The City of Edinburgh Council’s landmark £85m
Atria office development
was officially launched last week. Ben Reed, director at Jones Lang
LaSalle, joint letting agent for Atria, explains more…
What is Atria?
Atria is an office development at the heart of Edinburgh’s prime
business district, The Exchange. It is being delivered by City of
Edinburgh Council and comprises two buildings providing 200,000 sq
ft of Grade A offices. Not only will it help fund the expansion of
the Edinburgh International Conference
Centre, it also provides much-needed Grade A office space to
coincide with improving market conditions. Edinburgh had the
highest take-up out of the six biggest office regions in the UK
outside of London last year and the largest amount of Grade A
lettings.
What are its unique features?
- Prime location – it really is a fabulous location right in the
heart of the city
- It has the largest floor plates in the Edinburgh market – this
allows occupiers to drive efficiency with the ability for larger
occupiers to locate on a single floor
- It is very flexible and can accommodate small and mid cap
companies from 5,000 sq ft (30 to 40 people) up to very large
occupiers on floors of 32,000sq ft
- It has superlative green credentials and is the only
development in Edinburgh under current regulations to achieve a
BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating for energy efficiency. It also benefits
from having green sedum roofs, low E glass glazing, energy
efficient lifts, electric car charging spaces and an abundance of
cycle spaces.
Why is Atria so important?
It is the largest speculative office development over 100,000 sq
ft outside of central London this year and this is important to
help the city attract inward investors from outside Scotland –
while also offering more modern office space to existing occupiers.
Atria not only satifies the need for new Grade A office space in
central Edinburgh, but with 32,000 sq ft floors could accommodate a
large headquarters or bank with 350+ staff, so is key to the city
in that respect. The development also marks the completion of Sir
Terry Farrell’s masterplan for the Exchange.
What occupiers are already in place?
Investment manager Brewin Dolphin last year announced
it will take 25% of Atria One and is currently undergoing a fit
out. The UK Green Investment Bank
also confirmed last week it is taking space. Between the
contribution of these two we have 33% of the development let. We
also have another interest under offer and if that were to
proceed,the building would be 50% let. What excites you most about
Atria’s potential? Showing people around, you see it’s a very high
quality development. The Atrium space in the middle of the building
is stunning and really gives it that wow factor when people walk
through the building via either the Conference Square or Morrison
Street entrances. The scale and quality of office space, the
finishes, and natural daylighting are exceptionally good and it’s
exciting that Edinburgh has a building of this stature with strong
green credentials to offer at this important time, given the
improving market conditions.
