Prelets Fill Up The Biggest London Office Schemes Completing This Year

For the past few years, big office developments in London have had to reckon with hitting their completion date empty or only partially leased. The long-lasting impacts of the pandemic had a chilling impact on leasing at even the best new schemes. 

This year, the data tells a different story. 

The city's 10 largest schemes were already 66% leased as the calendar turned over to 1 January, an analysis by Bisnow of data from consultancy Deloitte shows. That compares with just a third leased for the equivalent schemes completing in 2024. 

Several significant projects from some of the UK’s biggest developers are yet to bag tenants. 

But on the whole, a reduction in new construction starts in the wake of lockdowns and interest rate rises benefited those who dared build. 

Here are the 10 largest office developments completing in London this year and their leasing status:

Barkers Of Kensington

Owner Resla Properties in 2023 kicked off a £120M refurbishment of the 570K SF Barkers of Kensington building in west London, a former department store. Around 250K SF of the new space will be offices, with about half of that to be leased by DMGT, the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper. No tenants have been announced for the rest of the office space. 

The M Building

The M Building is one of several former department stores on Oxford Street in the West End to be converted into offices after tenants departed or went out of business. In this case, that tenant was Debenhams, and owner Ramsbury’s bet that office tenants would want to locate on the famous shopping street has paid off. Accountancy firm BDO signed to lease 220K of the 280K SF building ahead of completion for a new HQ. Ramsbury is owned by billionaire H&M founder Stefan Persson.

Thirty High

Thirty High is the £400M refurbishment of the Portland House office tower in Victoria in west London, one of two Landsec schemes on this list — and one of two that currently has no tenants in place. The 300K SF project will comprise 265K SF of office space plus a communal rooftop restaurant and terrace on the 29th and 30th floors. 

“We’re engaging prospective customers for pre-let commitments at Timber Square in Bankside (from +50K SF) and Thirty High in Victoria (from 20K SF), from a range of sectors including tech, creative, professional, boutique financial and consumer,” a Landsec spokeswoman said in a statement. 

“These businesses are seeking space in vibrant, well-connected locations like Bankside and Victoria. We expect leasing conversations to build as we head towards completion at the end of the year.”

76 Southbank

Dubai-based Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group bought the brutalist office building on London’s Southbank for around £120M in 2013. It was once the London headquarters of IBM, but the computer company moved down the road. Its owner drafted in development manager Stanhope for a £120M refurbishment that will see a 305K SF scheme created. No tenants have been officially announced, but PayPal was reportedly in talks at the end of last year to take 40K SF at the scheme. 

2 Aldermanbury Square

GPE is developing the 322K SF 2 Aldermanbury Square in the City of London and snagged one of the biggest prelets of the last decade when law firm Clifford Chance preleased the whole building in 2022, leaving its longstanding Canary Wharf home. To give it flexibility, Clifford Chance has a separate lease on each of the building’s 12 floors. 

Woolgate

When Cathay Life bought the 330K SF Woolgate Exchange office building in the City for £310M in 2014, it was fully let. But a series of lease breaks left the building vacant, prompting it to undertake a comprehensive refurbishment, led by development manager Stanhope. Last year, L&G signed a 15-year lease to occupy 190K SF at the building, moving from nearby One Coleman Street. In the first week of this year, Handelsbanken signed to take 53K. CoStar reported that quantitative trading firm Susquehanna is in talks to take about 45K SF at the building, which would leave it close to fully leased. 

Timber Square

The second Landsec building on this list, Timber Square totals 380K SF across two buildings. One existing building has been retained to reduce carbon emissions, and as the name suggests, the second building has a timber structure that is less carbon-intensive than steel. As with Thirty High, no tenants have yet been announced.

One Leadenhall

Brookfield’s One Leadenhall is the largest new London development being undertaken by the Canadian firm, one of the world’s largest office owners. The company told Bisnow the 420K SF scheme is 70% leased in an interview earlier this year, with Latham Watkins having preleased 291K SF at the building in 2021. 

1-2 Broadgate

As part of a wider £1.5B redevelopment of the Broadgate office campus in the City of London, British Land and GIC are set to complete a new 500K SF building at 1 Broadgate at a cost of £300M. Law firm A&O Shearman is leasing 354K SF, and agency JLL is leasing 134K SF, taking the scheme close to fully leased. 

Panorama

Opportunity fund manager Orion Capital pulled off one of the biggest London leasing deals in decades at Panorama, its 556K SF redevelopment of BT’s former HQ next to St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London. HSBC is leasing the entire scheme, paying £87 per SF, one of the highest-ever rents in the City on a lease of that size. Like Clifford Chance, HSBC is vacating its current Canary Wharf headquarters.