AXA appoints Balfour Beatty on City office development

215,000 sq ft Sixty London scheme due for completion summer 2013

Article posted: 17 Jan 2012

AXA Real Estate Investment Managers has appointed Balfour Beatty as the principal contractor to deliver the final construction phase of Sixty London, a prime London office development. The next phase of work on the Kohn Pederson Fox designed scheme will delivery 215,000 sq ft of Grade A office space in the City of London in summer 2013.

Development Venture III, advised by AXA Real Estate in partnership with Favermead is speculatively developing the project – previously the site of Bath House – to ensure delivery into a supply-constrained London office market in 2013. The building is targeting a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ sustainability rating and has been upgraded to achieve an additional 25% carbon saving.

In addition to the 215,000 sq ft of office space, Sixty London will offer 20,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant accommodation on the ground floor and discussions are underway with a number of potential occupiers who would further enhance the building and the local area.

Elsewhere within the City of London, AXA Real Estate is developing 60,000 sq ft of new offices with 20,000 sq ft of retail / restaurant space and 10,000 sq ft of prime residential apartments at 1 St Paul’s, as well as 160,000 sq ft of new office space at 6 Bevis Marks, EC3 in conjunction with MGPA and Eurohypo.

Harry Badham, AXA Real Estate’s UK Director of Development said: "Our team has worked incredibly hard over the past year to finalise and enhance the design and specification of Sixty London and to procure a construction programme – which began last summer – that meets our 2013 delivery timetable. We are now very excited to hand over the final construction phase to Balfour Beatty, who have an excellent team and track record, to deliver this fantastic new prime office building.”

This contract is one of several commercial sector contracts awarded to Balfour Beatty which add up £100m of business. Another City project will see the construction firm deliver 11-storey offices in the Square Mile for Viridis Real Estate Service on behalf of their client Emmatown Properties.

Commenting on the awards, Balfour Beatty Chief Executive, Ian Tyler, said: “We are delighted to see encouraging signs of renewed activity in the London commercial sector and to be able to demonstrate our diverse capabilities which enable us to take advantage of such growth opportunities. We have been able to harness technology to create innovative solutions for our customers and look forward to working with them in delivering these first class schemes.”

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Posted by Jo