The new Silver Fin building fast taking shape in the heart of Aberdeen has landed the city’s biggest office letting since the onset of the oil and gas slump.
London-based serviced office specialist Orega is taking 26,000ft, representing 20% of the available accommodation.
Orega will occupy the whole of the first floor and part of the second level of the £65million, 132,000sq ft Union Street development.
Speaking after a topping-out ceremony at the project yesterday, Sean Mackenzie, co-founder and director of property developer Titan Investors, said Silver Fin and The Capital building next door would “reanimate” the west end of Aberdeen’s main thoroughfare.
“Silver Fin is the most significant intervention in Union Street for 30 years,” he said, adding the 1,300 people expected to work there and a further 700 at The Capital, which opened earlier this year, would flood the area with white-collar employees.
Hailing the tenancy agreement with Orega as a tremendous boost for Europe’s energy capital, he said the square footage involved was about twice that of PwC’s deal for part of The Capitol.
And he said Silver Fin’s joint agents – CBRE and FG Burnett – were “having a lot of conversations” with other potential occupiers.
Mr Mackenzie said he anticipated strong demand for space for financial and professional services firms currently occupying “dated” buildings in the traditional west end business district.
Silver Fin, owned by the British Airways Pension Fund, will deliver nine floors of city centre office space, plus four levels of underground car parking.
Its ground floor, fronting directly on to Union Street, will feature a business lounge and a 4,000sq ft informal meeting and coffee zone for the entire building’s occupiers and their guests.
Construction firm Sir Robert McAlpine yesterday celebrated completion of the highest point of the structural frame of building, which will be home to Orega’s first serviced office centre in Scotland – adding to the company’s network in England Belgium.
Work on the Silver Fin is forecast to complete in Easter next year, with the Orega centre expected to open during May.
