Refurbishment at The Ink Building, an iconic eight storey office block formerly known as Hanover House situated in the heart of Glasgow’s city centre, began this month with completion expected in March 2020.
Once completed, the building will be transformed into high quality Grade A contemporary office accommodation offering c.35,000 sq ft (3,251 sq m) in a market that is currently under-supplied for new Grade A offices. Savills is the joint agent, along with Lambert Smith Hampton.
The building was purchased by Ambassador Holdings in 2018 and is their third high quality Glasgow City Centre office alongside Granite House and The Forsyth Building.
The building will be taken back to the core and completely refurbished into a high quality modern office building with upgrades to the roof, all new curtain walling window system with extended glazing to the front elevations, mechanical and electrical (including air conditioning) and lifts. The building will benefit from a revitalised exterior decorated with special ‘breathable’ black mineral paint that will not crack or peel and a re-modelled reception area. The refurbishment will also include digital infrastructure upgrades that will rank the building among the best in the UK for digital connectivity. Heating and cooling will be provided by an air source heat pump system which helps with the building’s environmental performance.
Colin McGhee, associate director in the office agency team at Savills in Glasgow, said: “There is no shortage of demand for high quality office space in the city centre. Employment growth is forecasted at 12% over the next five years translating to roughly 4,000 new jobs in Glasgow. Combined with severe under-supply of Grade A offices, it is clear the Glasgow market is desperately in need of high quality office space, especially in the city centre. The Ink Building will offer occupiers a unique product within the heart of the city centre core.”
Chris Richardson, Investment Director, Ambassador Group, said: “We are excited to begin refurbishment work at The Ink Building. Once completed the building will be transformed into a modern, high tech and high quality office space, delivering much needed Grade A space to Glasgow. This has been a very interesting project so far and was made possible by the work undertaken by our design team Stallan Brand, PMP, Butler Consulting, Blyth and Blyth and our agents and marketing team Savills, LSH and P4P. We are also very happy to have appointed Thomas Johnstone to undertake the refurbishment works.”
