L&G secures planning for Birmingham office scheme

Legal & General Property (LGP) has secured planning permission from Birmingham City Council for the refurbishment of Temple Court.

Located in Birmingham’s central business district, the building will undergo a refurbishment of its existing six floors together with the construction of a new seventh floor.

Constructed in the 1920s originally as the Lewis’s department store, the new scheme at Priory Court and Temple Court on Old Square in will provide a total of 110,000 sq ft (10,200 m2) of office accommodation.

The project has been designed by EPR Architects. Work is scheduled to commence on site in September 2015, with completion targeted for autumn 2016.

The property was acquired LGP's UK Property Income Fund II in April 2014. Reaching final close in April this year, the income-focused closed-ended property fund also owns two shopping centres - the Grafton Centre in Cambridge and The Overgate Centre in Dundee – as well as FC200, a Grade A office building in West London.

Earlier this month LGP also bought 43 Temple Row in Birmingham, on behalf of its Managed Property Fund, from the Crown Estate, as well as 1 Colmore Square, a 202,807 sq ft office building in Birmingham City centre, for £87.3 mln, on behalf of the UK Property Fund.