Real estate investor, developer and asset manager, Firethorn Trust, has purchased One Bessborough Gardens, SW1, in an off-market deal. Addington Capital introduced Firethorn to the deal and are advising on delivery. The 70,000 sq. ft. office has been acquired from Charles Street Building Group for an undisclosed sum.

One Bessborough Gardens is a prominent four-storey office building, situated in the City of Westminster, London and overlooks the Gardens and the Thames. It will be converted into a modern residential development with c. 60 apartments under Firethorn’s Living portfolio.

This is the first residential asset in London for Firethorn Living, who have a focus on building sustainable spaces with a high-quality specification. It follows its acquisition of a purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) site at Leith Walk, Edinburgh earlier this year.

Marcus Weeks, Director and Head of Living at Firethorn Trust, commented:

“One Bessborough Gardens presented a strategic opportunity for us to create a unique residential offering at a time of limited supply to the market and increased demand. Being a very agile business and having a strong balance sheet means that we were able to move forward decisively and quickly on this transaction.

“This is a fantastic addition to our growing Living portfolio, at a scale and quality that not only reflects our ambition to become leaders in the Living markets but represents our genuine passion for creating modern spaces that have a positive impact on people and places.”

Matthew Allen, a principal at Addington Capital, commented: “We are delighted to be supporting Firethorn on the conversion of One Bessborough Gardens into a residential scheme. The property is in a prominent location near the Thames in Westminster and so it’s a significant project for us and the building has great conversion credentials.”

Work on site is expected to commence in early 2025, with completion due in 2026.

ACRE LLP advised the purchasers and Charles Street Building Group was advised by Levy Real Estate.

Posted in news on 18th June, 2024

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The founders of Addington Capital, Martin Roberts and Matthew Allen have recruited Matt Pears as the new Operations Director of AddLiving, Addington’s sister residential lettings and management business.

Matt joins AddLiving from Wildheart Residential Management Ltd where he was a Property Director. Wildheart RML manages 1,000 AST units and 4,000 Leasehold units across the country on behalf of corporate and individual clients. Matt was responsible for the operational performance of the tenanted, block and letting management, which included major works, compliance, onboarding and bespoke projects. He had additional direct responsibility for Building Safety Fund projects and the implementation of Building Safety Act legislation across the portfolio.

Matt also had responsibility for the management and development of the property management teams based in Surrey, Eastbourne, Liverpool and Nottingham.

Before joining Wildheart RML in 2016, Matt was a Senior Property Manager at Grainger PLC for over 10 years.

AddLiving was set up in 2018 as a management and leasing platform for large PRS sites and portfolios in Greater London. AddLiving has its own website and web-based management and leasing portal. It is an independent company capable of taking on third party mandates.

Martin Roberts, Director, said, “We are delighted to welcome Matthew to spearhead our residential lettings and management business. He has a strong track record and experience which will enhance our property management expertise.”

“Addington has a history of both acquiring existing residential properties with its JV partners and converting other use classes into residential property. We have acquired or built over 2,800 residential properties in many major towns and cities across the UK since we set up the business.”

Matthew Allen, Director, continued, “Addington is looking to acquire further residential property portfolios with our JV partners, including further PRS schemes. Having our own residential management and lettings platform gives us the control we need to ensure the delivery of successful investment strategies in the residential sector.”

Posted in news on 22nd May, 2024

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Addington Capital (“Addington”) and BauMont Real Estate Capital (“BauMont”) have completed the purchase of Old Change House, 128 Queen Victoria Street, EC4 for around £23 million, showing a yield on contracted income of 6.55%. The vendor was Coal Pensions Limited advised by Delancey.

Old Change House is a 56,814 sq. ft detached office building with basement, ground and five upper floors including 3,732 sq. ft of ground floor retail. The building is currently 61% occupied, with existing office tenants including Walker Crips plc, GB Group plc, EZE Software EMEA Ltd and the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Retail tenants are Pret a Manger and Pen and Brush Limited (trading as Nusa Kitchen).

The building was originally constructed by Japanese developer, Nissho Iwai in 1997, before being acquired by Coal Pensions Limited in 2000. It was partly refurbished in 2018, including new end of trip facilities. It has been sold to BauMont and Addington with two vacant office floors totalling 18,600 sq. ft. Further leases expire in 2025 and 2027.

BauMont and Addington believe the purchase provides an outstanding opportunity to complete the refurbishment of the building to create “best in class” Cat A specified offices, with enhanced ESG credentials. The refurbishment is well timed to take advantage of a shortage in top quality offices in the City, which they believe will provide the potential for higher rental levels being achieved in the building, whilst re-establishing its institutional credentials.

Martin Roberts, Principal of Addington Capital said, “The opportunity to undertake a rolling refurbishment programme of an income producing asset like Old Change House offers attractive risk adjusted returns. We are actively pursuing similar “brown to green” projects across Central London, allowing us to upgrade buildings with strong fundamentals to create the high quality, ESG-compliant space, sought after by today’s occupiers. We believe that there will be other similar opportunities over the coming months.”

