Lower Gilmore Place, located in the city’s Fountainbridge area, has been acquired off-market by L&G’s Managed Fund from Glencairn Properties. Knight Frank acted for the buyer, while Ryden represented the vendor. 

The Managed Fund is the largest open-ended balanced pension fund within L&G’s Asset Management division and has acquired almost £500m worth of assets in 2024.

The development, which overlooks Edinburgh Union Canal, consists of 151 student beds split over two phases.

The first, 8 Lower Gilmore Place, comprises 69 beds and achieved practical completion during the summer of 2023. Meanwhile, the second has been forward-funded and will provide a further 82 student beds upon completion.

Glencairn Properties assembled and developed the site and has been retained to deliver its second phase.

Rob Codling, senior fund manager, Managed Fund, Asset Management, L&G, said: “This is the first direct-let PBSA acquisition for L&G’s Managed Fund and is a fantastic opportunity to acquire a prime scheme in central Edinburgh.

“PBSA and Operational Real Estate sectors continue to be a key growth area for the Fund and this acquisition enables the Fund to benefit from operational income as well as acquiring a best-in-class, newly developed scheme.”

Euan Kelly, capital markets partner at Knight Frank Edinburgh, said: “The deal represented the culmination of a lot of hard work and it was a pleasure working with the Legal & General and Glencairn teams, along with the collaboration across various services within Knight Frank, including our market-leading PBSA offering.

“The sale of Lower Gilmore Place underlines the strength and depth of investor demand for PBSA assets in Edinburgh. The supply-demand dynamic in the city is still highly favourable to developers and this scheme is in a prime location between the University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt, and Napier.

“More widely, transactions like this point to the level of investor interest we are seeing across Russell Group university cities, given the resilience of demand from students for places at these institutions. As such, we expect more PBSA deals to follow during 2025.”

Daryl Teague, managing director of Glencairn Properties, added: “Having started the site assembly in 2017, I am proud – after a long journey – to sell our Lower Gilmore Place development to L&G. PBSA has been, and will continue to act as, a catalyst for regeneration in the Fountainbridge area, bringing life to once industrial uses. 

“Focussing on the living sectors, Glencairn has delivered an institutionally prime PBSA development, offering peaceful canal-side living a skimming stone away from the city centre. We would like to thank our team at Brodies and Ryden, along with Knight Frank and L&G, for pulling this over the line in record time.”