Knight Property Group has completed the purchase of Atholl Exchange, a modern steel-framed corner building on Canning Street in Edinburgh's Exchange District. The property extends to 9,934 sq ft across basement, ground, and four upper floors — not a tower block, but exactly the kind of well-located, manageable space that mid-sized businesses and professional services firms are actively hunting for right now.
Knight Property's plan is a comprehensive refurbishment and repositioning programme. The detail of what that means architecturally hasn't been fully disclosed, but in the current Edinburgh market, "repositioning" is doing a lot of work. It almost certainly means ESG upgrades — better energy performance certificates, improved ventilation, the kind of fit-out that lets an occupier tick the sustainability boxes their clients and regulators are increasingly demanding. According to research from the British Council for Offices, more than 60% of corporate occupiers now rate energy performance as a primary factor in lease decisions. Landlords who ignore that are letting space sit empty.
The Exchange District itself remains one of Edinburgh's most commercially active postcodes. Home to financial services firms, legal practices, and a growing technology presence, it sits between the city's financial quarter and Haymarket — well connected, prestigious without being fussy, and increasingly in demand from businesses that want a proper Edinburgh address without the tourist-hour chaos of the Old Town. CBRE's Edinburgh office market data shows Grade A vacancy in the city centre running well below the UK average, which is precisely why developers like Knight are buying and refurbishing rather than waiting for new builds that may never come.
Knight Property Group is an Aberdeen-founded developer with a strong track record across Scottish commercial and industrial property. Their involvement here is a vote of confidence in Edinburgh's office market at a time when some commentators have been premature in writing off the traditional office. The post-pandemic rebalancing has landed — hybrid working is the norm, not the excuse — and what businesses now want is less square footage but significantly better quality. That dynamic rewards exactly this kind of targeted acquisition and upgrade.
For Edinburgh SMEs watching the market, this transaction is a data point worth noting. When experienced regional developers put capital into Exchange District refurbishments, they're pricing in occupier demand they can already see forming. The Scottish Government's own economic development strategy points to Edinburgh's financial and professional services cluster as a national asset worth protecting and growing — which means the pipeline of businesses needing quality space in this area isn't going away. If anything, it's thickening.