Global law firm Eversheds Sutherland has begun shortlisting for a large-scale expanded London headquarters move, CoStar News can reveal.
The market has been expecting the firm, which was created from the merger of Eversheds and Sutherland Asbill & Brennan in 2017, to launch a circa 80,000-square-foot requirement for some time, as central London's office market continues to be buoyed by a highly active legal sector.
Adviser Cushman & Wakefield is understood to now be drawing up a shortlist for more space, between 100,000 square foot and 120000 square foot, for a potential move from its home at KanAm's 1 Wood Street in the City, where it occupies around 165,000 square feet.
Options expected to be on the list including Cathay Life Insurance's Woolgate Exchange at the 355,000-square-foot 25 Basinghall Street in the City; Moor Place or Moorgate Exchange, Kingboard Holdings's 218,000-square-foot development in St Paul's; Peterborough Court, the former headquarters of Goldman Sachs on Fleet Street that is undergoing an £120 million makeover; and Adelaide House, the City of London Corporation's 157,000-square-foot offices in London Bridge.
Eversheds Sutherland and Cushman & Wakefield declined to comment.
Last year was a record-breaking one for London law firm office take-up with more than 1.5 million square feet taken, according to Knight Frank. The legal sector committed to 1.2 million square feet, then an all-time high, in 2021. KF says this has been driven by the growing "post-pandemic" appetite for higher quality offices offering superior workplace experiences and environmental credentials.
Towards the end of last year Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance agreed to prelet 321,100 square feet at Great Portland Estate’s 2 Aldermanbury Square development in the City of London and international law firm Reed Smith committed to an 126,800-square-foot headquarters at Blossom Yard & Studios, in British Land’s Norton Folgate development next to Spitalfields.
The pipeline for leasing activity remains robust, with Eversheds Sutherland joined by global legal services giants Morgan Lewis and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in being expected to reviewing options for new London headquarters. This is in addition to other law firms, including Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and Hill Dickinson reaching the end of their leases in the next couple of years.