Delivery of New Student Loans Company HQ Marks Final Point of Clydeside Regeneration – SLC to relocate in the Autumn The final building phase at Drum Property Group’s £500 million regeneration of Buchanan Wharf on Glasgow’s Clydeside has reached practical completion with the successful delivery of the new office headquarters for the Students Loans Company (SLC).  SLC will now progress the internal fit-out of the six-storey, 75,000 sq ft building with occupation scheduled for autumn this year. SLC staff are now set to relocate to the purpose-built complex from its Bothwell Street office as part of a 20-year deal. The build was forward funded by Legal & General Investment Management Real Assets, providing another regional government office for the company’s portfolio and strengthening its ongoing relationship with Drum Property Group. The completion of the SLC building represents the final piece in the jigsaw for the Buchanan Wharf site, one of Scotland’s largest ever development projects. The site provides a mix of local amenities, cycle lanes and landscaped public spaces on the banks of the River Clyde and is already home to Barclay’s state-of-the-art Northern European campus HQ and the award-winning Solasta Riverside, an 18-storey, 324-apartment residential complex also owned by Legal & General. Welcoming the SLC completion at Buchanan Wharf, Graeme Bone, Group Managing Director of Drum Property Group said: “The practical completion of the Student Loans Company’s new office complex finally realises Drum’s ambitious five-year vision for Buchanan Wharf. We have now successfully transformed a neglected industrial brownfield site into a thriving living and working community, re-energising this waterfront area and once again making the River Clyde an integral part of Glasgow city centre. Buchanan Wharf is one of Scotland’s largest and most important commercial and residential projects, delivered whilst facing the extreme economic and logistical challenges created by the pandemic. The project is now recognised as a development of national significance and sets the direction of future regeneration of Glasgow’s city centre.” The new Student Loans Company headquarters supports the organisation’s vision and mission to continue to enable student opportunity and deliver an outstanding customer experience to its eight million customers. SLC colleagues played a lead role in the design of the new office space to optimise opportunities for collaboration and blended working to deliver a new flexible office experience. David Wallace, Deputy Chief Executive at the Student Loans Company added: “This is not only an important milestone for us but for the wider development which has reached its practical competition. Buchanan Wharf has transformed the landscape of this part of the city and it’s been great to watch our building progress over the last year. To reach the point where we can start to fit out our space, creating a collaborative and modern working experience for our colleagues, is really exciting. We are starting to bring our vision to life and we are looking forward to becoming part of the Buchanan Wharf community later this year.” The investment by Legal & General Investment Management Real Assets demonstrates the company’s continued commitment to UK regions, levelling up and the growing strength of regional hubs across the country. Neil Dovey, Head of Annuity Transaction for LGIM Real Assets, said: “This investment demonstrates our continued commitment to regions across the UK and levelling up, particularly as part of a mixed-use regeneration opportunity, and adds another high-quality government building to our portfolio.” For more information on Buchanan Wharf, visit www.buchananwharf.com

The transformation of a landmark building in the heart of London’s Covent Garden reached a significant milestone recently as The Acre ‘topped out’. This hugely complex project will see a 1980s office building transformed into the district’s largest, healthiest and greenest workplace.    The dramatic transformation of the building involves a series of interventions that retain over 80% of the existing structure while transforming its identity and performance. That work includes replacing the current building’s corner block with a taller structure, ‘infilling’ two existing forecourts where there was previously unused spaced with two 10-storey blocks and adding two extra storeys onto another block.   The primary purpose of the building will continue to be to provide workspace, alongside new retail units at street level. The retention of structure will reduce the embodied carbon emissions by half compared with new-build proposals and save 4,250 tonnes of CO2. When construction is complete The Acre will boast 240,000 square feet of workspace and 20,000 square feet of amenity and retail space. It will be net-zero in operation with the fully-electric building being supplied from renewable energy sources. Rainwater will be collected on the rooftop and re-used, reducing water consumption by half compared to a typical building of this type.   