Euston Regeneration Partnership was one of five master development partners shortlisted last week to bring forward a 54-acre commercial and residential district at Euston, NW1.
The group, comprised of Argent Related and Sydney & London – which owns the four properties that make up the Euston estate – has an undeniably strong pedigree.
Argent Related joint chief executive David Partridge insists that the Sydney & London relationship will give them no preferential treatment in procurement for the £4bn project, as the site will be compulsorily purchased.
However, the consortium’s track record certainly fits the brief as much as any of its rival shortlisted parties’ – Canary Wharf, Westfield, Landsec and LendLease.
Its development CV includes Related’s delivery of Hudson Yards in New York – the US’s biggest real estate project – and the hugely successful 67-acre King’s Cross Central, N1.
Partridge caught up with EG just days after the shortlist announcement to talk about the next phase of activity for the developer and its relationship with US developer Related.
He said: “Hudson Yards has been an absolute game-changer in terms of shifting the whole geography of New York. [Related] have been able to invest heavily in building over railway lines, which is handy for Euston and are bringing major global capital to bear on these kinds of projects.
“That’s why we wanted to be with them as a partner, with our experience and track record here at King’s Cross, with our relationships with Camden and the rail authorities – we’re right next to HS1 and this is on top of HS2.
“The [Sydney & London] land holding gives us no advantage or disadvantage, other than a partner who’s been invested in the area for a long time and has a huge influence on what’s going on around there.”
And at it’s flagship King’s Cross project, regeneration of this once downtrodden part of London marches on. Around £1m is being invested in the build each year; tenants for the 120,000 sq ft Coal Drops Yard retail scheme are soon to be announced; and Google’s 1m sq ft headquarters will start later this year.
Around 6,000-7,000 Google staff have moved, or are preparing to move, into the HQ. DeepMind, Google’s artificial intelligence company, will occupy office space just next to Coal Drops Yard, where cranes and trucks are putting into place new roofing designed by Thomas Heatherwick.
Partridge said: “We’ve just announced that Nike and Jigsaw are taking stores here, but Coal Drops Yard is the last major piece of the jigsaw, because we’ve cracked the commercial and residential, as well as the food, drink and education uses. It’s the last of the big heritage Victorian buildings.”
Those Victorian buildings include the restored, listed gas holders, which now contain residential buildings, and extra public realm.
He added that the £350m-a-year build programme will start to taper off, as the company shifts its focus towards regeneration schemes in Brent Cross and Tottenham.
The staggered nature of these projects would allow Argent to gradually shift its project teams, so that it retains talent in the right areas of the business at any one time.
“We need to be looking really far ahead. The schemes at Brent Cross and Tottenham are not going to start on site for 12-18 months. The early thinking there is similar to what we were doing in the early noughties with King’s Cross.”
Besides Euston, the company is currently more engaged with its own development programme, rather than actively looking at new site opportunities.
Beyond London, it made a decision to cease its involvement in the Manchester market last year, but is still development manager for Paradise Circus in Birmingham.
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