Family owned trading company, The RO, is pleased to announce the sale of its freehold interest in Dakota, Brooklands, Weybridge to Surrey County Council (“Surrey”) for a total consideration of £15.9 million.
The Brooklands estate, which was formed within the perimeter of the historic Brooklands motor racing circuit, is home to one of the largest clusters of blue-chip occupiers in the South East, including Sony, Procter & Gamble, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Cargill, LG and Mercedes-Benz World. It sits directly opposite the renowned St George’s Hill Estate.
Dakota was recently redeveloped and extended by RO and provides circa 36,000 sq. ft. of Grade A office space with large new private terraces.
Surrey will occupy the first and second floors, comprising circa 22,000 sq. ft, with staff relocating from County Hall in Kingston. The third floor is already let to Robert Half International the world’s second largest recruitment company and the ground floor to Yoooserv Limited, a premium office space company offering virtual, serviced or co-working spaces, desk hire and meeting rooms.
David Kershaw, Group Real Estate Director, the RO, commented:
“We are delighted with our sale of Dakota to Surrey County Council. The capital generated by this sale will enable us to look at attractive new opportunities, as well as continuing to invest in our existing assets.
“In the last two years we have modernised many of our buildings, including Dakota, as well as locations in Sevenoaks, Southampton and Watford. Covid-19 has accelerated a change in working practices and businesses are now more focused than ever on finding quality office space that satisfies employee wellbeing and enhances creativity and collaboration in decentralised locations.
“Dakota was always a very special project for us; being the first multi-tenanted building in Europe to achieve Fitwel certification and we wish Surrey County Council and its employees much success and enjoyment in their new building.”
Tim Oliver, leader of Surrey County Council, said:
“We are seeing through our commitment to move our staff back into the county of Surrey after more than 50 years in Kingston. The move will not only save us money and reduce our carbon footprint as an organisation, but it brings our staff closer to the residents we serve. I’m delighted that once we come out of COVID restrictions, staff will now be able to work flexibly across the county including from these fantastic new premises in Reigate and Weybridge.”
Surrey County Council were advised by Vail Williams and Davitt Jones Bould. RO were advised by Knight Frank and Womble Bond Dickinson