Swiss private bank Julius Baer is lining up a move to Clerkenwell which would see it leave its City of London office of seven years, EG can reveal.
The 131-year-old financial institution is under offer to lease 8 Bleeding Heart Yard, EC1, in a deal which would represent a significant reduction in office space for its London branch.
Julius Baer’s current London headquarters is near St Paul’s at 1 St Martin’s-Le-Grand, EC1, where it signed for 47,000 sq ft of office space across the fourth and sixth floors in 2014.
However, the deal would see it move to the City fringe, in a building which was recently refurbished by developer Seaforth Land. That contains about 30,000 sq ft of offices.
The Groupwork architects-designed revamp also includes about 8,000 sq ft of retail and hospitality space on the ground floor.
The move comes after Julius Baer adopted a hybrid working strategy earlier this year, according to financial newswire Finews, in which bankers across its global network of offices were encouraged to work three days in the office and two days from home.
The refurbished 1970s office block at 8 Bleeding Heart Yard sits on a key thoroughfare between Hatton Garden and Farringdon Tube station, which hosts a key stop on the upcoming Elizabeth Line.
A flurry of big-name occupiers have been lured to the area already this year by the promise of the new transport link, which is set to open next year.
Those include tech giants Snapchat and TikTok, which are moving to HB Reavis’ Bloom and Helical’s Kaleidoscope buildings respectively.
Compton is advising Julius Baer on the deal, while the refurb works were carried out by Red Construction. All parties declined to comment.
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