ interest in Earls Court for £425m whilst agreeing a back to back deal with the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham to buy back their council estates; Gibbs Green
and West Kensington.
Having sold these estates, Delancey are now likely to change the
decade-old masterplan that included mostly luxury housing with just 20% affordable.
It is probable the new masterplan will include more private rented sector (PRS) and affordable housing. Council leader Stephen Cowan, has said that the area needs “faculty housing, genuinely affordable housing and corporate housing for businesses”. Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, has previously called for more social rented & affordable housing at the scheme. In 2015 Earls Court was valued at £803m, nearly double the current price.
2019 PLANNING & DEVELOPMENTS
Q1 THE NEW OLYMPIA LONDON
Yoo Capital and Deutsche Finance were granted planning consent to redevelop the 133-year-old Olympia London site into an arts, entertainment, events and creative business quarter. The 14-acre site will include 670,000 sq ft of office space. The project starts this year and is scheduled to complete in 2024.
Q2 THE CUCUMBER
Westminster Council approved a new 42-storey residential skyscraper, dubbed The Cucumber. Its size and location, on a key site between Harrow Road and the north side of Paddington Basin next to the Westway means it will become a looming landmark across west London. A publicly accessible Skybar is also planned for the top two floors of the tower.
Q2 PADDINGTON SQUARE
The construction of Sellar’s Paddington Square to include 360,000 sq ft of offices began in 2019 with the demolition of the former Royal Mail Sorting Office at 31 London Street and adjacent buildings on Praed Street. Piling and basement box works are well underway for the creation of the new transport infrastructure and four levels of retail, located directly beneath the office building and public square. The scheme should be complete in 2022 and includes a new Bakerloo line entrance and ticket hall.
Q3 IMPERIAL COLLEGE
Imperial College were granted approval by Hammersmith & Fulham for their 14-acre master plan, 2.5 million sq ft scheme in Q3 2019. Around 2 million sq ft of the space will be dedicated to research and business uses as well as 373 new homes, 1 new hotel, retail, cafes and restaurants. The site is just south of the Westway in Wood Lane opposite the former BBC buildings at White City Place and north of Berkeley Homes’ White City Living scheme and the extended Westfield London shopping centre.
Q4 WEST KING STREET REGENERATION
Scaffolding was erected and demolition began at the empty Brutalist 1970’s Hammersmith Town Hall Extension in King Street.
Planning consent was granted in 2019 to create a new civic hub on the site of the cinema and the Town Hall Extension at the western section of King Street near Ravenscourt Park station. The proposal, which incorporates the refurbishment and extension of the Grade II Listed Town Hall, is a joint venture between A2 Dominion and the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham.
