Mapletree has signed the Global Combat Air Programme – a joint initiative between the UK, Japan and Italy to develop a next-generation combat aircraft – for an 160,000 square feet headquarters at Green Park in Reading, the largest office letting in the Thames Valley for a decade, CoStar News can reveal.
Defence Secretary John Healey confirmed in January the global headquarters would be in Reading but no details of where it was going had emerged.
Market sources said it has now signed at Green Park for space totalling 160,000 square feet.
The transaction is the biggest letting in the Thames Valley since SSE signed for 190,000 square feet at M&G Real Estate and Bell Hammer's 1 Forbury Place in Reading in 2015.
In January in a defence meeting between the governments, Defence Secretary John Healey MP confirmed that the headquarters for the joint UK, Japan and Italian fighter jet programme will be established in Reading.
At the time Healey said: "With increasing instability across the world, it is more important than ever that we strengthen cooperation with our international partners like Japan. "
He added: "There are many miles between our two nations, but the UK and Japan stand closer together than ever in support of peace and security across the globe. With the recently ratified GCAP Treaty entering into force, Reading will host the new GCAP headquarters, supporting the delivery of the cutting-edge stealth fighter jet. The headquarters, known as the GCAP International Government Organisation (GIGO) and led by its first chief rxecutive Mr Oka Masami from Japan, will strengthen each country’s combat air industrial capability while achieving value for money."
There are more than 3,500 people, including engineers and programmers, working on GCAP across the UK.
In December of last year, BAE Systems (UK), Leonardo (Italy), and Japan Aircraft Industrial Enhancement Co (JAIEC) signed a joint venture company to create the company to lead GCAP delivery.
The government has said the proposals support its Plan for Change, safeguarding national security while raising living standards across the UK with skilled jobs which foster economic growth. In last week's Spring Statement Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves again put investment in defence and security at the top of her government's agenda, as reported.
Mapletree's Green Park is no stranger to landing major government defence occupiers.
CoStar News revealed in June last year that government research and manufacturing body Atomic Weapons Establishment has signed for all of the 67,280-square-foot 250 Brook Drive.
That letting came six months after CoStar News revealed Mapletree had secured global consulting and engineering company Wood for a 120,000-square-foot office at the park with a proposed relocation of its workforce from nearby Shinfield Park to 400 Longwater Avenue in August 2024.
AWE is a Ministry of Defence research facility responsible for the design, manufacture and support of warheads for the UK's nuclear weapons. Its work takes place principally at facilities in Aldermaston and Burghfield.
Singapore's Mapletree completed its 100% acquisition of Green Park from Oxford Properties for around £563 million in May 2016. It pressed on with the speculative development of 400 and 450 Longwater Avenue in 2019.
The 195-acre business park comprises 1.4 million square feet of offices across 19 buildings.
Mapletree is advised by Cushman & Wakefield and Campbell Gordon, while the GCAP is understood to be advised by Vail Williams.
All parties declined to comment or were not available for comment.
(Updated on 2 April to correct size of letting).