We acquired The Sauchiehall Building, formerly known as The Sauchiehall Centre, with KKR in March 2015. The property is located on the edge of the prime pedestrianised section of Sauchiehall Street, which forms part of Glasgow’s prime retail ‘Golden Z’.

Key tenants including Primark, TK Maxx, WH Smith, Sports Direct, Superdrug, Pure Gym and QPark benefit from an annual footfall of almost 17 million created by the adjacent office core, leisure circuit and critical mass of large-format anchor retailers in the pitch.

During the first 18 months of ownership we leveraged our retail knowledge and relationships to maintain the long income and attract new operators. The WH Smith and Pure Gym leases were re-geared whilst new lettings were also secured with Sports Direct and Blacks.

We most recently secured planning consent for the redevelopment of the two vacant corner elements of the building with change of use to provide for three contemporary restaurant occupiers. Phase 1 has been pre-let to Smashburger for its first Scottish restaurant. Construction started on site in June 2016. Phase 2 has been pre-let to Chilango, another new entrant to Scotland, with construction due to start on site in September 2016.

These refurbishment works will reinforce the institutional attractiveness of the building, widen the customer offer and further improve footfall.