Skanska Cashing out of Yet Another Successful Office Project in the UK

66 Queen Square

By Alex Girda, Associate Editor

Bristol, United Kingdom—It’s the Skanska way. Whenever the company isn’t involved in one of its major contracting deals across the United States or Europe, it’s moving out one of its self-developed assets to a major pension fund. This is also the case with its recent sale of 66 Queen Square, an under-construction office property in the British city of Bristol.

The developer has completed the sale of the aforementioned asset for a total of around $51.5 million to Aviva Investors Property Trust a subsidiary of local insurance giant Aviva. Skanska worked with JLL and Alder King on the sale, while Aviva was advised by Knight Frank.

The Class A office property is located in the core of Bristol, a city with a metro area population of more than one million. Designed to incorporate a fully modernized and refurbished Georgian terrace property in the downtown area, the property also includes a newly-constructed five-story building. 66 Queen Square was the recipient of the BIM Project Application Award at last year’s British Construction Industry Awards.

The ensemble totals 61,484 square feet of prime office space that has already struck the tenants’ fancies. Although completion is scheduled for October, 66 Queen Square already has leasing agreements for around 90 percent of its space. KPMG has signed on for 15 years while Handelsbanken has agreed a 10-year lease at the property, at a headline rent of around $45 per square foot. Alder King and JLL are handling leasing duties for the asset.