BAM breaks ground at ‘landmark’ Atlantic Square development
Representatives from BAM TCP Atlantic Square and HM Revenue & Customs gathered at a ground breaking ceremony at Atlantic Square celebrating a major new investment and landmark buildings for Glasgow.
Dougie Peters, managing director of BAM Properties, welcomed Fiona Wallace and colleagues from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to view the progress of construction work which is now well underway.
Situated in the heart of the International Financial Services District, HMRC is to lease the ten storey new building which features 187,205 sq ft of office space for a minimum of twenty years. The Grade A building will accommodate some 2, 700 full time equivalent employees by the end of 2021 and is one of the 13 new HMRC regional centres.
A joint venture between BAM Properties and TCP Developments Limited, forward funding for HMRC’s building has been provided by Legal & General on behalf of Legal & General Retirement which invests in high-quality, long-term UK assets.
The building, which will feature the retained facade of an A-listed former warehouse buildings built by pioneering retailer, William Whitley in the mid nineteenth century, will be designed by BAM Design and built by BAM Construction.
The pre-letting of Building 1 at Atlantic Square has enabled the developers to speculatively build and fund Building 2, which will provide 96,650 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation ready for occupation in autumn 2020.
Dougie Peters added: “Using the latest technology we’ve been able to virtually show our HMRC colleagues the building in great detail but nothing beats the experience of viewing the site first-hand. Piling is well underway and you can now start to see the building take shape.”
Fiona Wallace, regional implementation lead at HMRC, said: “This significant milestone in the Atlantic Square development is the result of months of planning and preparation. When it is built, the new building will mean our staff can work in a modern and bright environment and work collaboratively with other teams, to increase our effectiveness in collecting taxes.
“The building work is just the beginning of cementing HMRC’s presence in Scotland to create a tax authority fit for the future.”