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LBS planning new office scheme at £12.6m Angel site

Developer LBS Properties is plotting a new 36,000 sq ft office building in Angel after acquiring the freehold on the development site for £12.6m.

Located at 65-70 White Lion Street in Islington, the 0.29 acre site has planning permission for a ‘high-quality’ office building spanning six floors over its lower ground, ground floor and four upper floors.

At the same time, the London-based property firm has also secured a £24m debt facility from alternative asset manager Cheyne Capital to support its delivery of the new scheme, which is due to get underway later this year.

Nick Crawford, Managing Director at LBS Properties, commented: “This represents an exciting opportunity to deliver an outstanding new office building, located right at the centre of the Angel submarket.

“We are delighted to have simultaneously closed the development funding with Cheyne, who share our vision for the scheme – we expect to begin construction this year and complete the building in 2019. We are confident the high-quality design, extensive outside spaces and excellent sustainability credentials will make this an attractive option for a wide variety of tenants.”

Plans for the Tasou Associates-designed project include roof terraces, two passenger lifts and bicycle facilities, while glazed frontages and internal light wells will play a part in the development’s intended ‘Excellent’ BREEAM rating.

The developer has touted Angel as one of the most burgeoning areas in the wider City Fringe area, with a flood of mixed-use projects and retail developments in the last few years adding to the area’s appeal.

Arron Taggart of Cheyne Capital said the finance firm was ‘delighted’ to be supporting a scheme that would help to deliver more ‘high-quality’ office space to the area.

He said: “The quality of location, target market, specification and most importantly, Sponsor, provides us with a great deal of comfort in funding this sort of development.

“We see these sorts of attributes, as well as our ability to provide a risk adjusted, innovative approach, as important differentiators and key to navigating what could be a challenging market environment over the next couple of years.”

Savills and Colliers acted for the seller in the deal, Knight Frank acted for LBS.

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