M&G Real Estate has completed the biggest letting in Reading town centre for three years, with leading global professional services provider, KPMG, taking 43,462 sq ft on a 15-year lease at 2 Forbury Place, part of the 600,000 sq ft Forbury Place Estate. With the largest floorplates in the town centre, 2 Forbury Place was the first building in Reading to be awarded Wired Score “Platinum” rating, the highest level in the international digital connectivity rating scheme. The building has 200 car parking spaces sits and is next to Reading train stations, which provides access to central London by train within 30 minutes and a similar time to Heathrow Airport by road.
Aaron Pope, Director, Asset Management at M&G Real Estate, said: “The Forbury Place estate has proved on several occasions its ability to attract high quality, global companies. KPMG fits all of these criteria and more, and underlines the strategy to deliver an asset with a premium specification in a well-connected region.
“Its location outside London allows companies to occupy a prime building at a significant discount to space of a similar size and specification to central London. 2 Forbury Place has been created to provide an excellent environment for those who work there, and we have invested into a scheme which will remain sustainable long into the future.”
Andrew Morgan, Senior Partner for KPMG in the Thames Valley, added: “We are extremely excited about the move to 2 Forbury Place. With ambitious growth plans for KPMG in the Thames Valley, getting the right new location and building ahead of the end of our current lease, was of paramount importance. 2 Forbury Place will give our employees an enviable and well connected work environment and we will be ideally located to interact with our major clients in the Thames Valley as well as those from overseas.”
The deal is the largest to take place in Reading for three years, since M&G Real Estate completed a letting on the entirety of 1 Forbury Place to SSE in September 2015 – in turn, the largest letting in the town for 25 years.
M&G Real Estate was advised by Campbell Gordon and CBRE, and KPMG was represented by CBRE.
