Capital & Counties and Shaftesbury have completed their £3.5bn all-share merger to form Shaftesbury Capital. This new company will dominate the Soho and Covent Garden areas of central London.  Shaftesbury Capital’s portfolio is focused on Covent Garden, Seven Dials, the Opera Quarter, Carnaby Street, Soho, and Chinatown. The portfolio has been independently valued at £4.9bn Ian Hawksworth, chief executive of the merged group, said: “Today we are delighted to complete the merger, bringing together two highly complementary portfolios to create the leading central London mixed-use REIT, Shaftesbury Capital. We look ahead with confidence, with an experienced and talented team, to deliver long-term economic and social value for stakeholders and contribute to the success of the West End.” Shaftesbury Capital’s assets offer 1.7m sq ft of hospitality, leisure and retail space, around 600,000 sq ft of office space and more than 800 apartments. The annual gross income of the merged group is £178m, while the portfolio’s estimated rental value is £227m [...]

Landsec has gained consent for the redevelopment of Red Lion Court, Bankside, part of a one million square foot development programme focused on building a green office cluster in London's Southwark. Red Lion Court will comprise 230,000 sq ft of offices, retail & open public space on the banks of the River Thames, next to Borough Yards.  The scheme, designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group, offers floorplates from 18,000 to 26,600 square feet all with access to outdoor spaces, a communal roof terrace and views over the river into the City The building has been designed to be net-zero in construction and operation and by reusing part of the existing building and prioritising low carbon and recycled materials should meet or exceed the Greater London Authority and Southwark borough policy in terms of sustainability, biodiversity and energy efficiency. The building will also be fully electric and feature a sustainable urban drainage system which repurposes rainwater for future use. [...]

Transport for London has chosen listed London developer Helical as its preferred investment partner for its commercial office portfolio across central London. The decision is subject to contract negotiations and a 10-day standstill – or cooling off – period. The partnership will develop "high-quality and sustainable" office space above or close to Tube stations at Bank, Paddington and Southwark with all three sites have full planning permission. Bank: above the new station entrance on Cannon Street, this eight-storey development, along with a basement, will include both office and retail space, measuring around 140,000 square feet net internal area external terraces on fifth, sixth and seventh floors and a green roof. A start on site is envisaged next year.       Paddington: located by Grand Union Canal and close to the new Elizabeth line station at Paddington, this 19-storey building currently has permission for new office and retail space at around 235,000 square feet NIA. It will include [...]

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine signalled a new era for commercial real estate, as the end of the low interest rate environment means investors no longer treat commercial real estate as a bond proxy, according to MSCI. Chart shows basis-point spread and office yields to 10-year government bonds Source: RCA Hedonic Series office yields MSCI’s report, Global Markets One Year After Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine, noted that the Ukraine war coincided with the end of the post-2008 global financial crisis boom brought about by the low-rate, low-return environment that pushed trillions of dollars into global real estate, depressing yields and driving prices up to record levels. “Russia’s invasion now appears to have signalled the end of that expansion and the start of a transition to a new world of higher rates and higher returns,” explained Tom Leahy, MSCI’s head of EMEA real assets research. According to Leahy, the rapid rise in swap rates meant debt costs surged above property [...]

Following the mass adoption of hybrid work, there's a potential new change to the way companies work and the amount of time they will be in the office for the real estate industry to get its head around — the four-day working week. The vast majority of companies taking part in the world’s largest trial of a four-day week have chosen to retain the new working pattern, The Guardian reported. Of the 61 companies that entered the six-month trial, 56 have extended the four-day week, including 18 that have made it permanent. The result has been hailed by researchers as evidence that it could work across the UK economy and the findings were presented to MPs on 21 February as part of a push urging politicians to give workers a 32-hour week. The UK pilot, which started in June 2022, has been promoted by New Zealand-based not-for-profit organisation 4 Day Week Global and overseen by the thinktank Autonomy and a [...]