Development duo claim Cuprum timing right

Friday, May 18, 2007

Commercial Property Scotland

Taylor Woodrow and Kenmore have started work on a £60 million office and residential development, part of which will add 96,000 sq ft to Glasgow’s grade A office stock.

The development, Cuprum, will provide six storeys of office accommodation in floorplates of up to 16,000 sq ft plus 37 car parking spaces.

The commercial element of the development is expected to be completed in the autumn of next year with the residential element, which includes 122 one- and twobedroom apartments, finished shortly thereafter.

DTZ and Jones Lang La Salle have been appointed as joint leasing agents.

Cuprum is the latest stage of a major mixed use programme in the development of an area immediately west of the city centre, which has been branded Cadogan Square. It has already attracted a range of blue chip occupiers including the Hilton Group, the Scottish Executive, Scottish Power, the Ministry of Defence and Morgan Stanley.

Taylor Woodrow property development director, Guy Parker, said: “Both partners involved in the development feel there is huge potential for the Cuprum project, especially as the demand for top quality office and living accommodation shows no signs of abating in central Glasgow.”

"Market knowledge is that the grade A office space currently being built in the city is almost certain to have been taken up by the middle of this current calendar year and therefore the timing could not be better."

Grant Rawlinson, Kenmore investment director, said the funding of Cuprum, highlighted the company’s appetite for new development opportunities in the UK and reflected Kenmore’s ability to adopt a widening range of deal structures.

He added: “We have already witnessed considerable success in the area with the construction and letting of the Sentinel Building and believe this scheme will again capture the imagination of the marketplace."