Longstock Capital and Mactaggart Family & Partners have bought Lloyds Banking Group's landmark former 190,000-square-foot offices at Bristol Harbourside from the banking giant.
The duo said they will embark on the "restoration of this characterful, freehold, campus-style asset via a comprehensive ESG retrofit that targets EPC A and BREEAM Outstanding accreditation".
Speaking to CoStar News, Longstock's Hugo Denée said it was assembling a design team with planning likely to be lodged in the middle of next year and completion slotted in for 2025 or early 2026.
William Laxton, Mactaggart Family & Partners, added that it shared Longstock's belief that UK offices are "oversold and that the devil is always in the detail when it comes to saying no or yes to an opportunity".
He added: "At Canons House we have the fundamentals of a top rate, institutional grade asset and we are very excited to deliver exactly what occupiers want and need.”
The vacant offices at Canons House One and Two, known as the Doughnut and Crescent buildings, have been bought from Lloyds for an undisclosed price.
They were built in phases as Lloyds Banking Group's regional hub between 1988 and 1991 after the bank took the decision to relocate its retail banking functions to a single site outside London in 1986. Arup Associates was commissioned as architect. In October 2021 Lloyds announced it was relocating staff nearby to its offices 10 Canon Way on Bristol Harbourside as part of a major investment following a review of its use of its offices across its estate.
Canons House was awarded Grade II listed status last year.
Knight Frank Investment Management, on behalf of one of its South Korean investor mandates, has been separately seeking to sell 10 Canon Way via Knight Frank seeking £112 million or a 5% net initial yield.
Longstock and Mactaggart are already working on Plant, an office repositioning of Basingstoke's landmark "hanging gardens" offices, formerly known as Mountbatten House. Denée said Plant is "firmly underway and with advanced discussions with high quality occupiers, our high-conviction thesis in regional office repositioning is being validated in real time".
Discussing the Bristol acquisition, Denée said: "Bristol’s robust occupational market fundamentals, coupled with increasingly attractive pricing in the office sector and our understanding of the requirements of the contemporary office, make Canons House a natural choice to expand our collaboration."
CBRE UK acted for Lloyds Banking Group. Savills and DLA Piper advised Longstock and Mactaggart. Savills and another party will be appointed as leasing agent.
Longstock is a multi-strategy, real assets investment and advisory boutique specialising in the UK market targeting special situations with Basingstoke's Mountbatten House, now called Plan, sourced off-market from Squarestone, which bought it in 2018 from Hudson Advisors which was acting as special servicer.
Longstock was co-founded by Hugo Denée and Tristan de Souza.
Prior to Longstock Denée was a managing director and head of acquisitions for Squarestone Growth, a regionally-focused fund investing in office and industrial assets.
Tristan de Souza also serves as the head of the European team of WeWork Capital Advisors, which has executed on a number of large-scale acquisitions and repositionings within the office sector.