Designed with modern occupiers in mind, The Acre will also have fully openable windows to give tenants greater control of the environment, increasing natural light and ventilation. Over 350 cycling spaces will be available to take advantage of The Acre’s position on Quietway 1, the main cycle route north to south through central London. Eight large terraces will offer green spaces with spectacular views across the skyline of central London.   Lendlease Construction is delivering The Acre project, which is being advanced by development manager Platform on behalf of Northwood Investors with Gensler as the architects.  The project aligns with Lendlease setting itself stretching carbon targets, including a commitment to becoming a 1.5°C aligned company and achieving Absolute Zero Carbon, with no excuses and no offsets, by 2040.  Quote attributable to Simon Gorski, Managing Director for Lendlease Construction:  “The Acre promises to be a cutting-edge workplace, designed to the highest standards of sustainability and offering unparalleled levels of wellbeing for its future tenants. I’m proud that we’ve been able to work together collaboratively with our partners Platform, Northwood Investors and Gensler to retain so much of the existing structure and are helping rethink the future of workplace in central London.”    Quote attributable to Richard Strachan, Senior Vice President of Asset Management at Northwood Investors:  “We’re proud to see The Acre reach this milestone. As Covent Garden’s largest workspace it will not only provide tenants with the highest quality office space in the heart of the city’s cultural quarter, but the retention of the existing structure contributes significantly to London’s Net Zero targets by reducing embodied carbon to that of half a new build development. The team is delivering a new healthy and green landmark for Covent Garden.”  Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals 

Construction of the Paper Yard, comprising 30,000 sq ft of modular lab space designed by Hawkins Brown, is due to complete in May, and is seeing positive early interest from potential life science occupiers. British Land and AustralianSuper have appointed Stanton Williams to draw up plans for a 300,000 sq ft building with potential to support innovation and life sciences businesses, as part of the second phase of its Canada Water Masterplan in Central London. Stanton Williams was selected on account of its unparalleled track record in delivering world class, innovative life sciences projects, including winning the Stirling Prize for Sainsbury Laboratory in Cambridge.  Stanton Williams’ newest venture at Canada Water will be equally ambitious and will consider the potential to accommodate a range of complex scientific requirements, within an uplifting and highly sustainable environment that encourages interaction, maximises daylight and promotes wellbeing. The first phase of the Masterplan is already underway.  As part of this, British Land and AustralianSuper are delivering the Paper Yard, circa 30,000 sq ft of modular lab space located next to TEDI-London, a new engineering higher education enterprise co-founded by three global universities: King’s College London, Arizona State University and UNSW Sydney.  The new modular lab space, which is seeing positive early interest from occupiers across the life sciences sector, takes just under nine months to build and will be ready for occupation in May. Emma Cariaga, Joint Head of Canada Water at British Land, said: “We have an incredibly rare opportunity at Canada Water to reimagine an entire district for London.  Our vision is to create a diverse and exciting neighbourhood rooted in innovation – somewhere that businesses can be inspired to grow and where people will put down roots. “Delivering up to 2.5m sq ft of highly sustainable business and innovation workspace across the masterplan, Canada Water is in prime position to cater to the growing number of life science and innovation businesses requiring new, high-specification lab space, supporting the aims of the Government’s newly published Science and Technology Framework which pinpoints these burgeoning sectors as a crucial driver of economic growth. Canada Water presents a compelling proposition for prospective occupiers, on account of its vibrant, well-connected central London location which benefits from being in close proximity to three leading teaching and research hospitals including Guy’s Hospital in London Bridge; St Thomas’ Hospital in Waterloo and King’s College Hospital in Denmark Hill.” Richard Wardle, Director at Stanton Williams, said: “We are delighted to be part of British Land’s ambitious regeneration of Canada Water. This is a wonderful opportunity to contribute to the creation of a vibrant and collaborative environment that will foster innovation and nurture a new sense of community in the heart of the post-industrial Southwark Docks.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals