RENAISSANCE CROYDON
Renaissance in Croydon is the first of a new series of speculative office buildings developed and equity financed by Abstract and achieved Practical Completion on 4 November 2013.
Abstract’s perception is that occupiers are now looking for well located new buildings at highly competitive rents, offering the highest environmental specification and no compromise on Grade A quality, but avoiding any signs of corporate excess. This is the philosophy that has been adopted by Abstract with Renaissance and other projects currently under development.
Prior to completion, the 100,000 sq ft building was sold as an investment to M&G Real Estate, underlining Abstract’s confidence in the Croydon market. The offices were fully let within 10 months of Practical Completion to the Pension Protection Fund, Mott MacDonald and Parabis Law.
Renaissance is 2 minutes’ walk from East Croydon station and in easy commuting distance to Central London (Victoria 16 minutes, London Bridge 11 minutes) as well as Gatwick Airport (15 minutes).
The building is one of the first BREEAM Excellent 2011 buildings to be delivered in the UK and was priced to be more competitive than any new building within the M25, with rents from £22 per sq ft. Renaissance also offers huge flexibility with 20,000 sq ft floor plates, each capable of subdivision to accommodate up to 4 separate occupiers. A base build specification to accommodate 1 occupier per 8 m² , and the reduced energy costs associated with extremely high standards of environmental efficiency, mean that the total cost per workstation will be significantly less than existing buildings.
Abstract identified Croydon as an area where the fundamentals of location, accessibility and workforce were strong, but the cost of land had become disproportionately low, relative to less well-located parts of London. This faith in the location has been underpinned by the announcement by Westfield and Hammerson to commit circa £1 billion to a 2 million sq ft retail redevelopment of Croydon town centre within 2 minutes’ walk of the site which will be transformational to the wider occupier and investment prospects for this location.
AMENITIES
Renaissance is located on Dingwall Road at the centre of Croydon's Central Business District. It lies immediately west of East Croydon station and sits between the Ruskin Square development and the Whitgift shopping centre.
East Croydon is the UK's second busiest rail interchange, where up to 70,000 people a day travel on frequent fast trains to Victoria, London Bridge, Blackfriars and Kings Cross Thameslink, Gatwick and Luton Airports and the South Coast.
