RBS is rid of London office block for £132m

ROYAL Bank of Scotland has sold the freehold of its Aldgate Union office block in London for £132 million.

The eight-storey building, which has 255,000 square feet across seven upper, one ground and two lower ground floors, has been snapped up by Derwent London, the listed commercial property company.

The sale comes after the office block, based on Whitechapel High Street, was reportedly put on the market with a guide price of £85m late last year.

Derwent, which said the deal price reflects a capital value of £518 per square foot, declared its confidence that there will be strong demand among occupiers for the property.

It noted that the acquisition underlines its commit- ment to London’s growing tech belt.

Chief executive John Burns said: “We are delighted to have acquired a prominent property in this fast-improving Whitechapel location which increases our tech belt holdings to 2.4m square feet.

“Although soon to be vacant, the building is in a good location and we expect to quickly relet it on a multi-occupier basis after modest refurbishment.

“As with most of our recent purchases, this property offers significant longer-term regeneration opportunities and adds to our future development pipeline.”

The property, which RBS comprehensively refurbished in 2008, is located directly opposite Aldgate East underground station and close to Liverpool Street and Whitechapel Cros s r ai l stations.