EG AWARD WINNERS 2016
ESTATES GAZETTE OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO PROPERTY AWARD
SPONSORED BY TOGETHER
NIGEL HUGILL
Chief executive, Urban & Civic
Click here to read why his contribution is worthy of this year’s top accolade
EG LONDON AWARD
SPONSORED BY BNP PARIBAS REAL ESTATE
DERWENT LONDON
Innovative, loyal, legendary and not afraid to take a risk when it comes to real estate. Derwent London really is the one that others seek to follow
The EG London Award celebrates those who have made the greatest impact on the capital. And when you talk about innovative developers who deliver time and time again, one name stands out. Derwent London has garnered a reputation for being the one to follow.
Its brand is strong, its champions loyal, and its eye for potential almost legendary. Its purchase of the Tea Building in Shoreditch in 2001 set it off on a path to create “cool offices” for a new generation of TMT entrepreneurs who wanted a more relaxed vibe to their workplace.
Areas once seen as real estate risk have been transformed by Derwent. Occupying a Derwent office sends a signal for an occupier, to its competitors and to its customers. It trumpets ambition, a willingness to blaze trails, being of the new economy, not of the old. Big names who have been wowed include Apple, McKinsey, Random House, Hearst and the Boston Consulting Group.
Whether it is the White Collar Factory, EC1, the White Chapel Building, E1, or the Copyright Building, W1, people talk about its developments in reverential terms. And with the Brunel Building, W2, where 240,000 sq ft of offices will be built, and the 380,000 sq ft 80 Charlotte Street, W1, at an early stage, there is plenty in the pipeline that will add to the buzz.
Despite Brexit, Derwent’s finance director Damian Wisniewski told Estates Gazette recently that deals were still coming thick and fast. And it saw a record half-year of lettings for the first half of 2016, generating £16.7m pa and building up prelets in four major developments.
Chief executive John Burns has said the secret to success is to surround yourself with talented people. He practises what he preaches.
Derwent has just hired one of those Estates Gazette identified as a rising star earlier this year – tech specialist Kane Lewis of Cushman & Wakefield and Pi Labs – a man seen as the go-to person for fresh occupiers.
Director Simon Silver, no stranger to innovative working having visited ad agencies in caravans, even mooted the idea of a slide between floors in an EG interview earlier this year, as part of the ‘war for talent’ in hiring and retaining staff, although he admitted it may be “perhaps excessive”.
He said it was “the job of ambitious developers, smart architects and all those involved in the workplace to position themselves at the cutting edge of innovation and produce exciting and intelligent buildings for the next generation”.
Derwent’s unstinting efforts to live up to that goal is why it has won this year’s EG London Award.
NATIONAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY SAVILLS
DERWENT LONDON
Shortlisted
• Berkeley Group
• The Crown Estate
• Kier Property
• NHS Property Services
• SEGRO
• Unite Students
This year’s National Company of the Year owns and manages 6.2m sq ft across 15 sites – or villages, to use the Derwent parlance – in London’s West End and City. It has developed some of the most innovative buildings in the capital, including the Angel Building, EC1, Horseferry House, SW1, the Tea Building and the White Collar Factory, EC1.
The company achieved a record year for lettings in 2015 – a total of 523,800 sq ft at £27.1m pa – three times more than 2014. During the year the group was also awarded EPRA Gold for corporate and sustainability reporting as well as awards from RIBA, BCO, AJ Retrofit, Civic Trust and BREEAM.
At the already iconic White Collar Factory on the City fringe, it achieved a record rent for the building of around £65 per sq ft. At the time of entering the awards, the building was 48% prelet. The Copyright Building offices, W1, were fully prelet to Capita in February 2016.
Derwent has firmly established itself as a market-leading firm, with an extensive development pipeline and an estimated capital expenditure for the next four years of £569m. A total of 688,000 sq ft of innovatively designed office space is due to be delivered in the next two years, and 895,000 sq ft by 2020, including 80 Charlotte Street, W1, and the Brunel Building, W2. Having achieved an underlying valuation uplift of 16.5% and total property return of 19.9% in the previous year, expectations are undoubtedly high for Derwent’s future.
