Office sale in Peterborough was one of region's top deals

James Emans, director in the investment team at Savills.

Pigeon Investment Management sold the Anglian Water Services headquarters in Lynch Wood, for £13.95 million to an overseas investor.

It was a major deal in a year that saw commercial investment volumes in the East of England hit £1.8 billion - the highest for a decade.

Commercial agents Savills say it was the best year on record since 2005.

They say the investment total was 50 per cent above the 10 year average.

James Emans, director at Savills, said: “The eastern region has seen a significant rise in investment volumes across all sectors.”

The retail sector was the largest individual contributor totalling £696 million of investment.

Investment in the industrial market accounted for 28 per cent of the total, amounting to a record £499 million. This exceeded office investment in the region for the second year running.

Mr Emans said: “We are aware of about £1.5 billion of unallocated capital looking to invest into the Eastern region. We anticipate further benchmark transactions in 2018.”

Other top deals across the East of England last year included:

The Greater Manchester Pension Fund’s (GMPF) purchase of Intu Chapelfield, Norwich for £148 million - the region's largest deal.

Legal and General’s purchase of Bar Hill Industrial Estate, Cambridge, for £11.6 million.

Schroders purchase of The Quorum, Cambridge for £22.7 million.

Tesco Pension Fund’s purchase of the Abcam HQ on Cambridge Biomedical Campus for more than £60 million.

Aviva's sale of Grafton Place Industrial Estate, Chelmsford, to TH Real Estate for £5.95 million.

Benefit Cosmetic’s Headquarters in Chelmsford sold to a private investor for £4.1million.

Savills office and industrial investment teams have advised on 24 investment transactions in the East of England in 2017 equating to £303 million in asset value.