Engineering and development consultant Mott MacDonald is in advanced negotiations to take 44,000 sq ft at Brookgate’s CB1 development in Cambridge.
The prelet would unlock the development of 60,000 sq ft of space at the £800m scheme by Cambridge station.
Details of the deal are still being negotiated but the most recent letting in the city, to KPMG at Botanic House, was believed to have achieved £32 per sq ft. Local agents expect Mott MacDonald will sign around the same level.
The last deal signed on CB1 was to Microsoft, when the software giant signed a 85,000 sq ft prelet in 2010. It is paying £30.40 per sq ft, a figure which includes payment for its car park provision.
Mott MacDonald is already a Brookgate tenant, occupying a total of 40,000 sq ft in various buildings throughout the CB1 scheme.
Its main office, the existing 20,000 sq ft Dementer House on Station Road, will be demolished and rebuilt. Brookgate will house Mott MacDonald in temporary accommodation within the CB1 site.
The deal will be a boost for the local market which, after a record 2011, has struggled this year to achieve take-up at levels above the 10-year average.
Neither Brookgate or its agents Bidwells were available to comment. Januarys acted for Mott MacDonald.
