Homes & Property has learned that the private investor buying Chiswick Tower in west London has plans to convert it into a 415-bed residential area.
As part of these plans, the 190-space car park is to be converted into an “affordable housing project.”
ASK Partners (ASK) has provided a loan of £18.2 million to support the acquisition of the office building, the property financier announced today.
“We were very pleased to be able to lend for this location,” said Elliot Blatt, Head of Origination at ASK.
“Our client has a very solid business plan to repurpose this building, increasing the value of an already attractive building site,” Blatt added.
“We are definitely seeing an increase in interest in co-living as this form of shared accommodation becomes more popular among college graduates and young professionals.”
The 19-storey office complex in Hounslow was built in 1966 as IBM’s headquarters. After IBM left in 1992, the Chiswick Tower was taken over by the BSI (British Standards Institution) in 1995 after an extensive renovation.
Chiswick Tower changed hands in 2010, when it was bought by Hermes Real Estate in 2013 for a reported £56.5 million and continued to be rented out as office space.
It was one of three landmark office buildings in the area that came on the market in 2023 for £195.2 million, but only Chiswick Tower was sold, with the others being withdrawn.
The tower was sold for an undisclosed sum to a private investor, allegedly from the Middle East.
Co-living programs are private rental rooms, often with private bathrooms, with shared amenities in common areas. They often offer community-building activities such as yoga classes and co-working spaces.
According to a 2023 report by Savills, there are currently 25,021 co-living beds in operation or planned in the UK.
Hailed by some as a response to the rental crisis and substandard private rental housing, some schemes have come under criticism due to small room sizes and tenants often have to adhere to strict rules.
In London, there are no space requirements of at least 37 square metres for co-living projects.
Under the Permitted Development Rights (PDR) introduced in 2015 to promote the reuse of vacant office space, it is possible to convert office space into residential space without applying for planning permission.
