LETTINGS MOMENTUM CONTINUES AT THE SHARD AS THREE FURTHER TENANTS LEASE OFFICES
The Shard has confirmed that a further three office tenants have signed leases, taking the total to nine and reinforcing the vision of creating a vibrant business community in Europe's first vertical city.
These latest lettings, amounting to 27,550 sq ft of space, underline The Shard's attractiveness to occupiers, with one of the new tenants re-locating from Mayfair, and the other two establishing a London presence for the first time.
These latest signings comprise:
Arma Partners: International specialist Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Finance advisory firm Arma Partners LLP is to relocate from Mayfair to The Shard following an extensive market search. Arma Partners is taking 10,500 sq ft on level 27, and expects to begin fit out this month and take occupation in August.
An undisclosed global drinks brand is leasing the balance of 4,900 sq ft on level 27 for its first London base.
Warwick Business School will open its doors in September on Level 17, to establish its first presence in London. It has become one of the world's leading business schools with its executive MBA course ranked second in the UK and 25th internationally. The 12,150 sq ft campus 'in the sky' will house state-of-the-art lecture theatres, seminar rooms, and an IT lab.
These latest tenants join an incredibly diverse range of companies who have already leased space at The Shard, ranging from intellectual property lawyers, a venture capitalist, a global media brand, a New York-based investment bank, the world's largest hospital group and an international energy business.
Irvine Sellar, Vice Chairman of REM, and James Goldsmith, Leasing Director for REM commented: "We are delighted with these latest signings. This is further evidence of The Shard's ability to attract global businesses and brands to London Bridge Quarter.
"We continue to realise the vision of creating a vertical city comprising a vibrant community of occupiers from across multiple sectors. There are now eight property classes represented in the building - offices, retail, hotel, restaurants and bars, apartments, a tourist attraction, health and now education in the form of Warwick Business School."
Neil Prime, Lead Director - UK Office Agency, Jones Lang LaSalle commented:
"Office occupiers' searches are increasingly focused on finding workplaces that will help them attract and retain the best talent. The Shard offices not only provide inspiring work environments, in an internationally recognised building of great architectural distinction, but also that rare mix of social, transport and business infrastructure in the surrounding London Bridge area, all of which is continuing to drive significant interest in this building."
Phillip Hobley, Head of West End Office Agency at Knight Frank commented: "Testament to the owners' vision of establishing a vertical city with multiple occupiers, The Shard's offices now comprise companies from finance, energy, corporate, media, legal and education sectors. With tenants already operating in The Shard offices, and News UK's brands already moving into sister building The News Building, there is a real vibrancy about this area, which will ensure it remains a sustainable community over the long term."
Today London Bridge Quarter is now more than two-thirds let with 23 brands now leasing space within the development. Across the estate a total of 17 brands have taken offices in the two buildings - nine in The Shard, and eight in The News Building. Already four tenants are in occupation at The Shard with the remainder fitting out, while News UK has started the process of consolidating its brands into The News Building.
London Bridge Quarter's new office tenants are confident that The Shard's location, quality of office space and profile will be good for their business.
Paul Hayes, Managing Director - News UK Commercial, said: "With a 30-year lease on our new HQ we intend to be around for a long time as we build a prosperous and sustainable future for our world-class journalism. News UK is also proud to take its place on London's landscape at this iconic location and to be rooted into this historic and vibrant community.
"We have also used the opportunity of moving to state-of-the-art premises to remove all offices and introduce hot-desking for our commercial operation. Our new building is transformational and I am convinced that our move and changes to working practices will benefit the bottom line in the long term."
Arma Partners Managing Partner, Paul-Noël Guély, commented: “We are relocating to The Shard due to the quality of office accommodation which we believe will be important in attracting and retaining the best bankers in Europe and beyond. Further, The Shard itself reflects the importance of London within the world’s capital markets, is at the cutting-edge of modern architecture, in line with our own positioning as a fast-growing, innovative firm, and is centrally located with the City, Mayfair and Canary Wharf only minutes away, which is convenient to our visiting clients. We believe these factors will benefit our business and profile.”
Warwick Business School Dean Mark Taylor said: "This is a very exciting development for the School and to take premises in one of London's most iconic buildings is a tremendous moment for Warwick. The Shard is a spectacular sight on the London skyline and is a fitting base for Warwick Business School, which has creativity at the heart of its business teachings."
In addition to strong interest from the business community The Shard continues to be incredibly popular with the public; over 1 million have visited The View from The Shard since it opened in February 2013, up to 6,000 people a day enjoy the building's three award-winning bars and restaurants - Oblix, Aqua Shard and Hutong - on the mid-levels, and the 202 room five-star hotel, Shangri-La at The Shard, opened to great acclaim in May.
