Israeli billionaire and Playtech founder Teddy Sagi’s latest plan for Camden Town will see 1000 trendy office workers flood into the area famed for punks and piercings.
The unveiling of plans for the “very cool, unique, Camden-style co-working office space” came as Market Tech Holdings, in which Sagi is a majority shareholder, reported its maiden results for the year to 31 March. Revenue rocketed 63%.
Charles Butler, chief executive at Market Tech, said the group was working with designers to convert underused space at the Stables market, which is moments from the Roundhouse venue, into flexible workspace by November.
“We want to bring in exciting young businesses and start-ups. It will be cool and creative space and we are not looking at your standard conventional offices,” added Butler.
Other proposals include a boutique hotel, which will be built on the historic Union Street Market site.
The initiatives represent the latest move to spruce up the north London area by the group, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in December, valued at £750 million.
The firm has built up 14 acres in just over a year, bringing the famous Camden markets under one single ownership for the first time.
As well as redeveloping chunks of the property, Market Tech is trying to give Camden a bigger presence online to promote footfall and boost online sales for tenants.
Prior to the IPO, Market Tech bought Fiver London, which has a distribution centre in Basildon for online deliveries. Last month it paid $34.5 million (£21.9 million) for Israeli e-commerce group StuccoMedia, to help shops such as Cyberdog have the infrastructure for an even bigger presence online.
Turnover in the year rose to £30.1 million, and strong property value increases helped pre-tax profit up to £44.1 million from £16.9 million.
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Since the year-end, the company saw rental income for April and May total £4.4 million, 43% up on last year. Technology and e-commerce revenues were £17 million.
“We are growing at a real speed,” said Butler, adding that he believed the mixture of technology, property and more workers would make “people really want to engage with the Camden brand more”.
