Art And Flexibility As First Letting Agreed At Giant Twentytwo Skyscraper

The first letting has been agreed at the 1.4M SF Twentytwo skyscraper in the City of London, with an innovative leasing structure and an art gallery part of the deal.

Insurance company Hiscox has agreed to pre-lease 75K SF over three floors of the 62-storey building, which is being developed by a consortium led by AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets. Its lease runs to 2037, and it will take occupancy in 2021. The building will be completed in 2019.

On top of this 75K SF, Hiscox has also taken an option on a further 12.5K SF if it needs to expand, and it has the option to take up to 90 desks of short-term, fitted-out space within Twentytwo, meeting its requirement to house specific project teams.

Over the years Hiscox has built up its own art collection, made up of pieces from both undiscovered and well-known artists, and some of this will be displayed in different parts of the building.

Twentytwo was previously known as the Pinnacle, a project that was started in the 2007 boom but mothballed when the market collapsed. AXA bought the scheme in 2015 and decided to push on with the development on a speculative basis just after the Brexit vote in 2016.

AXA is also in talks with occupiers who could occupy more than half of the office space in the building, CoStar reports.

The building is looking to break the mould of traditional skyscrapers, with more than 10% of the floorspace given over to communal areas, be it offices or space for leisure, health and wellness.

CBRE and JLL acted for Twentytwo while BH2 acted for Hiscox. Lipton Rogers is the development manager.

The building will play host to Bisnow’s London State of the Market event on 1 November.