Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, announces today (Thursday 28th March 2019) that it has selected a joint venture involving Stanhope PLC and The Baupost Group, LLC as preferred bidder and partner on a major development opportunity at Royal Street, London SE1.
Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity is being advised on the Royal Street development project by Savills and Macfarlanes.
Royal Street comprises a c. 5.5 acre (2.2 hectare) site situated opposite St Thomas’ Hospital on the Southbank. The site is owned by the Charity, an independent urban health foundation which works closely with the NHS. It has capacity for over 1.5 million sq ft and will be redeveloped to provide a commercially-led, mixed use scheme, including a 350,000 sq ft pre-let to Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust comprising a new outpatients facility and clinical office space. This will help enable the future development of the St Thomas’ Hospital site adjacent, and continue to improve healthcare provision in Lambeth.
Kieron Boyle, Chief Executive of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, says: “We believe that, in Stanhope and Baupost, we’ve found partners who share our vision and ambition to deliver a world-class scheme for London. We’ve been impressed by their approach and track-record, as well as their clear commitment to engaging our local communities in a scheme we hope will become an exemplar of health and wellbeing in the built environment. Together we look forward to progressing our vision for Royal Street in partnership with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, Lambeth Council and the local community.”
Aldous Hodgkinson, Director of Stanhope who led the bid for the joint venture, comments: “We are delighted to have been selected as the Charity’s development partner. We share the Charity and the Trust’s vision and desire to deliver a scheme that respects the local context, while supporting a new ‘med-tech’-based knowledge cluster of international scale and significance. The development’s contribution to the health and wellbeing of local people will be a central focus, and we look forward to working with the community, businesses and Lambeth Council to help deliver a new neighbourhood at Royal Street.”
Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, adds: “We welcome the Charity appointing a development partner for Royal Street, the area opposite St Thomas’, and look forward to continuing to work with them to explore the opportunities for health related facilitates as part of their plans. These range from additional outpatient space to opportunities for the creation of a ‘med-tech’ hub that would bring together health, research and business partners to drive innovation.”
Andrew Travers, Chief Executive of Lambeth Council, says: “We look forward to working with Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity and their partners to develop this key site in north Lambeth for new health facilities, new jobs and new homes. The Royal Street site has the potential to bring significant community benefits and we are pleased that the Charity and their partners will be working closely with the Council, local residents, business and stakeholders.”
Oliver Fursdon, head of the central London commercial development team at Savills, comments: “We saw very strong competition for Royal Street, based in part on the opportunity to participate in a major piece of Southbank regeneration, but also the scope to work with the Charity and the Trust on a major repositioning of the site. The proximity to the leading and evolving clinical facilities at St Thomas’s Hospital was a major draw.”