Mapletree has secured global consulting and engineering company Wood for a 120,000-square-foot office at Green Park in Reading in of the UK's largest office lettings of 2023, CoStar News can reveal.
Headquartered in Aberdeen, with 36,000 professionals across 60 countries, Wood is set to relocate its Reading workforce from nearby Shinfield Park to 400 Longwater Avenue in August 2024.
CoStar News tipped the group, advised by Cushman & Wakefield, had settled on the building in June as one of a number of large requirements the South East office market has been keen to see complete. It is also based at Export House in Woking and Compass Point in Staines.
As one of Green Park’s first buildings to be awarded Platinum WELL certification from the International Well Building Institute, 400 Longwater Avenue has focused on health and wellbeing design. Mapletree said Wood's move will provide a "best-in-class workspace that will encourage positive employee physical and mental health, attract new talent and bolster project delivery".
The deals at 400 Longwater Avenue and its sister building, 450 Longwater Avenue, to Three Mobile for 119,000 square feet in 2021 represent two of the largest deals in the South East in the last five years. Mapletree says more occupiers are set to arrive in early 2024 at Green Park.
Rory Carson, Mapletree’s vice-president of asset management in the UK, said in a statement: “Wood joins the Green Park community at an exciting time. We’ve already seen the impact that Green Park Station has had on the park’s connectivity. Alongside this, Mapletree is kickstarting its £7.9 million investment programme to introduce a range of new amenities to further enhance our residents’ work lives and wellbeing. We’re thrilled to welcome Wood to Green Park.”
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.
Cushman & Wakefield and Campbell Gordon advise Mapletree at Green Park, with quoting rents at 400 Longwater Avenue around £40 per square feet.
Grant Lonsdale, director of UK market analytics, said: “This deal by Wood, the biggest office letting in the South East since Three took a similar amount of space at Green Park nearly three years ago, will be seen as a major shot in the arm for the region. But while the year-end boost to take-up figures will be welcomed, it comes in a quarter that has seen nearly half a million square feet of negative net absorption, with total demand losses since the pandemic began having now surpassed 4 million square feet. This dynamic is expected to persist in the near term as firms continue to cut back on space, pushing vacancies across the South East towards a 15-year high.”
Updated on 18 December to add Lonsdale's quote.