Workspace Group lands NHS on a five-year lease at The Centro Buildings, Camden
Workspace Group has clinched a new five-year lease with the North London NHS Foundation Trust at The Centro Buildings in Camden. The deal covers 16,000 sq. ft. at a net rent of £45 per sq. ft., adding a high-quality, long-term occupier to a key London asset.
This follows the earlier vacation of WinTech and sits alongside a wider refresh of the campus, including the refurbishment of Centro Workshops (formerly Atelier House). Early signs from the small-unit rollout are encouraging, with 11 of the 40 newly created units already let or under offer.
Key details of the Camden letting and refurbishment
| Tenant | North London NHS Foundation Trust |
| Location | The Centro Buildings, Camden |
| Lease term | Five years |
| Size | 16,000 sq. ft. |
| Net rent | £45 per sq. ft. |
| Implied annual net rent | £720,000 |
| Refurbishment | Centro Workshops (previously Atelier House) |
| New small units created | 40 units |
| Pre-letting progress | 11 let or under offer |
Note: Net rent typically excludes service charges and business rates.
Why this matters for investors in Workspace Group
- Institutional-grade covenant strength: Letting 16,000 sq. ft. to the NHS provides income visibility and credit quality at a time when many landlords are still rebuilding occupancy.
- Clear pricing signal: A net rent of £45 per sq. ft. in Camden provides a datapoint on rental tone for larger suites at The Centro Buildings.
- Small-unit demand is alive and kicking: 40 new small units have been created at Centro Workshops, with 11 already let or under offer. That is unusually quick early take-up, suggesting strong SME appetite.
- Execution on strategy: Management calls this proof of its Fix, Accelerate, Scale strategy – refresh the product, address demand hot spots, and scale what works.
- Backfilling after a move-out: WinTech vacated earlier in the year. Progress with both large and small lettings indicates momentum in rebuilding the income line at this campus.
Reading the market: demand, pricing, and product-market fit in Camden
Camden has long been a magnet for creators, makers and tech-adjacent SMEs. Workspace’s research earlier this year flagged it as a demand hot spot. The early traction at Centro Workshops supports that thesis, with 11 of 40 small units already committed before the dust has settled on the refurbishment.
On the larger-space side, landing the North London NHS Foundation Trust on 16,000 sq. ft. rounds out the demand picture. The mix matters: a blend of small units for fast-growing SMEs and larger footprints for established occupiers tends to stabilise cash flows and smooth void risk across cycles.
The £45 per sq. ft. net rent is also useful context for investors trying to gauge the rental tone post-refurbishment. While every unit is different, it is an indicator that The Centro Buildings can achieve competitive rents while attracting strong covenants.
Centro Workshops refurbishment: what’s new and why it’s working
Workspace has rebranded and refurbished Centro Workshops (previously known as Atelier House), adding 40 new small units specifically designed for Camden’s creative and innovative SME base. Smaller, flexible units are the engine room of Workspace’s model, allowing customers to scale up and down across an owned portfolio of 60 locations.
The early commitment – 11 small units already let or under offer – suggests the refreshed product is resonating. It also aligns with management’s comments that they are rolling out their small-unit offer in this market for the first time to capture demand.
What’s not disclosed and what to watch
- Break clauses and incentives: The RNS does not disclose break options, rent-free periods or fit-out contributions on the NHS lease. These can materially affect cash flow timing.
- Occupancy and ERV: No site-wide occupancy rate or estimated rental value is disclosed for The Centro Buildings post these lettings.
- Capex: The cost of the Centro Workshops refurbishment is not disclosed, so investors cannot yet assess the return on investment.
- Lease-up timeline: We do not have guidance on when the remaining small units may let or at what rent levels.
- WinTech space: The size and rent of the space vacated earlier this year are not disclosed, so like-for-like income impact is unclear.
Upcoming data points to watch include the pace of leasing for the remaining small units, rental levels achieved, and any colour on incentives. If momentum holds, it should help rebuild occupancy and enhance income quality at this important campus.
Context: who is Workspace Group?
Workspace is a FTSE 250 Real Estate Investment Trust and one of London’s biggest flexible workspace operators. It manages 4 million sq. ft. across 60 locations in London and the South East, with around 4,000 customer businesses.
The company’s model is to own distinctive buildings outright and offer flexible leases on a “blank canvas” basis, letting customers shape the space to their needs and move around the portfolio as they grow. Sustainability and regeneration are central to the approach – investing in older buildings and creating hubs of economic activity to support local communities over the long term.
CEO commentary: strategy in motion
Chief Executive Lawrence Hutchings describes the progress at The Centro Buildings as a clear example of the Fix, Accelerate, Scale strategy. In practice, that looks like refreshing the product, deploying the small-unit format into a high-demand submarket like Camden, and making sure larger suites also find homes with strong covenants.
The combination of an NHS letting and rapid early interest in new SME units is exactly the blend that can rebuild occupancy and underpin shareholder returns, if sustained.
My take: positive momentum, with the usual caveats
On balance, this update is a net positive. A five-year, 16,000 sq. ft. NHS lease at £45 per sq. ft. is a solid win, and early small-unit commitments at Centro Workshops point to robust local demand. It also shows Workspace actively backfilling after a known vacancy.
The caveats are the usual ones: incentives, break clauses and refurbishment capex are not disclosed, and we do not have a read on overall occupancy at the campus. Even so, the direction of travel looks encouraging, with a good mix of tenant profiles and a clear product-market fit in Camden.
If Workspace can keep accelerating lettings across both small and large formats, The Centro Buildings should contribute meaningfully to occupancy recovery and earnings quality. For now, this is a tidy proof point that the strategy is gaining traction where it counts.
