The Amp secures additional 19,000 square feet from London College of Contemporary Arts

London (November 11, 2024) – LaSalle Investment Management (“LaSalle”) and Trilogy Real Estate (“Trilogy”) have leased an additional 19,000 square feet at The Amp, a newly refurbished education and innovation campus at 41-71 Commercial Road in Aldgate in East London, to London College of Contemporary Arts (LCCA).

LCCA’s expansion at the campus brings their total footprint within the building to 57,000 square feet, and means that The Amp is now close to fully let – a milestone achieved in just over two years from the acquisition of the site from the Department of Education in the summer of 2022 and a year after completing the refurbishment project.

An expanded LCCA, which will now occupy more than three floors of the building, will sit alongside other education occupiers. This includes De Montfort University, which arrived in September 2024 after signing an agreement for 18,000 square feet aimed at offering programmes specialising in sustainable practice to post-graduate students, as well as Nottingham Trent’s Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies and Access Creative College, both of which signed pre-lets totalling 55,000 square feet. Specialist facilities, including recording studios, multi-performance space and a gaming and eSports arena, are also located on-site.

The construction project to transform the buildings at 41-71 Commercial Road was completed in under a year to meet the operational requirements of the education occupiers, who needed an opening date in September 2023. The Amp provides space for education and innovation in a well-connected location, with one foot in central London and the other in the dynamic creative scene in the East of the city.

The Amp is the latest demonstration of Trilogy’s successful ongoing partnership with LaSalle Investment Management, which previously helped transform Republic in East India Dock from a dated office and disaster recovery space to a thriving mixed-use education campus. As of today, Republic hosts more than 15,000 students across nine institutions.

Chris Lewis, Managing Director, LaSalle Value-Add Investments, said:

“The expansion of LCCA within our exciting mixture of universities at The Amp, taking the campus to nearly full occupation within just over two years, is a real signal of the strength of the local offer and the demand for education-led innovation campuses in leading European gateway cities – especially in city-fringe locations like Aldgate.

“Helping to bridge the gap between infrastructure and real estate, The Amp remains an important part of LaSalle’s broader European value-add strategy. Projects like the Amp, which focus on new economy sectors such as mixed education campuses, urban accommodation, student housing, private medical facilities, and distribution and data centres, are only growing in importance and we are very proud to have partnered on it with Trilogy.”

Robert Wolstenholme, Founder and CEO of Trilogy Real Estate, added:

“At Trilogy our mission is to deliver the next generation of leading innovation campuses – campuses that mix exceptional education assets with high-quality shared amenities for business and the community.

“The fact that we have been able to turn around the refurbishment works and secure a nearly fully let building within just over two years from site acquisition is a testament to the level of demand for this type of campus in what has otherwise been a challenging market. It also reflects the huge amount of work that has gone into delivering truly bespoke and end-user-oriented facilities for our occupiers, their students, and the local community.

We look forward to LCCA’s expanded presence, and what this means for welcoming even more students on site to join what is fast emerging as a leading hub for business, technology and creativity.”

Allsop and DLA advised Trilogy and LaSalle on LCCA’s expansion.

41-71 Commercial Road was originally built in 1971 as the London College of Furniture. The college operated until 1992, when it was taken over by London Metropolitan University. The building was vacated in 2016 when the university rationalised its estate.

Work on the seven-floor refurbishment began in October 2023, led by main contractor Oktra, Project Manager Quartz Project Services, Architect Hawkins\Brown and Civic Engineers.

The completed building provides flexible, open floorplate space tailored to the needs of universities and colleges, as well as business and industry partners that may look to co-locate with a university to access the talent of the future and provide facilities for research and industry innovation. The building’s energy performance has also been significantly enhanced through the refurbishment – an all-electric heating and cooling system ensures no fossil fuels are burned on site, while all-new glazing has helped the building to secure BREEAM Excellent, WiredScore Platinum and an EPC “B” rating.

The Aldgate and Whitechapel area is a well-established higher education community education, and one of Central London’s youngest and fastest growing neighbourhoods. The Amp’s local offer – plentiful PBSA, nightlife, leisure and food and drink options, excellent transport connectivity and proximity to London’s cultural attractions – makes it an attractive choice, including for mature students or students who wish to live in their family home during their studies.

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About LaSalle Investment Management | Investing Today. For Tomorrow.

LaSalle Investment Management is one of the world’s leading real estate investment managers. On a global basis, LaSalle manages US$84.8 billion of assets in private and public real estate equity and debt investments as of Q2 2024. LaSalle’s diverse client base includes public and private pension funds, insurance companies, governments, corporations, endowments and private individuals from across the globe. LaSalle sponsors a complete range of investment vehicles, including separate accounts, open- and closed-end funds, public securities and entity-level investments.

For more information, please visit www.lasalle.com, and LinkedIn.

About LaSalle Value-Add Investments

LaSalle Value-Add Investments is part of LaSalle’s growing US $10 billion Debt and Value-Add Strategies platform in Europe and targets higher-return real estate equity investments across Europe, with a focus on conviction investment themes and dislocation opportunities.

About Trilogy Real Estate

Trilogy Real Estate was founded in 2015 by former Resolution Property partner Robert Wolstenholme as an investment and development company specialising in transforming unloved assets to create inspiring and positively impactful mixed-use innovation campuses where the world of work meets education, skills and training.