@derwentlondon says: Excellent letting progress, and an extensive and exciting development pipeline, supported by a sound financial base
NATIONAL ADVISER OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY SKY COMMUNAL TV
CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD
Shortlisted
• Carter Jonas
• CBRE
• Colliers International
• JLL
• Knight Frank
• Savills
From market-leading deals to innovative initiatives, the 2016 National Adviser of the Year has shown it is transforming the way the world works, shops and lives.
Take retail, for example. Cushman & Wakefield’s leading retail team has worked on Grand Central Birmingham since its inception. As sole leasing agents, it secured a 94% prelet on the 550,000 sq ft shopping centre, which opened in September 2015. Shortly after opening its doors, Cushman & Wakefield then advised on the sale of its long leasehold interest for £355m.
A truly national firm, C&W’s 130-strong investment team advised on over £8.6bn of deals across the UK in 2015, coming out as number one for retail outlet investment in Newcastle and Bristol, and completing the largest deal in Scotland. Its central London team topped off the year by transacting almost £2bn in the final quarter of 2015.
The firm has also proved itself to be a significant force in offices, completing 13m sq ft of office transactions in 2015. From magic circle law firm Freshfields to tech giants Facebook and Microsoft, the team has bagged some of the most prestigious clients to advise on their vital
workspace.
And its valuation team achieved more than £549bn of valuations last year. The team asserted itself as the dominant force in the retail, outlet mall and self storage sectors and valued almost 40% of the quarterly IPD Shopping Centre Index.
In this fiercely competitive category, our judges said it was Cushman & Wakefield that stood out. Not only has it successfully integrated the DTZ business, it has proved the new firm is greater than the sum of its parts.
@CushWakeUK says: From market-leading deals to innovative initiatives, we are helping our clients to transform the way the world works, shops and lives.
DEAL OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY CARTER JONAS
GREAT PORTLAND ESTATES FOR FACEBOOK HQ AT RATHBONE SQUARE
Shortlisted
• AEG Europe and Crosstree Real Estate Partners for O2 Investment
• Legal and General Real Assets for the regeneration of Central Square, Cardiff
• Arena Central Developments for the sale of 210,000 sq ft to HSBC at Arena Central, Birmingham
• Patron Capital for Grainger Retirement Solutions
• Skanska for pre-sale of 66 Queen Square, Bristol
• Roebuck Asset Management & Stobart Group for Ford Distribution Hub, Speke
The Estates Gazette Awards judges clicked the ‘like’ button for Great Portland Estate’s prelet to social media giant Facebook at its Rathbone Square development, W1.
The 242,800 sq ft deal was the biggest letting in the West End for 25 years when it signed in September 2015 and was not just significant for its size.
On paper it might look like an easy deal – a big chunk of new offices in the space-starved West End – but this is a regeneration of the former Royal Mail sorting office, so not an established office location.
One of the judges commented: “In that part of the West End, go 100 yards the wrong way and you could be in the wrong place, and it is in slightly the wrong place so getting that deal in was fantastic.
“It is off-pitch for Facebook but those occupiers are chasing product rather than preference of area.”
The work GPE did with Facebook on the interior and exterior of the building, which included alterations to the basic build specifications, obviously paid off.
The deal also marks a significant milestone in the mixed-use regeneration of the site and the unloved eastern end of Oxford Street. By attracting Facebook on a 15-year lease with an initial rent of £17.8m per annum it sets a tone for other developments in the area.
“It will change the face of that area,” said one judge.
REAL ESTATE LEGAL TEAM OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY CLS
HOGAN LOVELLS
Shortlisted
• Berwin Leighton Paisner
• Cripps
• Herbert Smith Freehills
• Shoosmiths
This new award recognises the vital contribution made to the industry by all-too-often unsung heroes – the lawyers. And the inaugural winners are worthy champions.
With a growing team, Hogan Lovells has advised on a number of headline-grabbing deals over the past year – including the eye-catching sale and sublet of the BBC’s Media Village in West London.
The most complex single site property deal ever undertaken by the firm secured the client an annual operational cost saving of £33m – a huge slice of the Beeb’s total £75m annual savings in property. In addition, Hogan Lovells advised a consortium including Argent on a £4bn redevelopment project at Brent Cross South, and Mapletree on one of the largest student housing deals of 2015.
