Edinburgh-based Duddingston House Properties, contractor Sir Robert McAlpine and Catalyst Capital have formed a special purpose vehicle to develop a prime waterfront site in the centre of Glasgow.
Edinburgh-based Duddingston House Properties, contractor Sir Robert McAlpine and Catalyst Capital have formed a special purpose vehicle to develop a prime waterfront site in the centre of Glasgow.
The Consortium 220 vehicle has entered into a purchase agreement with Scottish Enterprise, the owner of the 2-acre cleared site at 220 Broomielaw, which gives it a period of time to market the site to potential occupiers.
The site already has planning consent, which was granted in March 2008 for 462,228 sq ft (43,000 m2) of gross Grade A office space, 5,100 sq ft of retail space, and 130 car parking spaces.
Consortium 220 aims to develop the site in phases, once it has secured pre-letting agreements, although the consortium will also consider an element of speculative office space.
The site lies within Glasgow’s International Financial Services District (IFSD), whose development was launched in 2001 by a partnership of the public and private sectors led by Scottish Enterprise and Glasgow City Council.
More than £1 bn has so far been invested to regenerate the area of the city centre and the district has attracted some of the biggest names in global finance including Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Barclays Wealth, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Esure, Tesco Bank and Aon.
'Although Catalyst is primarily an investment and asset management firm, we have a strong track record of carrying out development on an opportunistic basis,' said Paul Davies, head of UK development at Catalyst Capital.
