HUB and Bridges Fund Management have acquired the 150 Minories office building in Aldgate, London, for £39m with a view to repurposing the site as residential.
The deal is the twelfth HUB and Bridges have struck and is the latest project as part of the ‘office to residential’ re-purposing strategy developed by HubCap, owned by HUB, alongside Bridges’ property funds platform.
The conversion will involve retaining the frame of the building and reinforcing its foundations, saving 30% embodied carbon compared with an equivalent new build.
Miles Keeley, principal at HubCap, said: “There is a chronic need for more good quality, sustainable housing in the City of London, so that people can continue living and working there. 150 Minories will deliver up to 300 new homes to help meet this need. This part of Aldgate is poised for major revitalisation, and we look forward to playing our part through this transformative development.
“The back-to-back acquisitions of Minories and Beech Street highlight the scale of our ambitions to be a market leader in the re-purposing space, an area of the market that desperately needs to mature due to changes in the way occupiers use buildings, as well as the pressing need to save embodied carbon. HubCap’s strategy is to identify sites suitable for conversion that will help to reanimate pockets of cities in need of an injection of life. Introducing a better mix of uses in city centres, especially more housing, is crucial for resurrecting local economies.”
Simon Ringer, head of property funds at Bridges Fund Management, added: “This acquisition continues our focus on needs-driven real estate sectors where there is growing occupational and investment demand. Over the last decade, we’ve developed thousands of highly sustainable lower-cost homes in areas where there is a clear shortage of quality housing. But as we think about the transition to net zero, it’s also important that we think about how we can reduce the embodied carbon involved in housebuilding.
“Clearly over the last few years there have been significant changes in the way we live and work, which has left a number of buildings in fantastic locations that are ripe for repurposing and refurbishment. So we’re delighted to complete this new investment in the Minories, which, like our Beech Street investment, will help to turn unwanted office space into beautifully-designed, sustainably-built homes.”
JLL advised HubCap on the acquisition, Addleshaw Goddard acted on the legals, DP9 acted as planning consultants and Morris&Co as Architect. HK London and Michael Elliot advised the vendor.
