PRESTIGIOUS offices on Pall Mall in the heart of London have been taken over by squatters.
The Grade-II listed building, which is 200 yards from Trafalgar Square has around fifty people living there, describing themselves as “five star squatters”
The London offices at 123 Pall Mall, built late in the 19th century, were most recently home to the Institute of Directors (IoD) and were officially opened as their HQ by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2001.
The Institute of Directors vacated the six-storey offices late in 2014 and they have been empty since then. A “To Let” sign in the window has been amended to say, “To Let them know we rule.”
Another sign in the window of the building says, “Autonomous nation of anarchist libertarians @ IOD.”
A spokesman for the IoD was quoted as saying: “We vacated this building six months ago, but there’s a chance there are some old Hayek or Adam Smith books left behind. Who knows, perhaps they’ll learn something.”
LONDON has been named as the most expensive location for offices in the world in the latest annual Office Space Across the World global ranking survey by Cushman and Wakefield.
It’s the third consecutive year that London has been named in the report as being the most costly place for office space, with prime rents in the West End up over 4%.
London is the only European location feature in the report’s top five and at €2,344 per square metre per year, it’s more expensive than Hong Kong, New York, Rio de Janeiro and New Delhi.
Cushman & Wakefield’s head of London markets, George Roberts, commented:
“With a true global appeal, London continues to attract major international businesses looking to be based there, often using it as a springboard into Europe. As economic conditions in the UK further outperform, there will be heightened demand for London office space in 2015 from across all sectors. With supply heading downwards, further rental growth is expected.”
BRITISH Land have commenced development of redesigned 6 Kingdom Street at the Paddington Central campus in London.
The developer acquired the site in 2013 and then set about reviewing the proposals for 6 Kingdom Street, previously approved by local planners in 2010.
The redesigns, approved last year, include a relocated building core and typical floorplates across its nine storeys of 15,000 sq ft. Each floor has a corner terrace and glass pod in the new plans, and occupants will be able to make use of a communal roof terrace.
Robert Samuel, Head of Office Development at British Land, said: “We are excited to be starting our development plans at Paddington Central, and are pleased with the enhanced design of 4 Kingdom Street. The campus already attracts high calibre occupiers from a broad range of industry sectors, and is increasingly seen as a natural extension of London’s West End office market.”
DEVELOPER Land Securities has announced the purchase of a two acre development site in the City of London.
The company had previously announced an option to buy the site at 21 Moorfields, which was home to Lazard investment bank and also includes a TFL work site.
Late last year, plans were unveiled for the project which include two new office buildings with 400,000 sq ft and 110,000 sq ft of office space respectively.
Commenting on the purchase, Colette O’Shea, Managing Director, London Portfolio at Land Securities, said: “This is a site with fantastic potential and superb connectivity, located in the heart of the City, adjacent to Moorgate station and the western entrance to Liverpool Street Crossrail station.”
Speaking on behalf of TFL, who have an option to participate in the development, Director of Commercial Development Graham Craig, said: “This deal with Land Securities is a fantastic example of the work we’re doing to make the most of our assets whilst generating long-term revenue for us to reinvest back into our network. Our partnership will enable the development of office space in the heart of London as well as retail space.”
THE MAIN core of a brand new office building in the shadow of the City of London’s famous Monument has been completed.
Skanska announced that the core was completed in just fifteen working days by a team of forty working onsite.
Planning permission for the scheme at 11-19 Monument Street was granted by local planners in 2013 and it is expected to be completed in 2016.
Replacing three previous building, the new ten-storey Monument Building will offer 85,000 sq ft f Grade A space with retail space at ground level.
James Willats, Skanska development manager, said: “It’s great that The Monument Building is taking shape so quickly. On completion next year it will be a welcome addition to the City landscape, offering Grade A office accommodation and exciting retail opportunities.”
The 62-metre tall monument that the new building will stand to was built in the 1670s to commemorate the Great Fire of London.
A VIDEO has been released showing the devastating effects of an arson attack on council offices last month.
The offices of South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse district councils in Crowmarsh Gifford were ravaged by a fire, believed to have been started deliberately, on January 15th.
But just three weeks on, the councils say it’s nearly “back to business as usual” with staff working from temporary offices and from home.
Cllr John Cotton, leader of South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “The fact that we were up and running so soon is a result of good business continuity planning mixed with some ingenuity and improvisation. As much as anything else though, it’s down to some serious hard work from our staff who have pulled together and risen to the challenge brilliantly. There’s a long way to go yet, but I’m very happy that the majority of our residents will barely have noticed a blip in the services we’re providing.”
Cllr Matthew Barber, leader of the Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “We’re really grateful to everybody for their offers of support and practical help, as well as to people for being patient with for the week or so that some of our services were delayed. Thankfully we’ve managed to keep any disruption to a minimum. The most important thing is that nobody with an urgent problem has been made to wait a minute longer than they should.”