The firm also successfully steered Braeburn Estates through a judicial review challenge to its redevelopment of the Shell Centre, on London’s South Bank, SE1.
In other litigation, Hogan Lovells is defending Qatari Diar in a multi-million pound claim for damages made by a former JV partner following the termination of development management agreements for the £330m redevelopment of the US Embassy Building. The case has already attracted considerable publicity ahead of a trial scheduled for 2017.
Hogan Lovells’ asset management work was praised by the judges, who credited it as a firm that “does not just cherry pick the landmark deals”. They also welcomed the way it has regionalised, keeping costs down without compromising on quality of service.
The judges said: “Real estate being important to them is important to the industry.”
@HLRealEstate says: Complex developments. Complex investments. Complex leasing. Complex planning. Complex disputes. Which law firm should win? Simple.
OFFICES COMPANY OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY MALCOLM HOLLIS
WORKSPACE GROUP
Shortlisted
• The Crown Estate
• Derwent London
• Great Portland Estates
• Land Securities
• The Office Group
The winner of Offices Company of the Year was praised by the judges for adopting a “pioneering strategy of location, location, technology” during a year in which it increased its rent roll by 13%.
Judges noted Workspace’s strong mixed-use developments and strong recycling of cash through industrial sales – five assets were sold for £64m in the year – as well as strong testimonials backing their application.
It also spent £132m on seven buildings in core locations. These included refurb opportunity Edinburgh House, SE11, Peer House, WC1, 25/28 Easton Street, WC1, which is well-placed for Crossrail, and Angel House, EC1, a former tobacco warehouse.
Workspace also completed projects at the Cargo Works, Waterloo, the Light Bulb in Wandsworth, Vox Studios in Vauxhall, the Print Rooms, Southwark, and Grand Union Studios in Ladbroke Grove.
Club Workspace, its in-demand co-working offering, expanded to 16 clubs. And occupancy reached a 92.1% average.
It also gave something back with its Inspiresme week, again partnering with the BITC and the GLA, this year giving 71 London students and wannabe entrepreneurs placements with Workspace customers and staff.
The results were impressive with three full-time job offers and three extended work placements for some of the brightest sparks.
The judges said Workspace had provided excellent supporting material in its entry, with very strong testimonials and analyst comments and very good figures – noting that NAV was up 96%, and take-up by 38.1%.
@WorkspaceGroup says: Another successful year for Workspace maintaining strong financial performance, enhancing value through active asset management activity and continuing to deliver superior returns to shareholders
OFFICES ADVISER OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY ONE INVESTMENTS
CBRE
Shortlisted
• BNP Paribas Real Estate
• Colliers International
• Cushman & Wakefield
• Knight Frank
• Savills
For the second year running CBRE has taken home the offices adviser of the year award.
Described last year as “a goliath in the market”, this time judges said CBRE was “creative and went the extra mile”, as well as being “a very safe pair of hands”.
Difficult to fault, it held on to the coveted number one spot for office investment, with a 42% market share. Its office investment revenues grew by 66%.
CBRE advised on the top two deals of the year and six of the top 10.
Meanwhile, its China team advised on 80% of Chinese commercial property investment transactions in London, and in a period when 63% of investment in London came from overseas, it picked up 42% of those transactions.
Judges said they liked the way CBRE was focused on going out to find investment to bring back to London.
In the West End, CBRE was the top leasing agent for the fourth year in a row, with 120 deals and four of the top 10. It was also the number one leasing agent in the City/Docklands, with three of the four biggest deals. And it was the number one agent in Midtown, with 18 instructions, including Southbank Place, the 300,000 sq ft speculative office block being developed next to the Shell Centre, SE1.
It was not all a capital story either. In the regions it advised on the first institutional forward funding of a speculative office development since the recession – Two St Peter’s Square in Manchester.
In the South East, Manchester and Birmingham it increased its market share. A stellar national performance, said the judges.
