More occupiers moving to Clerkenwell and Farringdon
The Telegraph has noted the attractiveness of EC1 to a wave of new occupiers in the creative, media, technology and fashion sectors, previously located in the West End of London. Office space in Clerkenwell and offices in Farringdon are cheaper than in Soho and “eye-catching new developments” such as Derwent London’s Angel Building – the new home for Expedia – are leading companies into the area, it reports.
While Expedia has moved into EC1 from Soho, Kurt Geiger has relocated to the area from the South Bank, and other occupiers such as Seven Publishing and Lastminute.com are also among the new arrivals. During the first quarter of this year, Pushbutton, part of Amazon, also signed up for 48,000 sq ft of offices at 26 Glasshouse Yard in EC1, the paper says.
The area was previously known as a back-office and disaster recovery location for the City, it notes, but the lack of activity by financial companies has meant that transaction terms have remained in favour of occupiers. Savills recently noted the improved relative strength of the TMT sector in terms of take-up of office space across London, and said that smaller, more cost-conscious companies were likely to consider Clerkenwell, Farringdon or Shoreditch in preference to the traditional TMT homes of Soho, Noho and Covent Garden in the West End.
The Telegraph also notes figures from Knight Frank showing that take-up of offices in EC1 during the first quarter of 2012 was 210,000 sq ft – the most for a first quarter since 2008. There was also a 57% jump in take-up of office space in EC1 during 2011 compared with the previous year – in contrast to the slower office lettings market elsewhere.
