Aviva Investors real estate exchanges £53 million ecocampus

Aviva Investors announces that its Long Income investment team has exchanged contracts on the new EcoCampus for the University of the West of Scotland.

The £53 million purchase was undertaken as part of its continued investment into high quality, long-income real estate in the UK and completed by HFD Property Group.

The recently completed asset is subject to tenant fit out over the next six months and, upon practical completion, will be let to the University of West of Scotland for 35 years. The 224,000 sq ft scheme will be run as the new main university campus and administrative building.

The asset is located on the Hamilton International Park, near Glasgow, and will include a mixture of administrative offices, teaching and education space, and vocation training space.

The transaction follows recent investments in a portfolio of care homes located in Bedford, Letchworth, Flitwick and Watford, let to One Housing Group for 30 years; and in a modern office building in Bristol, pre-let on a 15-year lease to Babcock Integrated Technology. The Fund plans to complete several further new investments in the coming months.

Renos Booth, Head of Long Income, Aviva Investors, said:

“HFD Property Group is developing an impressive high-quality campus development for the University that will start an exciting new chapter for the University. This, coupled with a strong tenant in the University, creates a robust investment with very long-term income. We are actively investing in such properties and have a strong pipeline of ongoing opportunities that will support our efforts to provide a secure and growing income return for our clients.” 

This transaction takes the total investment in the University sector across Aviva Investors’ Real Estate Long Income funds to over £500 million over the last two years. These acquisitions and developments include transactions with a variety of structures, including traditional leases, income strips and off balance sheet structures.

Stephen Lewis, Managing Director, HFD Property Group, said:

“Having created the UK’s first Carbon Neutral speculative office development at EcoCampus and subsequently let that to the University of the West of Scotland, we are delighted to have now sold the development to Aviva. The EcoCampus is the final development at Hamilton International Park and will see the number of people working at the Park increase to over 10,000 making it one of the most successful Business Parks in the UK.” 

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