Law firm Hill Dickinson has advised a syndicate of UK lenders on an additional£100 million of funding to support Bruntwood SciTech, the UK’s largest property platform, in fulfilling future growth projects in the knowledge economy.
This follows a £480 million deal completed in February 2024 whereby Hill Dickinson advised the same syndicate on the refinancing of a term and revolving loan to Bruntwood SciTech to support growth of the UK’s knowledge economy.
The £580m facilities include a green loan and a sustainability linked loan to assist Bruntwood SciTech with its ambitious decarbonisation plans, with all new developments now net zero (based on the UKBGC Net Zero Carbon Buildings Framework) in both construction and operation in all shared spaces as part of the company’s target to be fully net zero by 2050
Bruntwood SciTech aims to use the facility to create a £5 billion UK platform of specialist workspace by 2033 with a specific focus on office and lab space across the six cities it operates in - Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Cambridge.
Hill Dickinson’s Banking and Real Estate teams provided legal advice to the lenders, made up of HSBC, Lloyds Bank, NatWest, Santander and Barclays. The Hill Dickinson team was led by partner Debra Cooper (Banking) together with legal directors Parin Galaiya (Banking) and Ruth Cockram (Real Estate), senior associate Phil Congdon (Banking), associate Belle Cottle (Banking) and trainee Alex Whittaker.
The Hill Dickinson team was proud to act for the lenders once again to arrange an additional £100 million loan facility as well as a three-year extension to the original term of the arrangement. Our banking team has longstanding relationships with all five of the lenders, which helped ensure the complexities of the deal were smoothly dealt with and we achieved a successful outcome for our clients and for Bruntwood. We continue to watch with interest as Bruntwood SciTech drives the innovation economy forward.Debra Cooper
Banking Partner
Commenting on the deal, Debra Cooper said: “The Hill Dickinson team was proud to act for the lenders once again to arrange an additional £100 million loan facility as well as a three-year extension to the original term of the arrangement. Our banking team has longstanding relationships with all five of the lenders, which helped ensure the complexities of the deal were smoothly dealt with and we achieved a successful outcome for our clients and for Bruntwood. We continue to watch with interest as Bruntwood SciTech drives the innovation economy forward.”
Manchester-based Bruntwood SciTech is a commercial real estate joint venture between Bruntwood, Legal & General and Greater Manchester Pension Fund. As the largest dedicated property platform serving the UK’s innovation economy, Bruntwood will use the funding to support growing demand from life science, tech and innovation businesses across the UK with world class infrastructure and specialist support.