Chiswick Park heads West London office lettings bonanza

  A flurry of major lettings is set to more than double take-up this year in the West London office market, EGi News has learnt.   In the largest letting in the Western Corridor for three years, rapidly growing oil exploration group Tullow Oil is in talks to sign for a circa 130,000 sq ft headquarters at Chiswick Park, W4.   Tullow, which occupies around 60,000 sq ft at Buildings 10 and 11 at the 1.8m sq ft west London park, is understood to have entered talks with landlords Stanhope, Schroders and API to take the remaining space in the 160,000 sq ft Building 9. Orpus Technology lets the rest of the building. Quoting rents are around £35 per sq ft.   The talks come as television shopping channel QVC finalises the details of a 120,000 sq ft prelet at the park, as tipped by EGi News.   Jones Lang LaSalle and Savills are letting agents at Chiswick Park; Tullow Oil has been previously represented by DTZ; Drivers Jonas Deloitte advises QVC.   Elsewhere, US group Rackspace is understood to have entered talks to take the 95,000 sq ft HPH1 building at Hermes and Hines’ 450,000 sq ft Hyde Park Hayes business park to the north of Heathrow Airport.   Rackspace is expanding out of around 60,000 sq ft in two buildings at Heathrow’s Stockley Park, No 4 The Square and No 2 Longwalk. Quoting rents at Hyde Park Hayes are £19.50 per sq ft.   Knight Frank and Altus Edwin Hill act for Hines and Hermes; Rackspace is unrepresented.   Also this week GE was due to complete its letting of 100,000 sq ft at The Ark in Hammersmith, W6, as revealed by EG last year (12 December, p17).   Jones Lang LaSalle and Knight Frank are letting agents; CB Richard Ellis advises GE.   The flurry of activity comes as the neighbouring Thames Valley market has also been lifted by progress on a significant letting.   EGi News revealed last week that Quintiles, the world’s largest pharmaceuticals services group, has gone under offer on a 120,000 sq ft headquarters building at PRUPIM’s Green Park, EGi News has learnt.   The US group will take on Pfizer-owned pharmaceuticals group Wyeth’s prelet agreement for a purpose-built HQ at the 180-acre park. It is understood to be paying around £27 per sq ft.   CB Richard Ellis advised Pfizer; Knight Frank and Campbell Gordon advised PRUPIM; Cushman & Wakefield advised Quintiles.   Jonathan Mannings, head of national offices at Colliers International, said: “Total take up so far in 2010 in West London and Thames Valley is just 360,000 sq ft so these deals are excellent news and in tandem with what we are hearing from our US clients, fly in the face of those who had written off these markets.” paul.norman@estatesgazette.com