Barclays Joins List Of Companies Dumping Space With 500K SF London Exit
UK banking giant Barclays is looking to sublease more than half a million square feet of office space in London as large firms continue to cut back on office requirements.
Barclays has appointed JLL to market 560K SF at 5 North Colonnade in Canary Wharf that it has now vacated, React News reported. It is relocating investment banking staff to its 1M SF HQ at nearby 1 Churchill Place in a process that was announced in 2021.
Barclays has a lease on the empty space that runs until 2032, and it will be subleased at £20-£30 per SF, React said.
Canary Wharf has had a rocky couple of years post-pandemic when it comes to office space, with vacancy in the east London district rising from about 10% to closer to 16%, according to Knight Frank.
One of Canary Wharf’s largest occupiers, Clifford Chance, is moving from a 700K SF office in Docklands to a 312K SF space in the City. HSBC leases 1.8M SF in Canary Wharf, but has said it will be taking a significantly smaller office as the result of a review. It has not yet decided if it will stay in its existing building.
Citi and Morgan Stanley have committed to staying in Canary Wharf, but eyes will now turn to the more than 500K SF leased by Credit Suisse at One Cabot Square. The bank has been taken over by UBS, and the expectation is that staff will be moved to UBS’ City of London HQ at 5 Broadgate.
Elsewhere in London, insurance broker Willis Towers Watson is subleasing 100K SF of its 539K SF Willis Building in London.
