This Week's London Deal Sheet
The Deal Sheet is a weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email [email protected].
Fund manager Thriving Investments has secured £100M of equity from the Universities Superannuation Scheme for its private rented sector business Picture Living.
This latest commitment will support Thriving Investments’ ambition to grow the Picture Living portfolio to more than 2,000 homes by the end of 2024, the company said.
Since launching in 2018, Picture Living has created a portfolio of around 1,800 single-family and multifamily homes around the UK, of which about 180 are under development. In 2023, about £45M of original capital was committed to forward-fund over 100 single-family homes for rent across four UK schemes in London and the south-east.
Picture Living predominantly develops residential schemes concentrated around population hubs with established transport and community infrastructure. Touchstone, the specialist property management business of Places for People, manages the portfolio.
DEALS
Aviva Investors and sustainable living specialist Packaged Living have acquired two single-family housing developments, both in Milton Keynes, to develop 212 new homes worth more than £85M.
The funding continues the partnership's plan to create a platform of affordable family homes across the UK that debuted in November 2021. So far, the partnership has helped fund the creation of almost 1,000 homes across seven developments, with an additional 500 homes in exclusivity, the companies said.
The Milton Keynes acquisitions are the first investment into the UK living sector made by Aviva Investors’ Long Term Asset Fund, which launched in May 2023 with an initial £1.5B portfolio of assets.
The 212 new homes will be spread across two new communities: a 117-home development in Shenley Wood and a 95-home project in Whitehouse Park. The Whitehouse Park master plan will deliver a total of 4,400 new homes, four schools and employment spaces.
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Fiera Real Estate and Danescroft Land have sold the Residential Land Partnership’s 5.2-acre site at Steers Lane, Crawley, for over £3M to Bellway Homes. Residential Land is a fund managed by Schroders Real Estate.
The sale follows Bellway and Danescroft obtaining detailed planning consent for a scheme in January 2024 that will allow for 60 new homes.
In all, 185 homes have been consented and delivered by Bellway. The site was acquired in the summer of 2018 on an unconditional basis with an allocation for a minimum of 75 homes.
It forms part of the now largely completed Forge Wood neighbourhood in the north-east sector of Crawley, which has planning permission for 1,900 homes, a school, a local centre and community hall, employment space, plus parkland and open space.
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Harleyford Capital has announced its first urban logistics development deal, exchanging unconditional contracts on an 8.5-acre development site in Watford, funded in a joint venture with Fiera Real Estate.
Harleyford Capital and Fiera are to seek planning permission and speculatively deliver an £80M gross development value urban logistics scheme, providing 180K SF across 13 units, with Harleyford Capital responsible for project delivery.
The deal was exchanged unconditionally and was sourced off-market. It is the seventh transaction for the Fiera Real Estate Logistics Development Fund, which completed its second close in the third quarter with over £225M of equity committed.
LEASING
Huckletree Liverpool Street will open 35K SF of turnkey office space and flexible hotdesking on 2 April, the company said. The opening is part of Huckletree’s wider expansion plans, which it hopes will take its total footprint to more than 300K SF across the UK and Ireland over the next year.
The Liverpool Street hub has a range of amenities, including a members lounge and rooftop terrace alongside a barista bar and podcast studio.
“We are passionate about creating spaces where people look forward to coming to work, which we believe is a key component of workspace selection for today’s reality,” Huckletree co-founder and CEO Gabriela Hersham said in a statement.
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Segro Logistics Park Northampton has signed its first occupier, global supply chain logistics company Yusen Logistics, which has taken almost 1.2M SF at the multimodal development. The building will be Yusen’s largest facility globally.
Yusen Logistics is an existing customer at Segro’s Grange Park estate in Northampton, and the lease, which is subject to detailed planning consent, is for Yusen Logistics to occupy a unit at the 600-acre industrial and logistics park, expected to be fully operational by summer 2025.
Construction of the rail freight terminal has been completed, and Network Rail is scheduled to carry out the signalling work to connect the terminal to the rail network by autumn 2024.
DEVELOPMENT
Architect HOK’s London studio has submitted a planning application to the City of Edinburgh Council on behalf of sports and live entertainment company AEG Europe for a new 8,500-capacity arena.
Edinburgh Arena, part of the wider Edinburgh Park regeneration project, will be designed to host a diverse range of entertainment events, according to HOK.
Edinburgh Park will be a new urban quarter, and the master plan includes commercial space, residential projects, a civic square with adjacent parkland and a new train station adjacent to the arena.
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St. Modwen Logistics has begun construction of circa 125K SF across two warehouse units at Trident Business Park in Warrington.
The scheme is aiming for a BREEAM Excellent certification and to achieve a minimum energy performance certificate A rating. The two units total 80K SF and 45K SF, respectively, with the larger unit fitted with rooftop solar. Completion is expected by late December.
Both buildings will incorporate 10% roof lights and will be fitted with intelligent LED lighting across the Grade A office space and have smart metering.
DEBT
GRE Finance has agreed to a £15M loan with Jersey-based UK real estate investment fund Riverside Capital against an office complex called Old Street Works.
Located on City Road, Old Street Works comprises 34K SF across three interconnected buildings with office accommodation on the first to fourth floors and retail on the ground and basement levels.
The building is let to 10 tenants and is 78% occupied, and the 24-month loan is secured against the freehold of the buildings, which is being used to fund refurbishment work on the vacant units.
In the past three years, GRE Finance has provided £160M in financing for borrowers against offices, and this deal marks the latest loan that GRE Finance has secured against locations in London, including the Farringdon and Covent Garden submarkets.
