Projects

55 Douglas Street

Other

Urban Development

In 2018, SPRUCE provided a £12.5m senior debt facility to fund the refurbishment and extension of Cerium House, 55 Douglas Street, Glasgow. The completed building comprises 85,300 sq ft of refurbished lettable office space over six floors plus associated car parking, bicycle storage and changing facilities.

Sector

Other

Urban Development

Location

Glasgow, Scotland

Status

Operational

Equity Ownership

Senior Debt Facility – Not Yet Repaid

Financial close

December 2018

Term Length

Medium term senior debt facility

About

This project is an example of the SPRUCE fund helping to address market failure in the provision of mainstream commercial finance to Scottish property transactions.

The project assists with the delivery of the Scottish Government’s long-term regeneration aims and objectives:

Creation of high-quality business space.
Creation of employment and training opportunities through both the construction period and the operational phase of the asset’s life.
The building is available to high quality tenants.
Development has provided a stimulant to further commercial real estate development within the central Glasgow core.

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Key impacts and benefits

Senior Debt Facility

£ 0.0 m

Jobs Creation Target

Business Space Created

0,0 sqm

Why we invested

Amber invested in this asset as it met the objectives of the SPRUCE fund.
Amber is the Fund Manager to the Scottish Partnership for Regeneration in Urban Centres (SPRUCE) which is an Urban Development Fund (UDF) that supports regeneration and green energy projects throughout Scotland. The fund provides an innovative source of finance to eligible projects which are aligned to the Scottish Government’s regeneration and green energy strategies. Amber has been managing SPRUCE since its inception in 2011.
SPRUCE is a recyclable regeneration and energy efficiency fund, sourced from the Scottish Government, the European Investment Bank and the private sector, and is an innovative source of finance for projects that deliver outcomes aligned to key Scottish Government policy objectives.
SPRUCE supports a wide range of urban regeneration activity within well-defined, integrated, sustainable urban development plans. The Fund’s Investment Policy seeks projects in the following sectors:
- Rehabilitation of the physical environment
- Construction of new buildings and/or renovation of existing ones and associated site specific infrastructure and servicing
- Training and e-learning centres, including investment to increase ICT access
- Creation of safe transport links between areas of opportunity and areas of need
- Energy efficiency retrofit works delivering energy savings of at least 20% per annum
- Energy production from renewable energy and low carbon technologies

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by UN Member States in 2015

SDGs supported:

SDG contribution

Outcomes

SPRUCE facilities have typically addressed market failure in the provision of funding to eligible projects that demonstrate a strong regeneration or low carbon rationale. Projects funded through SPRUCE have generated direct employment benefits to local populations.
The SPRUCE fund provides affordable, flexible, repayable facilities for project sponsors, and was designed to lever significant co-investment from public sector and private sector sponsors in supporting urban renewal and employment growth through revenue-generating projects. Typically, projects will address market failure, will demonstrate a strong regeneration rationale, and will generate direct employment benefits to local residents.
Funding is provided in the form of competitively priced senior loans, mezzanine loans and equity to eligible projects to be repaid within an agreed timescale. Funding can be provided to public, private or joint venture entities delivering regeneration or energy efficiency benefits.

55 Douglas Street

About

Why we invested

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Outcomes

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