@CBRE_UK says: Another record year for CBRE Offices. Growing team and market share + best clients and deals, delivers no 1 position
RETAIL AND LEISURE COMPANY OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY HARTNELL TAYLOR COOK LLP
BRITISH LAND
Shortlisted
• Capital & Regional
• The Crown Estate
• Ellandi
It has been a busy year for British Land. The REIT was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, one of the UK’s highest accolades for business success. It was also one of seven companies to win the sustainable development award, and the only real estate business to do so.
This year has also seen it deliver a successful new retail strategy called ‘Places People Prefer’, which has boosted leasing activity and brought its portfolio occupancy to an impressive 98.5%.
It has remained active on the investment front too. Its most significant deal of the year was a £733m property exchange with Tesco completed in March 2015, replacing 21 standalone food stores with attractive multilet assets in areas of population growth.
Nowhere highlighted BL’s stellar year better than Meadowhall. The shopping centre celebrated its 25th birthday by securing 11 new lettings and undergoing a £50m internal refurbishment. It has cemented itself as Yorkshire’s premier shopping destination and is one of only six super-regional centres in the UK.
A PwC report published in January found that Meadowhall had contributed more than £7.9bn to the UK economy over the past 25 years. It found that 1p in every £1 in the Sheffield City region’s economy can be linked back to Meadowhall and that one job in every 100 in the Sheffield City region was directly supported through Meadowhall’s activities.
But it was not just Meadowhall which won over our judges: from occupancy to footfall and lettings, our judges were hugely impressed.
@BritishLandPLC says: Queen’s Award for Enterprise winner; 98.5% occupancy; lettings 8.7% ahead of ERV, footfall +1.9%, ERV growth +2.5% (strongest for 7 years)
RETAIL AND LEISURE ADVISER OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY MAPLES TEESDALE
CBRE
Shortlisted
• The Coffer Group
• Cushman & Wakefield
• JLL
• Savills
• twentyretail
The past year has been a standout one for CBRE’s retail team.
Over the last 12 months the team, led by Phil Cann, has posted record turnover growth of 18% to £38.7m. It has also advised on the largest transaction on Oxford Street, W1. A complex off-market transaction, CBRE facilitated Zara owner Amancio Ortega’s £450m deal with Land Securities and Frogmore to buy the Oriana development by the new Crossrail station near Tottenham Court Road.
CBRE has also led the way with shopping centre investments this year, and has advised on 25 deals involving stock worth more than £2.3bn. This included one of the most talked about shopping centre investment deals of the year.
Intu took full ownership of the Merry Hill shopping centre in Dudley, West Midlands, for more than £400m, buying Queensland Investment Corporation’s 50% stake in June.
CBRE acted for the vendor in that transaction. On the buying side, it advised Hammerson on the purchase of the new Grand Central shopping centre, Birmingham, for £335m.
The CBRE team and its depth of expertise continues to grow. This year it expanded into the competitive central London restaurant sector with a larger team led by Seb Howard, as well as into retail consultancy.
The team has also been working with big brands to help find them space across the capital and the UK, including Adidas, Victoria’s Secret, Burger & Lobster, Leon, Dyson and Massimo Dutti. It’s a deserving winner.
@CBRE_UK says: Standout year for CBRE Retail ensuring excellent client service across every retail sector in the UK; we are proud to work in retail
RESIDENTIAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY CBRE
PLACES FOR PEOPLE
Shortlisted
• Berkeley Group
• Crest Nicholson
• The PJ Livesey Group
• Student Cribs
When George Osborne made sweeping changes to the finances of housing associations in 2015, few would have expected that within two years one would be named Residential Company of the Year at the EG Awards.
But among a raft of incredibly successful private developers, Places for People has shown how successful a registered provider can be, and forged a path for others to follow.
“Looking at the challenge most providers have had, they have to respond in the way Places for People have… Some really impressive deals,” was what one judge had to say.
In 2001, it was the first housing association to build homes for private sale, essentially to finance its social building, a model most of the big RSLs now use.
In those 15 years it has now become one of the largest property management and development companies in the UK, managing or owning more than 152,000 homes, and signing deals from Inverness to Plymouth.
It has also been at the forefront of showing how housing associations can work with the public and private sectors to improve housing delivery.
Its pipeline of 15,000 homes is larger than many major housebuilders. Major current deals include a JV with Balfour Beatty, which will deliver 1,500 homes in the former Olympic Park in Stratford, and a £300m tie-up with Aberdeen City Council, which will deliver a further 3,000 homes.
