Dundee property investor Adrian Price plans to turn a historic city centre building into more than 100 serviced offices marketed by Regus.
Adrian, who has run a plumbing and heating business under his own name for 20 years, picked up the keys to the former Royal Exchange building in Panmure Street last summer.
He has since spent almost £500,000 on upgrades to the listed building, which now has dozens of flexible offices available for rent.
He has a partnership with global office giant Regus, which markets the office space.
This year, he plans to create a new business lounge in the building.
From plumbing to property
As well as running his plumbing firm, Adrian has grown a residential buy-to-let portfolio in Dundee and Arbroath over several years.
He went into commercial property in the summer of 2023, when he took on Spalding House in Broughty Ferry.
He quickly realised he wanted to make more commercial investments.
He said: “My wife Vicki works as a neuro-psychotherapeutic counsellor from the building, so that’s how we learned of the opportunity.
“We leased the whole building and upgraded it with a new IT system and with cosmetic upgrades. It has 14 offices and two meeting rooms.
“We got up and running and within a couple of months we were 70% full.”
Royal Exchange investment
Adrian knew he wanted another commercial project. When he turned up to view the Royal Exchange, he thought it was to potentially buy one floor, not the entire building.
He said: “After Spalding House, I knew I wanted to do another commercial project, a bigger one. I just didn’t expect it to be eight times the size.
“When the opportunity came to buy this building, I jumped at the chance. There’s so much potential.
“This building was bought off-market and since getting the keys in July it’s had a rewire, new offices have been created and new kitchens installed.
“Two floors have been completely done, which have 25 offices each.
“The upper two floors are still to be developed. The next step will be creating a business lounge, which will be a huge step up for Dundee.
“In time, this building could have more than 100 offices.”
Regus Dundee partnership
Global office brand Regus is marketing the space for rent. Regus has more than 4,000 global locations and wants to make Royal Exchange its flagship office in Dundee.
Anyone with an office in the Dundee building can gain access to Regus facilities anywhere in the world. The rent for offices in the building starts at £195 per month.
Adrian adds: “Regus works with lots of big businesses and I hope they can help attract companies to Dundee.
“There’s been a lot of interest in the offices – there are tours several times a week.
“So far there are around eight tenants and around 25 other discussions at various stages.
“The offices are flexible, with short-term leases and the opportunity to scale up and down in size.
“What is going to make a big difference is the new business lounge, which will be state-of-the-art. It will break the mould for Dundee.”
Originally built in the mid-1950s, the Royal Exchange building has been used by various companies over the years including Miller Hendry, KPMG, Digby Brown and Henderson Loggie, which occupied three floors until 2014.
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