International law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has advised Delancey on its pre-let of space to the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) at the former Olympic Press and Broadcast Centre in the Queen Elizabeth Park.
The V&A is a significant high-profile tenant for Here East, as the world’s leading museum of art and design. The V&A’s new Collection and Research Centre is part of their expanded V&A East project, which will also include a new museum at Stratford Waterfront. The centre will be open to the public after a redesign project by New York High Line architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro.
Led by Real Estate partner Caroline Walker, the multidisciplinary team comprised real estate (Sally Sparrow, Sarah Key, Jasmine Sherr, Will Haig and Julia Mckie), tax (Paul Shaw and Liz Hughes), environment (Isabelle Laborde), strategic litigation advice (Michael Metliss and Anna Iceton), planning (Tim Smith, Robert Gowing and Ros Nuttall) and commercial (Marcus Pearl, Laura Jenkins, Kenneth Addly, Tom Wheatley and Grace Nisbet).
Caroline Walker commented: “We are delighted to have acted for Delancey on this significant pre-let. This has been another major step in the evolution of Here East and reflects the hugely successful implementation of Delancey’s strategy for this property.”
Gavin Poole, chief executive of Here East, said: “The V&A creating a new state of the art Collection and Research Centre at Here East encapsulates the vision we’ve always had for the campus. By bringing together new technology, innovation, research and a world leading institution, the Centre embodies the values that we hold and will bring an array of new opportunities to the community. We have spent two years working with the team at the V&A to accomplish this and we are incredibly excited to see what the future holds.”
Paul Goswell, managing director of Delancey, added: “We have a long-standing relationship with BCLP Law and were delighted to have them on-board to advise on this deal. The V&A is home to a vast array of world-leading collections of art and we are excited to welcome the new V&A Collection and Research Centre to Here East. The essence of our vision for Here East is to create an environment which enables businesses to thrive, partly by fostering an entrepreneurial culture where largescale and smaller companies interact and collaborate with each other, as well as with the academic institutions that are located there. The cultural and other amenities present make Here East a really exciting place to work. In a world where competition for the best talent is becoming ever tougher, providing that sort of working environment can be a real game changer. The V&A coming to Here East will only strengthen its appeal in that regard.”
