French at Kings Cross

Any doubts about the long term future of the Kings Cross
development have been eased with the decision of French bank BNP Paribas to buy a site for its first office development in the UK. The property arm of the bank has plans for a massive 79,968 sq.metres (860,800 sq.ft.) scheme. The bank intends to occupy some of the space and will start construction in 2012. Phillippe Zivkovic of BNP Paribas said: ”Work will begin in the autumn after the Olympic Games and be completed by 2015. The development means that all our six business lines will be established in the UK.”

The widening appeal of Greater London to developers and investors is shown by the variety of schemes outside the centre, notably in East London and the Southbank. At Waterloo investors, together with their architects, have lined up to buy three of the four buildings of the Shell Centre with bids of at least £150 million. The intention is to redevelop the buildings (the central tower remains) and lease them back to Shell in a scheme totalling 111,480 sq.metres (1.2 million sq.ft.).

Alastair Hilton of Farebrother said: “The Shell Centre is a long overdue opportunity for development to make a statement in the area. It is likely to be bought by an institutional player, either UK or backed by an overseas fund.” In Docklands, Asda plans to transform its supermarket site at Crossharbour in a £400 million scheme for 1,000 residential units, a supermarket and other shops and leisure. It has a relationship with Ashbourne Beech dating back to 2005 to develop the 12 acre site. Richard Frank of Town & Beach, parent company of Ashbourne Beech, believes a downturn is a good time to seek planning permission. He said: “We do not want to be in a lengthy planning process when the market returns, as experience tells us that once you are ready
to go, you may have already missed the boat.”