Over 6.26 million square feet (sq ft) of floor space was leased in the capital during the second quarter of 2015, London's highest level since 1998.The capital’s leasing market reached a record level during the three months to the end of June as some 6.26 million sq ft of property space was transacted, according to estate agents Cushman & Wakefield, the capital’s highest level since 1998.Here are the five biggest property leases signed in London during the second quarter:
1. FCA – 425,000 sq ft – International Quarter Building 5, Stratford. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), watchdog of the city’s financial services sector, signed the largest property lease covering a huge 425,000 sq ft within the International Quarter’s new 515,000 sq ft Building 5.Development of the International Quarter’s £2.1bn development in Stratford (full site pictured above) is ongoing and FCA staff aren’t expected to start moving in until 2018.
2. Deutsche Bank – 389,000 sq ft – 10 Upper Bank Street, Canary Wharf. Deutsche Bank is moving some 4,000 of its workers spread across five buildings around the City of London’s financial district into a single building in Canary Wharf. The bank’s move is scheduled to start towards the end of next year.The tower itself is owned by life insurance firm China Life, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and Canary Wharf Group which bought it last year for £795m.
3. Transport for London – 250,000 sq ft – International Quarter Building 6, Stratford. Transport for London (TfL) will become neighbours to the FCA in Stratford. The two organisations will move a total of 6,500 staff to the two adjacent buildings which sit in the heart of one of the largest new commercial developments in Europe and on the edge of London’s Olympic Park site.
4. Google – 190,000 sq ft – King’s Cross Central Building S2. With the search giant having decided to start from scratch with the designs for its £1bn European headquarters in King’s Cross, Google signed another huge property lease nearby to house more of its staff while the headquarters remains years away from completion.
5. Brit Insurance – 66,304 sq ft – The Leadenhall Building, 122 Leadenhall Street. Not even the huge bolts that fell from London’s so-called Cheesegrater buildingwere enough to put off new tenants from signing leases on the building.Specialty insurer Brit signed a 15 year lease in May to move staff from its current base in 55 Bishopsgate to four floors of the Cheesegrater.
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