The councils are expecting to use temporary office locations for “two or three” years and the fate of the Crowmarsh offices is “undecided”.
ENGLISH Heritage has chosen fourteen of the finest post-war office buildings in England to receive Listed Building status.
The selected offices span the length and breadth of England and were listed by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport after being recommended by English Heritage.
Heritage Minister, Ed Vaizey, said: “Listed buildings are not just about historic houses and ancient monuments, they also serve to protect our recent heritage and preserve the best examples of our fantastic architecture. This group of listings reflect the changing face of our working environment and represent the very best in design and it’s entirely right that they be listed Grade II.”
Roger Bowdler, Director of Designation at English Heritage, said: “The clearer we can be about what deserves to be listed, the better for all. These offices show how architecture has adapted to recent radical changes in how we work: they show how the open-plan working space for computer-led work came about, and how architects responded to the need for lettable, attractive spaces with ingenuity and a deep understanding of human needs. Our project has aimed to deliver certainty for owners, while adding to the range of those key buildings which are protected by law. These are all remarkable designs, capable of years of commercially vibrant use. The project has been notable for its extensive research, and for close dialogue with owners.”
Newly listed office buildings
Brown Shipley, Moorgate, City of London, Fitzroy Robinson & Partners, 1973-5
30 Cannon Street (formerly Credit Lyonnais), London, Whinney, Son & Austen Hall, 1974-7
1 Finsbury Avenue, City of London, Arup Associates’ Group 2 led by Peter Foggo, 1982-4
Civil Aviation Authority House, (formerly Space House), Kingsway, Camden London, George Marsh of Richard Seifert & Partners, 1964-8
Mountbatten House (formerly Gateway House), Basingstoke, Arup Associates’ Group 2 led by Peter Foggo, 1974-76. The roof gardens at Mountbatten House have also been added to the Register of Parks and Gardens at Grade II
IBM Pilot Head Office, Cosham, Foster Associates, 1970-71
Gun Wharf (built as administrative headquarters for Lloyds of London, now civic headquarters for Medway Council), Chatham, Kent, Arup Associates, 1976-8
Former office of Ryder and Yates, Killingworth, Newcastle, Ryder and Yates, 1964-5
MEA House, Newcastle upon Tyne, Ryder and Yates, 1972-4
Bank House, King Street, Leeds, Building Design Partnership, 1969-71
Former Midland Bank, Dale Street, Liverpool, Raymond Fletcher of Bradshaw, Rowse & Harker, 1971
St James’s House, Frederick Street, Birmingham, John Madin, 1954-7
Alpha Tower, Birmingham, George Marsh of Richard Seifert & Partners, 1970-2
Former Central Electricity Generating Board Building (The Pavilions), Bristol, Arup Associates, 1975-8
A PLANNING application has been submitted to the City of London Corporation for the refurbishment and extension of an office building in Liverpool Street.
100 Liverpool Street, which sits at the corner of the large Broadgate office campus, would get a new facade and three additional storeys to create a building offering 515,000 sq ft of office and retail space.
The planning proposal by developer British Land arrived with local planners just before Christmas and would also see a new restaurant on the ninth floor.
Tim Roberts, Head of Offices, British Land, said: “We have put forward a proposal for an innovative refurbishment of 100 Liverpool Street which we believe will appeal to a wide range of occupiers. This is an important part of our broader plan to re-position Broadgate to meet the changing needs of a growing and dynamic market place. The demands on this area of the City are changing with the regeneration of nearby Shoreditch and we are focused on evolving the Broadgate campus to match these needs.”
The developer has also just announced a 65,000 sq ft office deal with collaborative coworking space provider WeWork in 199 Bishopsgate which takes the entire Broadgate office estate to total occupancy.
A NEW “Sky Garden” has opened at the top of the new Walkie Talkie skyscraper in the City of London.
The space at the top of 20 Fenchurch Street, as its officially known, contains restaurants, bars and an indoor “garden”.
It can also be visited for free by members of the public who book online, although available slots have quick been snapped up.
The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alan Yarrow, was present for the official opening ceremony which also marked the completion of the building. The 34-storey skyscraper contains 668,926 square feet of office space.
The striking addition to the City skyline hit the headlines last year when sun light was bouncing off of it and “melting” objects in the street below.
Social media users have been quick to share their photos from inside the Sky Garden.
SOCIAL network giant Facebook is reported to be developing a new version of the site to be used in workplaces.
“Facebook at work” will apparently offer a mix of business networking and workplace collaboration tools which pitch it against established platforms such as LinkedIn, Yammer, Slack and Google Docs.
While Facebook haven’t publicly commented on the project, the Financial Times has reported that the system is in development and will allow users to create groups, chat and share projects and files.
Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, has over 1.3 billion registered users although many workplaces don’t allow the site, and other social networks, to be accessed through corporate networks.
