Blue chip asset managers Rockspring Property has paid £21m for one of Britain’s leading technology and innovation hubs.
Clearbell Capital — the new name for the private real estate group Mountgrange — has sold Cambridge Research Park to Rockspring Property Investment Managers in a deal which encompasses 78,000 sq ft of existing office space and 26 acres of undeveloped land to the north of Cambridge.
Nick Berry is a Clearbell partner. “We are delighted to have completed this sale,” he said. “Cambridge remains a thriving centre for business and science and we are very pleased with what we achieved with Cambridge Research Park and we are pleased Rockspring will continue to build on our achievements.”
Existing tenants at the park, internationally regarded as one of Europe’s “high-tech greenhouses” include personalised medicines Horizon Discovery, network technology specialist CRFS, and green energy innovators Cambridge Solar.
Sepura, a world leader in digital terrestrial trunked radio technology, has already announced it is moving to the research hub early next year.
“The purchase of Cambridge Research Park is another example of investors increasing appetite for office and research and development property in the Cambridge area,” explained Dick Wise of Bidwells, which advised on the sale.
He said the lack of Grade A space, coupled with increased take up and predicted demand, had attracted Rockspring “to this well let park which benefits from further opportunities on the remaining 20 or so acres of development land”.
Wise also confirmed that 80,000 sq ft of “mid-tech” office-cum-research space was currently under speculative construction on the site and would be available from next summer.
Since its £10.15m purchase in March, 2011, by Mountgrange, all four buildings at the hub have been upgraded and the park rebranded. The site has also been granted permission for a 112-bedroom hotel.
The latest purchase of the park — north of Cambridge and adjacent to the A10 — was made on behalf of Rockspring UK Value 2 LP (UKV2). “This property is perfect for us,” admitted Kim Sardar, assistant fund manager at UKV2.
“Cambridge Research Park is situated in a micro-location that is set to undergo significant structural change in the foreseeable future and, with a mix of development opportunities and steady income which we believe we can grow, it offers an exciting opportunity for us to access a dynamic market,” she added.
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