Six office occupier searches made up a tenth of active demand in central London at the end of 2024, with five out of the six looking to expand their footprint. The occupiers included Deutsche Bank, insurer Gallagher and software company Palantir.
Speaking at the City Property Association yesterday, Dan Gaunt, head of London leasing at Knight Frank, presented his firm’s market report for Q4 last year.
In doing so, he highlighted six searches to watch: those of law firm Herbert Smith Freehills, Gallagher, Deutsche Bank, accountant PKF, Palantir and private credit giant Ares Management.
He said: “A lot of those big occupiers are expanding. Everyone has options to re-gear at the moment, of course, but some of them will move.”
Together the occupiers are on the hunt for more than 1.2m sq ft of space across London, with HSF and Gallagher searching in the City, Deutsche and PKF in Docklands and Palantir and Ares in the West End, according to Knight Frank’s report.
Herbert Smith Freehills is on the hunt with Cushman & Wakefield for 300,000 sq ft ahead of a move away from its offices in British Land’s Exchange House at 12 Exchange Square, EC2, and 40 Bank Street, E14.
Gallagher is said to be hunting for 350,000 sq ft as it comes out of its offices in the Walbrook Building at 25 Walbrook, EC4, 67 Lombard Street, EC3, and 20 Wood Street, EC2.
Deutsche Bank’s search, the only downsizing, is for 225,000 sq ft in Docklands, uprooting the company from its current City base at 21 Moorfields, EC2.
PKF’s requirement, the smallest of the six, is for 60,000 sq ft, also in the Docklands area, where it is already based at 15 Westferry Circus, E14.
Palantir’s search for 175,000 sq ft would, if fruitful, make it one of the largest recent lettings in the West End. There were only a handful of leasing deals for more than 100,000 sq ft last year, with BDO’s 220,000 sq ft prelet of 334-348 Oxford Street, W1, being the largest. The company announced that it would make London the European headquarters for artificial intelligence research and development in mid-2025, heading up a network of 10 offices across the continent.
Ares’ search for a similarly sizeable 100,000 sq ft is also in the West End, taking the company away from its office at 10 New Burlington Street, W1, and some overflow space on the second floor of 68 Broadwick Street, W1, the company leased in September for £145 per sq ft on a four-year lease, according to EG Radius data. The company had previously been linked to a prelet of the Crown Estate’s One Hanover Street, W1, ahead of its refurbishment in 2026.
The report comes against the backdrop of a slight reduction in active demand in Q4 last year, owing to the completion of a few chunky deals amounting to 1.5m sq ft, including Moody’s lease of 110,862 sq ft at 10 Gresham Street, EC2. This was then compounded by a drop-off of 2m sq ft in searches, such as those of Disney, video game developer Activision Blizzard and media company Global.
In all, the report said there was around 11m sq ft of active searches ongoing in London last quarter – 18.4% above the long-term quarterly average of 9.3m sq ft.
Larger requirements made up the lion’s share of that total; nearly two-fifths of requirements were for more than 50,000 sq ft, amounting to 8.7m sq ft of space.
Photo: One Hanover Street, W1
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