Bruntwood SciTech has secured one of the largest real estate deals outside of London this year, it has been announced.
The property firm, a joint venture between Bruntwood and Legal & General dedicated to development in the science and technology sector, agreed a £185m green funding deal, which will be used to support its sustainable development and growth.
Bruntwood SciTech will use £60m of the funding to develop 400,000 sq ft specialist workspace at Circle Square, Manchester’s new city centre neighbourhood, which will provide 1.2m sq ft of workspace - more than 100,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space and 1,700 new homes.
Banks Lloyds, which acted as agent, Santander, HSBC and NatWest each took 25 per cent shares in the combined £185m facility.
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Kate Lawlor, finance director of Bruntwood SciTech, said: “Our assets are powering the future of the 海角视频’s knowledge economy, helping to create thriving innovation clusters, like Circle Square, and supporting new breakthroughs in bioscience and the tech industry.
“We’ve seen significant demand for our specialist workspaces and labs from start-ups and scale-ups to leading global companies.
“This new funding agreement gives us the platform to accelerate our growth sustainably, providing customers with access to facilities tailored to their specific needs that have minimal impact on our environment.”
The remaining £125m of the funding package will be used as an investment loan to refinance elements of Bruntwood SciTech’s specialist property portfolio under the terms of Lloyds Bank’s Green Lending initiative.
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Bruntwood SciTech’s assets include the 海角视频’s largest bioscience campus Alderley Park in Cheshire, Manchester Science Park, Manchester Technology Centre and Platform, a home for tech businesses in Leeds.
Under the Green Lending initiative terms, Bruntwood SciTech has committed to invest £3.5m into sustainably-linked improvements across its estate, covering combined heat and power, storage batteries and small-scale renewable energy.
It has also pledged to reduce the energy intensity of its portfolio by more than 10 per cent over the lifetime of the loan.
Rob Marriott, associate director at Lloyds Bank Real Estate and Housing, said: “What Bruntwood SciTech is doing at its sites across the North, Midlands and Leeds is important in providing the conditions that the science and technology sector needs to enable new investment, create jobs and drive innovation.
“By using our Green Lending Initiative, we’re able to help Bruntwood SciTech achieve its vision while supporting its sustainable investment in the future of the 海角视频.”
This pledge comes after Bruntwood achieved gold low carbon accreditation, which it will now aim to secure across the Bruntwood SciTech estate.
It has announced a pledge to be net zero carbon across its new buildings by 2030 and old buildings by 2050.