A joint venture between Sir Robert McAlpine and the John Baker Group is to pour £200m into building three office developments in the South East, in a vote of confidence for the sector after the pandemic.
The investment, by the Commercial Park Group jv, will fund the first phases of three developments with a combined office space of nearly 500,000 sq ft, including a major scheme next to Gatwick Airport.
Planning consents are already in place for first phases of the schemes in Bromley, Haywards Heath and Crawley, next to Gatwick Park. It is hoped that future phases will bring the developments to a combined office space of around 2m sq ft, with a value of £2bn.
The group is optimistic that workers will eventually return to the office after the coronavirus pandemic, but stressed that associated leisure space such as gyms, restaurants, gardens and public spaces would play an important part of this.
Ian Cheung, managing director for Sir Robert McAlpine UK South, said: “We believe that offices are here to stay but future developments need to reflect the changing nature of how people want to live and work.”
John Baker, chair of the John Baker Group, said: “Even before the pandemic, we were seeing workers moving out of big cities to find a better work-life balance and, while for many years they were prepared to endure long, uncomfortable and unhealthy commutes, they have been increasingly unwilling to make this trade-off.
“Now the pandemic has both restricted the ability of people to travel to the office and super-charged workers’ re-evaluation of how they want to live and work.
“It is not possible for us to meet our full potential at work without safe physical spaces that allow us to come together, collaborate and create, but the offices we build have to reflect the needs of workers, both in terms of location and design.”
The schemes are being designed by Urban Infill Architects.