He added, “ We are delighted to extend our working relationship with BauMont, with whom we have worked on three residential projects* in the London area. This is our first venture together into the commercial property markets.

Delancey was advised by Knight Frank and Addington Capital by Savills.

*Including the acquisition of the Brymore portfolio of 182 houses and apartments in South London in 2019, the acquisition of the Skye portfolio of 114 houses and apartments in East London in 2021 and the acquisition of the Keys portfolio of 204 houses and apartments in East London in 2022.

Posted in news on 16th April, 2024

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Addington Capital, the property investment and asset management specialist has signed a further deal with Mott Macdonald, existing tenants at 10 Fleet Place in London, whereby Mott Macdonald commits to a further 20,000 sq. ft on the fourth floor of the building.

Mott MacDonald, the global engineering consultancy has been a longstanding tenant at 10 Fleet Place since 2011. Last year it took 19,884 sq. ft on the first floor of 10 Fleet Place on a lease until 30 April 2040 and re-geared its lease on the second floor where it had 19,888 sq. ft, to run to the same date. The first and second floors are now newly refurbished. Mott MacDonald has now decided to take a new lease on the fourth floor (19,811 sq. ft), which will also now be refurbished in keeping with the 1st and 2nd floors. Mott MacDonald will be paying a headline rent of £68.50 per sq. ft.  Overall, the global consultancy will have space totalling circa 60,000 sq. ft in the building, on leases running to 2040.

10 Fleet Place is a landmark 186,000 sq. ft office building in prime Mid-Town. Addington Capital is the asset manager for the property acting on behalf of the ‘The Crosby Group’ from Hong Kong who acquired it in 2015.

Other blue-chip tenants at 10 Fleet Place include Interpath Advisory, the independent financial advisory business spun out of KPMG, CNBC, now acquired by Comcast and global top ten law firm Hogan Lovells.

Mott Macdonald’s commitment to 10 Fleet Place follows the substantial phased refurbishment programme at the building including new end of trip facilities, reception upgrade and new external signage.

The building also benefits from great transport links including the Elizabeth line at Farringdon.

David Dalrymple, Partner at Addington Capital said, “ We are delighted Mott MacDonald has increased its footprint and long-term commitment to 10 Fleet Place and will now occupy around 60,000 sq. ft on long leases.

The ongoing success at 10 Fleet Place is down to the demand for high quality space in Midtown and the City, particularly as businesses try to recruit and retain the best staff.  We have invested heavily during the past three years to vastly improve the buildings environmental credentials,  internal finishes and wider facilities of the building to make it significantly more attractive.

Following the completion of this lease the building is now 96% let and the remaining office/retail space is all under offer. We have a list of blue chip and respected tenants, all on favourable lease terms.”

Posted in news on 11th April, 2024

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Addington Capital, the property investment and asset management specialist and its investor partner ICG have started work on the final phase of their Headingley Park residential scheme. An additional 70 new residential units to rent will be created at Stockdale House; the fifth and largest building on the site.

Headingley Park is an office to residential conversion scheme in which four office buildings have already been converted to create 152 residential units. This final phase of 70 units at the fifth building, Stockdale House, will take the overall development to 222 units. Work has started following the NHS vacating the offices in the building.

Stockdale House is being converted under the last PD Prior Approval issued in Leeds and the new units will be provided over ground and five upper floors. The scheme is designed to meet current space standards and will be completed in Q3 2024.

The Headingley Park development has proved attractive to young professionals and post graduate students renting in Leeds, due to being close to the City Centre and the University, in a large 6.5-acre parkland setting. Individual buildings provide 30 to 40 units which are predominantly studio, one and two-bedroom apartments. The scheme is managed by AddLiving and has been well received by renters to date, with the completed phases being 100% let and achieving rents of £900 and £1,275 pcm for one- and two-bedroom apartments.

Headingley Park is currently ranked “the best place to live in Leeds” by HomeViews. The scheme has a residents’ lounge, co working area and large landscaped gardens.

Martin Roberts Principal of Addington Capital said, “We are delighted to be underway with the conversion of Stockdale House. The 70 high quality apartments will have spectacular views across the City and meet the growing need of today’s renters in Leeds.”

“The Stockdale House development completes the conversion of Headingley Park from an in-town office park to a 100% residential development. We believe that this is an exemplar for Permitted Development conversion of offices to residential and a road map for future schemes.”

He continued, “Given the falling demand for offices and the increased costs of making those properties energy efficient, we believe a relaxation of the size limit of new PD conversion, (currently up to 1,500 sq. m), would be a fast way to increase the supply of much needed residential from brownfield sites, with a low embedded carbon solution.”

Posted in news on 27th October, 2023

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