Allianz Real Estate and Aviva Investors to Develop Prime London Offices

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01 March 2022

Allianz Real Estate and Aviva Investors have formed a joint venture to develop two Grade-A, prime office buildings in the City of London.

1 Liverpool Street and 101 Moorgate Street will offer 176,000 sq ft and 72,600 sq ft of office space respectively.

The properties have a gross development value (GDV) of approximately £500 million and are expected to be complete by Q4 2024.

Land Plots Under Leasehold Structures with TfL

Both sites are on land plots secured under long leasehold structures with Transport for London (TfL).

Aviva Investors originally entered into a development agreement with TfL in 2019 to build the mixed-use retail and office buildings. The firm will be the development manager for the construction of the two properties.

Office Sector Strong for Allianz Real Estate

Allianz Real Estate believes prime office assets located in cities such as London will remain in strong demand.

Figures for the week commencing 21 February 2022 show the greatest office occupancy levels in both the UK and London since early November 2021. The figures, from The Freespace Index, showed that the average office occupancy in London was 27 per cent last week, 3 per cent higher than its weekly averages in November.

For Allianz, the office sector accounted for 51 per cent of the firm’s Assets Under Management (AUM) at the end of December 2021.

Kari Pitkin, Head of Business Development Europe at Allianz Real Estate, said: “London is one of the world’s most dynamic cities and one of the most important office markets. This development will result in two exceptional office buildings in London. We strategically picked the micro-locations in the City of London with direct access to the Crossrail transport service as we continue to build up our London office portfolio.” 

Nicole Pötsch, Head of Investment and Strategic Development for North & Central Europe at Allianz Real Estate, added: “Aviva Investors is a like-minded, long-term investor with a strong track record in development and we are delighted to be working with them on this core project. Working closely with Aviva Investors, we have been able to optimize the ESG profile of both buildings at a very early stage, focusing on underlying factors such as technology, energy usage and the ‘smart’ aspects of each asset so they meet the new needs of tenants.”

Decarbonisation Targets for Both Investors

Each of the buildings will meet the Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM) decarbonisation pathway, be compliant with EU Taxonomy, and are targeted to achieve Green Building Certification BREEAM “Outstanding” status.

Allianz Real Estate has a target to reduce carbon emissions across its portfolio by 25 per cent by 2025 and be carbon net-zero by 2050. Last year, Aviva Investors published a Net Zero Pathway outlining how it aims to reach net-zero emissions across the whole of its Real Assets platform by 2040.

Picture: a photograph of Nicole Pötsch. Image Credit: Allianz

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 01 March 2022

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