Its pioneering work has helped transform the social housing sector and provide a blueprint for how the UK’s 1,500 housing associations can become a key player in solving the housing crisis.
@placesforpeople says: @placesforpeople is a pioneer evolving from an RSL to 1 of UK’s largest property managers and developers with a pipeline of 15,000 new homes
RESIDENTIAL ADVISER OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY REGIS GROUP
SAVILLS
Shortlisted
• CBRE
• Cluttons
• JLL
• Knight Frank
As some of the shine came off the prime London residential market last year, the best agents needed to provide a team, a service and an offering that stood them out from the crowd.
They also needed to innovate and find new markets, and this agency impressed the judges by doing just that.
Often known as the prime of prime, Savills showed that it can still do what it is has always done best, while also branching out into new markets and residential subsectors.
Its ‘normal’ deals ranged from the largest residential sale in London of the year – worth more than £100m – to the sale of an entire village in the Cotswolds, and even the former home of Concorde, Filton Airbase. Alongside this the agent has become a force in the expanding private rental sector, and has now advised on more than 8,600 units with a capital value of £1.8bn, including the largest forward-funding deal yet seen in the UK, the £200m Millharbour in east London.
It has even launched a Savills Sport arm, offering confidential property advice to elite professional sportsmen and women.
That’s not all, said the judges, its support services remain at the top of their games.
Savills.co.uk continues to be the most visited agency website in the UK, with more than 1m monthly visits, and its availability in 22 language is testament to the reach of the agency.
Meanwhile, few other research teams could be called upon to compile a 21st century Domesday Book of public land for the London Land Commission.
A standout performance in an increasingly difficult marketplace.
@Savills says: An innovative market leader, Savills is at the forefront of the residential market providing bespoke, fully integrated solutions for clients
INDUSTRIAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY GOWLING WLG
SEGRO
Shortlisted
• Goodman Logistics UK
• Logicor
SEGRO executed a bold turnaround plan in the awards year, delivering results that made the judges and the industry sit up and take notice.
The company was focused on achieving growth in 2015 by repositioning its portfolio. As a result, it spent £164m on developing new assets, £221m on adding to its land bank and achieving £334m of acquisitions in the Northern Italy, Netherlands and UK.
As part of the strategic realignment of its portfolio, it also made £661m of disposals of non-core assets, including its Bath Road office estate in Slough.
The company delivered a 21% increase in EPRA net asset value in February, prompting EG columnist and respected market analyst Alan Carter, of Stifel, to write: “Not a single fund manager has disagreed with my belief that SEGRO is the best-placed major for 2016.”
The awards judges also recognised SEGRO as “outperforming its peers”.
As well as delivering on its numbers, the business was also undertaking one of the one of the most innovative industrial joint ventures ever at East Plus, with the GLA, to redevelop 86 acres of east London.
Meanwhile, the firm’s Origin project at London’s Park Royal, NW10, serves not only the capital’s big businesses but also its new army of internet shoppers. In 2015, it added Wasabi, leasing 65,000 sq ft, to the 161,000 sq ft leased by John Lewis and top-end greengrocer Mash Purveyors.
Finally, the judges recognised a “culture to match new aspirations” in more less traditional projects including working with the NHS to create the “CumberLab”, which saw
it transform an 8,000 sq ft unit in Slough into a mock A&E unit.
It also helped the creators of Thunderbirds to crowdsource three episodes of the TV series by giving them a home on the Slough Trading Estate.
@SEGROplc says: We beat most REITs by leading an industrial revolution, 100% re-positioned our portfolio and innovated for London #bestinclass
INDUSTRIAL ADVISER OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY KIER
GERALD EVE
Shortlisted
• CBRE
• Colliers International
• JLL
• Knight Frank
• Savills
Gerald Eve’s partner-led industrial team had a stellar year, punching above its weight not only in transacting lettings and land deals but advising on £450m of
trophy investment deals and 2.5m sq ft of speculative developments in the sector too.
