London Offices

ADDRESS Dragon Court, Macklin Street, London WC2

Transaction Summary / Opportunity

Description: A Freehold office building, developed originally by MEPC to a high specification but subject to planning use restricting parts of the building to industrial/studio use
Leased to a variety of large and small tenants with differing covenant strength and different expirations, renewals and rent review dates.

Opportunity: Improve planning use, improve tenant profile and take advantage of potential rental growth; also there was potential to increase the size of the office space through structural alterations.

Acquisition Method: Private Treaty

Value Added

• Obtained planning permission for change of use from studio elements to full office use.
• An audit of tenants’ requirements was carried out, following which some tenants were able to expand and some were able to contract within the building.
• Surrenders and dilapidations were negotiated with some tenants following which refurbishment of the space was carried out; the space was then successfully leased out to new tenants.
• A team of consultants were appointed to explore increasing the office space by converting the studio space which was split vertically to providing prime office space split horizontally.
• A team of consultants were engaged to refurbish the common parts and generally improve the look and feel of the building.
• Management of the building and management systems were improved to cater fro the demands of the tenants.
• Generally repositioned the building to an institutional standard from what was considered a “tired office building.”