The 9 Largest Offices Completing In London In The Rest Of 2018
Any fears of an oversupply of London offices appears to be abating. The number of new offices being delivered in the capital peaked in 2017, according to Deloitte, with 2018 and 2019 seeing steady reductions.
There is about 12.6M SF under construction today, about in line with the 15-year average, Deloitte said in its most recent Crane Survey, and almost half of what is under construction is already pre-let.
Here are the nine largest office developments or redevelopments scheduled to be delivered in the remainder of 2018, and how they are faring for leasing, based on Deloitte data.
70 St. Mary Axe
The largest building completing in the remainder of 2018 is TH Real Estate's 70 St. Mary Axe, aka the Can of Ham, scheduled for delivery in the final quarter. Law firm Sidley Austin has agreed to lease 101K SF of the 326K SF building in one of the largest City leasing deals this year, leaving two-thirds unleased.
Two Southbank Place
The 300K SF Two Southbank Place is part of Almacantar’s £1.3B redevelopment of the former Shell Centre on the Southbank near Waterloo. WeWork is leasing 282K SF of the building, which is due to open in September. Shell is leasing the entirety of the neighbouring 272K One Southbank Place. Almacantar is currently in the midst of a £2B sale or recapitalisation.
One Bartholomew Close
The 212K SF One Bartholomew Close in the City completed its first letting a fortnight ago, with digital advertising company The Trade Desk agreeing to take 55K SF at a rent of more than £80/SF, EG reported. Ashby bought the scheme for £102M in 2015 from Helical Bar, which is undertaking the development on its behalf.
The Cabot
Hines paid Morgan Stanley £223M in 2014 for the 455K SF 25 Cabot Square in Canary Wharf. The bank is leasing back 250K SF on the lower floors, and Hines is redeveloping the building and leasing out the remaining space. Deloitte reports that around 93K SF is already leased, although no deals have been publicly announced.
55 Gresham St.
One of the largest buildings still entirely unleased is Beltane Asset Management and Angelo Gordon’s 122K SF 55 Gresham St. in the City. They paid £45M for the scheme in 2014, and are extending it from 85K SF.
4 Cannon St.
The leasing negotiations over the 105K SF 4 Cannon St. must have been pretty tough. In 2016, Fidelity International, controlled by the low-profile Johnson family, agreed to take the entirety of the building developed by Pembroke Real Estate, which is owned by the Johnson family. Pembroke also owns the current Fidelity HQ across the road, but has not yet revealed plans for the building when Fidelity moves out in 2019.
The Ray, 119 Farringdon Road
The 90K SF Ray Building in Farringdon is being developed by Viridis Real Estate and is currently unleased, although EG reported in April that LinkedIn was in talks to take 57,500 SF at the Midtown scheme for what would be a new London HQ. Quoting rents at the building are around £70/SF.
Atlas Building, 145 City Road
This is the second of three buildings on the list where WeWork is the tenant, testament to the flexible workspace company's supercharged growth in London which will see it occupy 2.9M SF when its pipeline is built out. It has taken the entirety of Rocket Investments’ 82K SF scheme near the Old Street roundabout.
10 Devonshire Square
WeWork is also taking the 59K SF of refurbished space that will be delivered later this year at 10 Devonshire Square. The building is part of the wider Devonshire Square campus in which WeWork owns a stake alongside majority owners PFA Ejendomme and TH Real Estate. The trio acquired the 620K SF, 13-building campus from Blackstone for £585M earlier this year.
