KPMG COMMITS TO ABSTRACT IN GLASGOW

Professional services firm KPMG has concluded an agreement to lease the top three floors at Abstract’s St Vincent Plaza development in Glasgow.

The global business has committed to relocate from 191 and 163 West George Street in 2016 and will take the entire 8th, 9th and 10th floors of the development comprising 39,705 sq. ft. on a new 15 year lease without break (with an option to extend) from January 2016.

It is envisaged that their fit out work will begin early in 2016 in advance of occupation in the Autumn.

Around 350 of KPMG’s Glasgow-based staff will move to St Vincent Plaza. The firm also employs more than 175 people at its UK Tax Centre of Excellence at 123 St Vincent Street in the city.

St Vincent Plaza is a speculative ‘Grade A’ office development of 172,280 sq. ft. arranged on lower ground, ground and 10 upper floors, which was completed in September. The building occupies a prominent position in Glasgow City Centre and has been designed to support highly efficient day one occupancy levels from 1 person per 6 sq. m.

With a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ environmental accreditation and an EPC B rating, the development provides the most cost effective new build city centre office accommodation anywhere in the UK.

Mark Glatman, Chief Executive of Abstract, commented: “We are delighted to welcome KPMG to St Vincent Plaza. This is a huge endorsement of the Abstract approach to development and to our commitment to this location in the City and the outstanding value and quality offered by this building.

“KPMG joins a great list of occupiers we have secured in our developments across the UK over the last three years including Virgin Atlantic, The Pension Protection Fund, Talk Talk, Aker Solutions, Whyte and Mackay and several others who see the benefits of the buildings we create as an asset to their businesses rather than simply as an overhead.”

Craig Anderson, Senior Partner for KPMG in Scotland said ”This investment in larger, state- of-the-art offices, in a stunning location, signals our confidence in the plans for further growth of our business in Scotland. We continue to expand the range of offerings we have alongside our core areas of expertise.”

Christopher McPherson, Development Director of Abstract said, “We have had significant occupier interest in this development since completion and it is fantastic that KPMG have seen the merits of our building over the other options available to them after an extensive due diligence process. It is particularly good to be able to confirm this letting so soon after Whyte and Mackay committed to the 4th floor and I believe we will fill the remaining space soon.

“Occupiers in Glasgow are waking up to the fact that there are no new schemes which can be delivered in the City until at least 2018/2019 and that assumes a start on site today. Existing Grade A offices are disappearing fast.

“The quality of our scheme coupled with a pricing point which is below some second hand space in the City, is resulting in strong interest - we could let the remainder of the building twice over based on current enquiries. Prospective tenants will not have the opportunity to take new space offering this combination of quality and value again.”

Joint agents for St Vincent Plaza are CBRE and Ryden. Knight Frank represented KPMG.

For more information visit www.stvincentplaza.com Image shows: St Vincent Plaza
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For media information, please contact Pauline Gregory on 07833 490964 / pauline@skylarkpublicrelations.com or Lisa Mennie 07825 225 414 / lisa@skylarkpublicrelations.com

For KPMG, please contact:
Phil Addicott, The BIG Partnership, 07824 666956 phil.addicott@bigpartnership.co.uk

About KPMG

KPMG LLP, a UK limited liability partnership, operates from 22 offices across the UK with approximately 12,000 partners and staff. The UK firm recorded a turnover of £1.9 billion in the year ended September 2014. KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. It operates in 155 countries and has 162,000 professionals working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.