Aberdeen on the rise as £11m property deal boosts city’s fortunes

The seven assets, spread over Kingshill Park, have been purchased by the Hamilton Kelly Investment Partnership (HKIP) in a joint venture with Revcap from Knight Property Group, the site’s developer. Property consultancy Knight Frank represented the buyer, while Lismore acted for the seller.

Constructed between 2014 and 2020, the modern buildings comprise a total of 70,000 square feet of space in what is seen as one of the Granite City’s best-performing business locations.

The buildings’ current occupiers include Donaldson Timber Systems, Kraken Robotics and housebuilding heavyweight Cala.

Revealing details of the £10.8m sale, John Rae, capital markets partner at Knight Frank, said: “The acquisition of the assets at Kingshill Park was a great opportunity to secure long-term income from a strong micro-location in Aberdeen. At the same time, with some vacancy in the buildings, potential to add to existing lease terms, and an adjacent consented development site, there is plenty of scope to add value in the longer term, with investor appetite for the Granite City at its highest in years.”

Matt Park, partner at Knight Frank Aberdeen, added: “Westhill remains one of Aberdeen’s best-performing business locations and Kingshill Park, in particular, continues to experience very low vacancy rates across both its office and industrial offerings. Availability for best-in-class space is at low levels and demand for the right stock remains relatively strong, putting Kingshill in a strong position for the future.”

Recent analysis from Knight Frank showed that Aberdeen accounted for nearly a quarter of investment deals in Scotland during the first half of 2025 - the city’s highest share in years. Property experts said buyer and vendor expectations in Aberdeen were moving closer together.

The firm’s analysis of Real Capital Analytics (RCA) data found that the city accounted for 18 per cent of the market during 2024 - 42 of Scotland’s 232 deals - its largest annual share since 2020.

The city is on course to surpass that in 2025, having accounted for 24 per cent of deal transactions up to the end of June - well above the 13 per cent average for 2020 to 2024. Only Glasgow has seen more transactions among Scottish cities this year.

In the first half of 2025, Aberdeen accounted for 14 per cent of investment in Scottish commercial property - £102m of the £750m transacted by value. That figure is well above the Granite City’s 9 per cent average for the previous five years, buoyed by sales including St Magnus House and the Aberdeen bases of energy companies CNOOC, Apache and Taqa.

Alasdair Steele, head of Scotland commercial at Knight Frank, added: “Aberdeen is going through a transitional period as a city.

“Inevitably when that happens there is greater turnover of property ownership, with some current owners seeking new opportunities while new entrants to the market see long-term opportunity. That helps to bring buyer and seller expectations closer together, whereas in other markets they are further apart given the uncertain macro backdrop.”