Hurstwood Holdings, the owner of Aberdeen Energy & Innovation Parks has expanded its growing Scottish portfolio with the acquisition of one of Edinburgh’s most prominent office buildings.
The Manchester headquartered property investment and development company bought 7 Lochside View; a 60,167 sq ft Grade A office building at Edinburgh Park, for an undisclosed sum in an off market deal. The property was previously sold for £13.3 million in 2018 to Redefine.
Constructed in 2002, the three storey building provides 60,167 sq ft of modern office accommodation together with 239 dedicated car parking spaces. The building is currently home to two tenants – financial technology company, Origo Services Limited and global engineering and professional services consultancy, WSP UK Limited – who occupy a total of 20,000 sq ft between them.
Positioned prominently at the main entrance to Edinburgh Park, widely regarded as one of Scotland’s premier business parks, 7 Lochside View occupies one of the most visible sites on the business park, benefitting from exceptional frontage to both the A8 Glasgow Road and Edinburgh City Bypass, while being just minutes from Edinburgh Airport and the city centre. The Park is home to a mix of global occupiers and continues to attract significant inward investment as the Scottish capital cements its position as one of the UK’s fastest growing cities.
Hurstwood Holdings plans to comprehensively reposition the building, initiating a £1.5 million refurbishment programme to create a best in class workplace environment that will appeal to institutional occupiers and deals able to be accommodated immediately. The new space will include the introduction a range of modern occupier amenities including a gym, enhanced cycle facilities, high quality and versatile breakout, conferencing and meeting areas, while offering flexible accommodation in a new business centre with suites available from 1,000 sq ft through to full floorplates to meet the evolving requirements of occupiers.
Stephen Ashworth FRICS, Executive Chairman of Hurstwood Holdings, said: “This is a high profile, landmark acquisition for Hurstwood and an important addition to our growing Scottish portfolio marking another significant investment in Scotland’s commercial property market. Hurstwood Holdings and its sister companies continue its strong year of acquisitions of new commercial investment assets, both industrial and office throughout England, Scotland and Wales and this latest deal takes our acquisition total for all of the companies over £10m so far this year, with further deals planned to exceed £20m for the year, taking the national portfolio to well over £400m.
“On the occupational side our teams are doing lots of deals and although the market is very challenging Hurstwood continues its policy of buying well, strong active ongoing management with its in-house teams in both Manchester and Aberdeen and providing the best value for our occupiers all over the UK.
Stephen concludes: “Our thanks to Together Money, Q&A, JLL, Rod Leslie of Welbeck, Gordon Pirie, Julie Black and our Scottish internal team.”