The company advised on more than 1.9m sq ft of lettings last year including more than 600,000 sq ft at Prologis’ Midpoint Park in Birmingham. It handled more than 900 acres of land deals and advised on investment deals worth more than £450m, including CBRE Global Investors’ £200m acquisition of the Phoenix Portfolio.
Strategic lease advice on a total of 5.1m sq ft of space helped secure client Prologis a 56% rental uplift on 238,000 sq ft at Midpoint Park and M&G a 38% uplift on 105,000 sq ft at Express Point Birmingham. Meanwhile, rating advice has helped clients save a substantial amount of cash – more than £184m over the life of the 2010 Rating List.
A new strategic alliance sees Gerald Eve extending its reach into North America thanks to a tie-up with Lee & Associates, while its award-winning prime logistics research is widely considered to be the Bible of industrial property occupiers.
And its focus on employees impressed our judges too.Gerald Eve was the only property consultancy to make the 2016 Sunday Times’ 100 Best Companies to Work For ranking. The firm is taking the lead on improving diversity and inclusivity through both internal and external initiatives.
@geraldevellp says: Multi-disciplinary. Innovative. Partner-led. Insightful. Strategic. Value-adding. Outperforming its peers. The firm of choice. #GeraldEve
SPECIALIST ADVISER OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY TARGETFOLLOW
CREATIVE PLACES
Shortlisted
• Carterwood
• The Coffer Group
• GKRE
• TSP
• Tuffin Ferraby Taylor
Last year was a transformational one for Creative Places. As one of the first agents to specialise in the scientific and biomedical research sector, its experience helped clients Liberty Property Trust UK and Countryside to conclude a deal to move pharmaceutical giant Astra Zeneca’s global HQ to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
Last year also saw the company act as lead adviser on two further agreements that will see an additional 376,700 sq ft developed – taking total development since planning permission was granted in 2009 to more than 1.6m sq ft.
The Cambridge-based firm specialises in advising the promoters of places, clusters of research and R&D-intensive businesses work to develop new technologies. The firm has helped shape property development for the sector on its home turf and across the UK for the last eight years.
Creative Places is Cambridge University’s commercial R&D adviser for its West and North West Cambridge sites, where new masterplans are set to deliver around 2.2m sq ft of floorspace. These plans will enable the university to progress major investment in its property portfolio.
Growth in its agency business has seen turnover and profitability grow sharply in the last two years, with a 279% rise in the former.
Beyond Cambridge, the firm is carrying out a major study for MedCity, the organisation set up by the Mayor of London and leading academic health institutions in the capital. This will assess the demand for floorspace focussed on healthcare R&D businesses in London.
@creativeplaces says: Lead advisor on @AstraZeneca global HQ Cambridge deal; #CreativePlaces leading the development of real estate for UK #innovation businesses
CREATIVE SPACES AWARD
SPONSORED BY ORIGAMEO
THE COLLECTIVE FOR THE COLLECTIVE OLD OAK
Shortlisted
• Exemplar for Fitzroy Place
• Glenn Howells Architects for Gloucester Services
• Halliday Fraser Munro for Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health
• KKS Strategy and Make Architects for The Hiscox Building
• U+I for Platform
• U+I for The CRL
A disco laundrette? Why not. A co-working den by day that transforms into a deep house club by night (and we mean all night)? Why not. An inflatable rooftop igloo? Why not.
When it comes to creative spaces, the Collective pushes the boundaries with the sort of bold confidence that can elevate even the wackiest of concepts to workable realities.
Whether it is live, work or play, spaces in 27-year-old Reza Merchant’s portfolio have attracted the likes of Proptech accelerator programme Pi Labs and Pop Brixton.
A pioneer behind the shared living concept here in the UK, Merchant has spent the last four years building up a portfolio of hundreds of beds across London with thousands more in the pipeline and plans to replicate the model overseas, starting in New York.
The Collective is a prime example of the power of new ideas and fresh thinking in real estate. Our judges were smitten.
@collective_llp says: We’re unlocking the world’s greatest cities for the creative and ambitious
LENDER OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY TFT
ING WHOLESALE BANKING
Shortlisted
• Aviva Investors Real Estate Finance
• AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets
• Dragonfly Property Finance
• LendInvest
• NatWest
With a small but skilled real estate finance team, ING has become the lead financier of UK prime real estate in the past year.
