Projects

Argyle Street

Other

Urban Development

In 2019, SPRUCE provided a £6.0m senior debt facility to fund the demolition of existing buildings, carry out temporary sheet piling works and pay associated planning costs and professional fees in respect of a site at Argyle Street, Glasgow.

Sector

Other

Urban Development

Location

Glasgow, Scotland

Status

Operational

Equity Ownership

Senior Debt Facility – Fully Repaid

Financial Close

September 2019

Term Length

Medium term senior debt facility

About

The works at Argyle Street, Glasgow were undertaken to prepare the site for the development of 272,000 sq ft of Grade A office space to be delivered under a separate design and build contract.

The Argyle Street project has strong credentials, including:

Improving the potential of urban areas to develop
Providing for the regeneration of a currently unused brownfield site
Facilitating regeneration by increasing access to development finance for brownfield land remediation and hence addressing the market failure for this in the current banking market

Key impacts and benefits

Senior Debt Facility (Financial)

£ 0.0 m

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.

Argyle Street

About

Why we invested

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Outcomes

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