A global property investor aims to make BP’s North Sea headquarters in Aberdeen a beacon of the city’s green credentials.
LaSalle Investment Management has also revealed it is talking to a number of potential new tenants for the 210,000sq ft building, on Wellheads Avenue, Dyce, after BP moves into new, smaller regional headquarters elsewhere in the city.
The energy giant is expected to vacate the site by December 2022 at the latest.
LaSalle fund manager Shaun Reed said a multi-million-pound revamp of the property was on the cards and likely to start early next year,
Its owner has enlisted Edinburgh-based architects CDA and “sustainability consultants” to design the radical overhaul of the award-winning campus.
The office complex already boasts BREAAM “very good’ status under the world’s leading sustainability assessment method for masterplanning projects, infrastructure and buildings.
Environment-friendly features include a rainwater harvesting system used to flush the toilets.
Chicago-headquartered LaSalle said it would explore options to “go further and aspire to net-zero carbon through the refurbishment”.
Mr Reed added: “The iconic Wellheads Avenue campus has played an important role in Aberdeen’s recent past, and we are preparing for it to play a key role in the city’s future as the focus on sustainability and the transition to renewable energy move to the top of the agenda.”
According to LaSalle, the building will be “ideally-placed to form
a hub or headquarters for organisations with sustainability central to their values”.
It added: “We hope the asset will be a guiding light for businesses in Aberdeen and beyond committed to playing a part in reducing their carbon footprint.
“Aberdeen has been Europe’s energy capital for the past 40 years, and with Scotland’s almost limitless renewables capability, we see that status continuing for decades to come, with Wellheads Avenue well-placed to contribute to the city’s ambitions.”
Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce chief executive Russell Borthwick said: “I was delighted to hear about the proposals for this important building, which when it was built set new benchmarks for the quality of its design, specification and sustainability credentials.
“In future occupiers will expect their office space to serve their needs in different ways, so with the campus-style nature of this redevelopment providing flexible collaboration spaces it is likely to be in great demand.”
Mr Borthwick added: “In many ways this is a metaphor for Europe’s oil and gas capital moving towards being a global leader in developing the energy transition technologies that will enable the achievement of net zero targets. We look forward to seeing these plans move forward.”
BP, which has been on the site since 2008, is downsizing to more modest premises at Aberdeen International Business Park.
LaSalle said this would pave the way for a “radical overhaul” of the building, adding it was “already in talks with a number of organisations about occupying a refurbished and highly sustainable Grade-A flagship campus which will target net-zero carbon at Wellheads Avenue.”
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