It kicked off the 2015 financial year with a syndication of its £365m loan to Safra Group for the Gherkin, EC3, – a loan it had originally completed just three weeks after it was appointed lead arranger. That momentum set the stage for a string of deals worth over £100m. By the end of the year, ING’s REF UK team had completed 17 deals totalling £2.3bn.
ING takes pride in its team’s speed and efficiency, and for good reason. The deals it closed dwarfed those of much bigger lenders. In the past year, it was the sole underwriter for the £170m financing of Christ Church Court, EC1, for Shimao Group, the £143 financing of Notting Hill Gate, W11, for Frogmore and the €305m (£260m) pan-European financing of the Project Tap portfolio for TH Real Estate.
Among its loans, the Dutch bank went on to syndicate enough debt to become the third biggest bookrunner in the UK last year – despite having a REF UK team of only 11, led by managing director Peter McAnally.
In February, ING gave the financing market a much-needed confidence boost when it provided a £400m joint refinance of 110 Bishopsgate, EC2, proving that despite cooling and caution in the market, appetite for major deals still existed. More than most, ING was ready to grab those deals.
COLLABORATOR OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY JLL, MISHCON DE REYA, NEW LONDON ARCHITECTURE AND U+I
GOVERNMENT PROPERTY UNIT FOR GPU AND CABINET OFFICE
Shortlisted
• Canary Wharf Group, Level39
• City of London Corporation, Standardised Wayleave Agreement for Digital Infrastructure
• Cross River Partnership, Greening the BIDs
• Southwark Council and Lendlease, Elephant & Castle regeneration partners
• New West End Company, New West End Company’s Property Owner Business Improvement District
The Government Property Unit is a deserving winner of only the second Estates Gazette Collaborators Award.
Staffed by real estate professionals, it works with government departments, agencies, local government and the private property sector to ensure that the public estate is run as efficiently as possible.
Since its establishment, the GPU has raised more than £1.8bn in capital receipts from the sale of assets and reduced the size of the government estate by almost a quarter, exiting some 2.4m sq ft.
The London estate has been reduced from 181 separate properties in 2010 to around 50.
The unit has now extended its work beyond the capital, creating a number of hubs across the country as the GPU works towards its goal of reducing the government estate from 800 buildings to fewer than 200 by 2023.
Alongside the hubs, the GPU has launched the One Public Estate initiative as part of its support programme for local authorities seeking to deliver ambitious projects.
The OPE began as a pilot programme with 12 local authorities in 2013, but now has more than 130 local authorities involved. Its work is expected to lead to at least £138m in capital receipts, £56m in running cost savings, 36,000 new jobs and 16,500 new homes by 2020.
Our judges said the GPU stood out in a competitive field.
@UKGovProperty says: GPU’s initiative to promote collaboration @OnePublicEstate is helping the UK deliver 16,500 homes and 36,000 new jobs. #EGAwards #UKhousing
Click here to read more about the GPU’s collaborative efforts
GLOBAL REAL ESTATE INVESTOR OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY KNIGHT FRANK
BLACKSTONE
Shortlisted
• AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets
• CBRE Global Investors
• LaSalle Investment Management
• Patron Capital
• TH Real Estate
• UBS Asset Management
Blackstone is real estate’s most active investor. It is, in every sense, a big deal.
It raised the largest ever real estate fund last year, closing at $15.8bn (£11.9bn), and the US fund manager is busy deploying capital in every corner of the globe. It also secured €5.5bn of capital to go alongside it to invest exclusively into Europe.
Having drawn in unprecedented levels of capital, Blackstone has been able to undertake deals and grow platforms on a scale that rivals simply cannot match.
Alongside Wells Fargo, it bought $23bn of assets and loans across three continents in one fell swoop from GE Capital as the conglomerate exited its global real estate exposure.
In the US it undertook the $3.9bn take-private of US hotels group Strategic Hotels & Resorts and is currently in the process of buying $1.8bn of office and retail assets from Swedish pension manager Alecta.
In Europe it bought €3bn (£2.6bn) of assets managed by Obligo as it grew its business in the Nordics and in Ireland it completed the largest-ever single asset deal – the purchase of shopping centre Blanchardstown for €950m.
