Edinburgh office HQ up for grabs

Property advisers are hopeful that they can attract big-name occupiers for a massive office building to the north of Edinburgh city centre.

The site at 525 Ferry Road was formerly the Scottish HQ of State Street Bank, before it moved its operations to Quartermile within the city centre last year.

The entire building was let in 2018 to arts charity Edinburgh Palette on a short-term lease.

Property experts said the building, which extends to 110,000 square feet and offers some of the largest, open-plan floor plates in the capital, would make a perfect company headquarters but could also be offered in suites from 40,000 sq ft.

The building would be fully refurbished by the landlord – a fund managed by ReInvest Asset Management – to suit the requirements of new occupiers.

Nick White, of CuthbertWhite, joint letting agent alongside JLL, said: “This building offers an attractive opportunity for a company to take an impressive, Grade A building that’s ready to occupy as is, or could be refurbished to their own specification.”

Last summer, Edinburgh Palette secured a new long-term home after agreeing a five-year lease on land in Portobello to build a container village of creative studios. Palette, which is quitting an existing base at St Margaret’s House in Meadowbank, already had a six-month lease on the land there.

Meanwhile, property firm Savills said Edinburgh was managing to outpace the UK office market as capital growth slows in some regions.

Analysis of UK office investment volumes shows that £1.3 billion has been invested so far this year, to mid-March, but investment performance has varied across regional markets. With strong occupational markets and limited choice for occupiers, Edinburgh, Brighton and Cambridge were recognised as “high performers” by valuers.