Hi, Louise. How are you? 

Louise Ioannou 

I'm very well, thank you. Lovely to catch up with you again. 

And you! Congratulations on your second child.  A busy time for you. 

Louise Ioannou 

Yes, although I think second child sort of slots in rather than the same shock that you had first time round. So yes, all going all going well so far. 

Well, sorry to shift you back to the work sphere, but perhaps we could talk about Space House and your involvement there. Could you explain how HB Reavis became involved at Space House? 

Louise Ioannou 

Sure. We were approached by QuadReal to take a look at the building, of which we felt pretty passionate about; that there was some areas where we could add value into how the scheme was moving into its post completion phase, and bringing in new occupiers into the building to drive further commercial success across the office and retail space. We were involved in providing our thoughts on how we would approach it, and much like any HB Reavis project, we took a look holistically at ultimately what the occupier benefits are to coming into the building from the location, the amenity, the workplace offering, and flexibility that occupiers would ultimately benefit from, from coming into Space House. So, we spent the first few months of the year really getting into the detail - really getting stuck in. Evolving the leasing strategy, the marketing strategy. So, we've been busying ourselves working on that, as well as obviously keeping transactions going and driving new leasing transactions for the building. 

Does it help that you love the building? I presume you do? 

Louise Ioannou 

Yes! (laughs) I think we all felt very passionate about the building. Ultimately, the design and the product itself is incredibly high quality, and that's something that we were really pleased with when we came on board. So ultimately, from a product perspective, there weren't huge changes that we're making to that. It was more advancing on and building on from what the previous development manager had delivered, which is an incredibly high spec product, and building out further amenity and further flexibility for occupiers. 

Speaking of occupiers, I think you've got a few new names in there, new to me anyway, including a lawyer, Wiggin, which is an interesting move, isn't it? Alongside some other sectors - tell me about that. 

Louise Ioannou 

Yes, so I think, taking a step back, what we really try to focus on is the fact that Space House sits both between Holborn and Covent Garden, so we're at a real mix of technology, creative, legal sectors, and also trying to connect ourselves with academia. We've positioned very closely with LSE, and therefore I think that location itself enables us to attract quite a diverse range of businesses. So yes, as you say, we do have a law firm in the building. We also have technology companies in the building. 

That's Sapiens, is it? 

Louise Ioannou 

Yes.  They are on the 13th floor of the tower. Wiggin are on the 12th floor of the tower. So, we've got a real mix of companies within the building, and I think that is largely because of where we're located. We're able to attract that diverse range of businesses. 

Tell me about letting across London, and particularly with regard to AI firms and tech firms. 

Louise Ioannou 

I think they're an increasingly important part of office demand that are being driven by technology and AI businesses. So obviously we want to strike a balance. We don't want to position ourselves as only one sector within the building, and I don't think we're doing that. But I think what we want to do is position ourselves as open to progressive businesses, and therefore a lot of the leasing and marketing strategy that we're working through at the moment is really trying to achieve just that -that we are there for a diverse range of companies to come into the building. 

Do those sectors require anything significantly different from other sectors? 

Louise Ioannou 

I think from what we're seeing and the requirements that we're receiving, there's an element of flexibility, both transactional flexibility around lease length, lease term, but also around the space. So typically, those businesses move at an incredible pace, and therefore they want to be able to move straight into an office. They may not have the capacity, personnel, time to spend time designing and delivering fit out. They want to move into an already fitted out space, and that's something that's been informing our leasing strategy most recently. So, we are working on delivering landlord Cat A-plus space, so that the fit out is there and ready for occupiers to move in. And I think our intention with doing that is that it means that we can open ourselves up to a broader range of occupiers; those that want traditional Cat A space, but also those that want to move into a fitted workspace. 

And what's your view about the West End currently and how it's evolving? 

Louise Ioannou 

Well, I think that there's a lot of flex requirements coming from the West End. I think also the unique proposition of Space House is that we are the tallest tower, and that's a key point of difference for us. So, where occupiers would like that tower offering, we're able to meet that. I think, in terms of just overall demand, because we're at the intersection between you know West End and City, we're able to cater to both markets. 

Sure. And what else are you up to across the group? I mean, a long running story is the Waterloo project. How is that getting on? 

Louise Ioannou 

Our big baby, yes. Waterloo. Quite timely. Waterloo is progressing well. We have been spending the last significant chunk of the last two years really reassessing our designs for One Waterloo, and we have just announced that we are launching our public consultation. So, we've taken a refreshed approach to the scheme and starting to look at how we would deliver a significantly sustainable mixed use destination, which is therefore a refresh on the previous proposals that we had delivered for the site. 

Right. Oh, okay. 

Louise Ioannou 

So that would be retaining and adapting the existing Elizabeth House, and then delivering space for student accommodation, hotels, build-to-rent, retail, brand new public realm, leisure spaces. So that's something that we're starting now - our first stage public consultation. 

Right. And anything else going on across the group? 

Louise Ioannou 

Well, our focus at the moment has been on the Waterloo master plan that we have. Earlier on in the year we got consent for our first PBSA scheme at 10 Leake Street. So, we've been working away on a construction programme, and we're gearing up to start demolition towards the end of the year for 10 Leake Street, and embark on our first PBSA scheme, which we're really excited about. And then that will obviously pave the way for our development plans at Elizabeth House to deliver One Waterloo. There's lots of exciting work going on at the moment across both Space House, Waterloo, both projects. Lots keeping everyone busy, and lots of exciting projects to come back to. 

Amazing! I don't know how you do it. Well, congratulations on all this, and I look forward to visiting Space House again soon, hopefully. 

Louise Ioannou 

Thank you. Yeah, you're definitely welcome. There's a fantastic team welcoming everyone into the building and a growing community. Lots of events, so you'll have to come along to our next AI event that we're hosting. The next one coming up is I think is in October, so I'll send you the details for it 

Great. All right. Thanks again, Louise! 

Louise Ioannou 

Thank you!