Office + Industrial – bf secures sale and leaseback of Mothercare HQ

Client Name: Mothercare

Location: Cherry Tree Road, Watford

Services: Sale and Leaseback of Mothercare’s National Headquarters


The Brief

Our Business Space Team was tasked by Mothercare with looking at a potential sale and leaseback of their 100,000 sq. ft. HQ and adjacent warehouse in order to release cash for the business whilst safeguarding occupation and providing flexibility for the future. We were familiar with the building from past work with Mothercare and understood the particular challenges of its size, mix of accommodation and non-commercial location.

The Journey

With experience of both the commercial market regionally, an understanding of permitted development and the residential development market coupled with a fine-grained knowledge of the local commercial market we were able to identify that there were strong prospects of extracting value from the site well in excess of the pure office and warehouse value by focusing on the alternative use prospects.

Having been selected in competition with a multi-national firm speed was critical in the run-up to the summer period and we were able to mobilise quickly to bring the property to the market before the end of July. We generated strong interest in what is not normally an ideal time of year to promote property, but there was pressure to achieve a sale before critical reporting milestones for the client. A competitive bidding process produced a number of strong bids with a second round being necessary to separate the front runners. Once a party was selected exchange of contracts occurred quickly with completion slightly deferred but all within acceptable parameters for the client.

The Result

Our client was delighted with the achieved price and terms. Our team demonstrated an ability to mobilise fast to deliver results in a compressed time frame without compromising the marketing process or the end result.