As we have reported in the past, the legislation enabling the change of use from office to residential in the capital was inevitably going to alter the face of the city both in terms of its appearance and atmosphere. 

Much of the City Fringe has been transformed over the last 10 years due to the expansion of the City Core bringing wealth and new developments, which is encouraging the gentrification of the Fringe. This is especially evident in the North and East of London in areas such as Shoreditch, Clerkenwell and Holborn, and to some extent to the south, which are now fully established parts of the London Office (and residential) market. 

One of the most iconic buildings in London, colloquially – and now always – referred to as the Gherkin, has been put up for sale, with a minimum asking price of £650 million.  The tower is a 40-storey, 46,914-square-metre office block, which has become a memorable feature of the London skyline, completed in 2003 and designed by Norman Foster and Arup Group. 

We have entered into August which, along with Christmas, is notoriously one of the quietest times of the year in the property market. The reason for this is everyone seems to go on holiday and it can become quite difficult for anything to get done. This can be a very frustrating period for tenants looking to take on new office space as it can seem as if there is no office space left available. 

Songbird Estates, who majority own The Canary Wharf Group have been granted planning permission for the construction of 30 buildings in a mixed use development to the East of London which will expand from existing Canary Wharf. 4.9 million square feet of offices, shops and homes amongst other infrastructure such as a school, NHS medical centre, parks, walkways and restaurants will be constructed.

Perhaps the most iconic building in the City of London has been put up for sale on the open market after it went into receivership earlier in the year. 30 St. Mary’s Axe, otherwise known as the Gherkin has struggled over the last five years due to adverse interest rates and currency movements affecting its complex multicurrency capital structure.

The summer is well and truly in full swing right now and the market has subsequently come close to a grinding halt. The July/August months are very difficult months if you are in the process of acquiring office space, with so many different parties involved and each vital for the deal to complete, when one goes away for a week it is impossible for the deal to keep traction and it inevitably drags on. 

The last 6 months have seen take up figures for Office space in Central London soar with take up already 17% up on 2013 with the market expanding into new areas. The matter has been made worse by the fact the market has 30% less availability for occupiers in the market subsequently pushing rents up and making it an extremely landlord biased market. However, the impact on the tightness of the market has meant one other area has seen costs soar and that is the fit out market.

Interesting figures at the half way point in the year reveal what every agent has been thinking for the last 6 months, demand is up and supply is continuing to fall. Figures suggest that take up of Central London office space us up 17% over the past 6 months, compared to the 2013 figures. Whereas availability of space is now 20% lower than this time last year across the whole of Central London.

It has been reported this week by the Estates Gazette that the online retail giant Amazon is close to agreeing a lease of around 400,000 square feet in London’s Silicon Roundabout area. The site in question is Brookfield Asset Management’s Principal Place development, and Amazon would become the occupier of over two-thirds of one of the buildings. The building, when constructed, will be a 15-storey tower block in an area populated with TMT (technology, media and telecommunications) businesses.