Client: Brakes - London
Our client, Brakes, the UK’s leading supplier of food, supplies, equipment and solutions to the catering industry, approached us concerning its requirement for a Food Innovation Centre and office in London.
Establishing a presence in London was driven by the company’s decision to create state of the art facilities to showcase its products including a demonstration kitchen, training facilities and meeting rooms as well as to provide a limited number of executive offices and hot-desking for the company’s senior leaders and staff.
Gerald Eve’s business space team were instructed to identify and acquire the location for our client’s Food Innovation Centre.
At the outset, Brakes considered the M4 corridor and Heathrow as potential locations. However, following an analysis of customer, staff and executive management needs, the focus for our search moved to central London.
The brief continued to evolve and our team supported this flexible approach by involving Brake’s team in a number of viewings. This allowed them to understand the rental differentials between properties and locations as they reshaped their brief and formulated the ideal scenario for their new operation.
Out of five short-listed Central London locations, Tower House at Covent Garden offered the physical and geographic benefits of a great building, close proximity to customers and the heart of the capital’s restaurants in the West End and ease of access via Charing Cross to Brakes’ existing premises in Ashford, Kent.
We agreed two separate leases on the 1st and 2nd floors at Tower House, Southampton Street, Covent Garden WC2 on 10 year terms with tenant-only break options to give Brakes future flexibility. A rent free period was also granted. We also supported Brakes in securing the Landlord’s agreement to the challenging alterations needed to incorporate the Food Innovation Centre.
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