Leading climate consultancy, the Carbon Trust, is moving its global headquarters to Arbor at Bankside Yards, thanks to the environmental credentials of Native Land’s 1.4 million sq ft riverside mixed-use development.
Native Land has exchanged contracts with the Carbon Trust for 13,800 sq ft of office space on a 10-year lease at level five of Arbor. The Carbon Trust will move into the building when it opens in March 2023, joining law firm Lewis Silkin, which pre-leased the sixth and seventh floors in December 2021.
The Carbon Trust is a mission led consultancy that supports businesses, governments and financial institutions worldwide in their journeys to net zero. The move allows the Carbon Trust to support its own decarbonisation goals while remaining within the SE1 postcode.
Bankside Yards is the UK’s first fossil fuel-free major mixed-use development in operation. All its electrical power will come from fully renewable sources, and will feature a pioneering fifth-generation energy sharing network. This will deliver reductions in energy use and mean the site is net zero carbon in operation. As a location, Bankside Yards also benefits from access to the world-class cultural and amenity offer of the neighbourhood, as well as its exceptional transport connectivity.
Arbor was designed with the needs and demands of future workforces in mind, with sustainability, technology and wellbeing central to its conception. Native Land has partnered with Smart Spaces, the leading technology providers in building management, to develop Arbor’s technology infrastructure. Arbor is a ‘smart’ building with the potential for its own digital twin – a 3-D replica of the building which provides real time analysis to monitor and improve its efficiency. Lewis Silkin, the Carbon Trust and other future tenants will work with Smart Spaces to optimise how they operate their office and connect into this infrastructure.
As part of the agreement, Native Land will be providing a market-leading sustainability management regime to maintain the efficiency of the building, reporting to other Bankside Yards tenants on energy consumption to support their own sustainability analyses. In addition, Native Land has confirmed its commitment to science-based targets to accelerate decarbonisation across its business and future projects.
The success of the Arbor project in attracting world-class sustainable businesses marks a continued evolution of Native Land’s capabilities in decarbonised development, the sustainable repurposing of buildings and the energy-efficient management of assets in partnership with tenants.
Jay Squier, Director – Commercial & Mixed Use, at Native Land said:
“The strong alignment between Bankside Yards’ sustainability credentials and the Carbon Trust’s decarbonisation agenda, as well as the building’s unique design attributes, connectivity and quality, made Arbor the natural choice among competing locations for the Trust’s new global headquarters. We will be working in a true landlord and tenant partnership to deliver optimal sustainability management at Arbor.”
Timon Drakesmith, Chief Financial Officer, at the Carbon Trust, said:
“We have selected Arbor as our new home based on its strong environmental credentials, excellent location and great amenities. It also offers the only all electric site of this type, in our desired area. We believe our employees and stakeholders will enjoy working in this exciting new development. We look forward to working with Native Land to support them as they further enhance the sustainability of the estate.”
Alasdair Nicholls, Chief Executive of at Native Land said:
“This is not just a significant letting for Native Land but an opportunity for us to further develop leading-edge approaches to new and repurposed sustainable development for the benefit of both current and future development partners and co-investors.”
Arbor is the first building to complete at Bankside Yards, a 5.5-acre development with eight new buildings, biodiverse public realm and the restoration of 14 Victorian railway arches which will be made publicly accessible for the first time in 150 years. Once complete, Bankside Yards will host workspaces, homes, shops and restaurants, an LGBTQ+ cultural space and a 5* hotel.
At 19-storeys and 223,000 sq ft, Arbor will provide workspace to meet the continuing demand from media, technology, and professional services firms to be based in Bankside and SE1.
Knight Frank and Ingleby Trice are letting agents for Arbor and Cushman and Wakefield acted for the Carbon Trust. The architect for the building is PLP Architecture, the M&E engineer and sustainability consultant is SWECO, the structural Engineer is AKT II, and the contractor is Multiplex.
