Australian developer Third.i has opened its first international head office in London with plans to “tap into local demand” and expand its presence in the UK market.
The firm’s new offices are located at 22 Albert Embankment between Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall Station, and the news comes three weeks after it acquired the former Royal Doulton site, now a 14-storey office block, for a luxury residential development.
Third.i said it had been active in the London market for almost five years, and had already built up a £185m pipeline of new-build homes in the city, alongside an additional £130m planned following the Royal Doulton acquisition.
The company is set to build a billion-pound pipeline over the next five years, including the acquisition of three additional sites in the UK by the end of 2024, adding more than £500m in GDV.
Two prime sites, Graphite Square in Vauxhall and the Doulton in Lambeth, will launch in September.
The firm wants to build its own UK-based team, headed up by co-founder Ron Dadd who’s transfered from Australia along with others from the Sydney team.
“We are very excited to be opening our first international office in London and to expand the Third.i presence to the UK,” said Luke Berry, co-founder and director of Third.i.
“This is the strategic next step following our growth in Australia. We want to let our buyers know that we are here to stay through not only investing in a full-time office but by relocating some of our Australian team too.”
Berry continued: “There are significant opportunities to be had in the UK from student accommodation to retirement living, so London is an appealing base to operate from.”
Dadd said the company’s expansion into the UK five years ago came at the right time for the company to build on its Australian success.
He added: “I am very excited to be given the opportunity to head up Third.i’s UK team.
“Working with the head of our UK business, Gareth Hardy, we identified the opportunity to replicate what we were doing in Australia in London, and the strength of our results to date demonstrate the demand in London for residences in desirable locations that have a focus on design and architecture.
“We work with world-class architects, interior designers and placemakers around the world to create vibrant places for people to live, work and play, and have a strong track record of selling out projects and breaking suburb records.”