Blackstone now also owns the second largest logistics company in Europe – Logicor – which holds more than 140m sq ft of industrial space worth over €11bn.
All eyes are now on the company’s exit from the platform, which is expected within the next year.
If listed, the company would have a market capitalisation of more than €6bn.
@blackstone says: BX is the largest real estate PE firm in the world today with $94bn AUM generating attractive long- term returns for our investors
GLOBAL REAL ESTATE ADVISER OF THE YEAR
SPONSORED BY LINKLATERS
KNIGHT FRANK
Shortlisted
• CBRE
• Colliers International
• JLL
The pillars of people and partnership made Knight Frank an outstanding winner in this category.
Strategic appointments in key roles have helped this agent to complete market-leading deals across the globe.
Property stars such as Charlie Barke, who joined as the UK’s head of high street and shopping centre investment from Cushman & Wakefield, and Piers Brunner, Knight Frank’s chief executive for Greater China, who spent the previous 20 years at real estate rival Colliers, are among the world-class talent attracted to join the 14,000-strong ranks of this London-based firm.
With 411 offices in 59 countries, impressive financial results and the lure of competitive incomes for fee earners – up 5% to £223,000 in 2015 – it is easy to see why.
Annual turnover rose by 13% to £443.1m while pre-tax profit grew by 19% to £162.0m. It is an enviable growth trajectory made all the more impressive by the business continuing to maintain its debt-free status.
Our judges were wowed by the firm’s reach, financial performance and quality of service.
Among the trophy deals that Knight Frank highlighted on its winning entry was a record-breaking lease of 1.9m sq ft to Google (the largest office lease ever signed in the US) and the sale of the Ardent Portfolio in the UK to Mapletree Investments for £417m. It also sold pan-European portfolios worth in excess of €2.5bn (£2.1bn).
Global initiatives such as the Broadening Horizons international exchange programme and a ‘buddy’ system across Knight Frank’s tenant representation and office agency service line underscore the value this business places in its personnel.
It all added up to an irresistible story for our judges.
@knightfrank says: Our approach – partnership – is winning more and more; strategic recruitment of outstanding people in key locations, increase in market share and world-class deals.
THE ZAHA HADID RISING STAR AWARD
SPONSORED BY TH REAL ESTATE
WILL NEWTON AND TOM REDMAYNE, WIREDSCORE
Shortlisted
• Simon Burnett, Deloitte Real Estate
• Chlump Chatkupt & Nikhil Vadgama, PlaceMake.io
• Savannah de Savary, IndustryHub
• Laurence Kemball-Cook, Pavegen
• Jacob Loftus, Resolution Property
• Andy Miles, Raella
• Josh Myerson, Montagu Evans
• James Townsend & Luke Appleby, Kontor
• Khush Rajgor, Grainger
• Olga Turner, CBRE
• Charlie Vaughan Lee, Student Cribs
Ignore these 20-something entrepreneurs at your peril. It is perfectly feasible that, before too long, it will be pretty tough to sell a building without their seal of approval.
In a world where buyers – both domestic and overseas – know that a connected building is fast becoming essential for attracting occupiers, a WiredScore rating is the certification that everyone wants.
Tom Redmayne, 28, a former Cushman & Wakefield surveyor, and Will Newton, 29, once a policy adviser to former prime minister David Cameron, have been charged with expanding the ratings system in the UK following its initial success in New York. “Whatever happens to the market, digital connectivity is fundamental,” says Redmayne. “It is not going away.”
The Rising Star category is one of the most fiercely competitive in the Estates Gazette Awards; this year’s – which also celebrates the contribution of architect and designer Zaha Hadid – was perhaps the most closely fought yet.
Click here to read more about our winner’s Wired World
THE NEXT BIG THING AWARD
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CLUTTONS AND SUPPORTED BY RICS, SECTORLIGHT AND NEW LONDON ARCHITECTURE
LITER OF LIGHT
In its second year, The Next Big Thing competition set out to address the issue of urban slums. Among a host of innovative submissions, the Liter of Light project stood out as an accessible, simple and ecologically sustainable idea, with the potential to change millions of lives
