British Land has completed a large office letting to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, the global law firm, at 155 Bishopsgate, in a complex transaction first revealed by CoStar News in March.
Akin is sub-leasing 73,000 square feet at Ten Bishops Square and the letting will see the firm upsize to approximately 77,000 square feet across floors nine to 12 at 155 Bishopsgate over a 15-year lease, with a 10-year break clause.
155 Bishopsgate, which is co-owned by British Land and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, forms part of the impressive Broadgate campus close to Spitalfields Market and Liverpool Street Station.
The building has undergone refurbishment in recent years, including a revamp of the reception and communal areas. Akin will occupy fully refurbished office space and private roof terrace areas. The refurbishment is scheduled for completion in summer 2025, with Akin taking occupation in 2026, following completion of its new fit-out works.
Akin Gump is taking space that British Land and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC took back earlier this year from investment manager Barings for a premium.
Barings paid British Land to surrender a lease which runs until 2025. The investment manager had subleased the space to renewable energy supplier Bulb in 2019 after Barings' asset management unit moved to 20 Old Bailey, EC4, the prior year.
But Bulb collapsed into administration in 2022, leading to a multi-billion-pound bailout from the UK government. The firm, which had about 1.4 million customers, was one of the most high-profile casualties in the UK energy gas sector from the rising cost of wholesale gas prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The rent now signed is understood to be significantly higher than the circa £72 per square foot Bulb was understood to be paying.
British Land is no stranger to taking the commercial decision to agree lease surrenders in response for a payment. Famously, last year it secured an £149 million surrender premium from Facebook parent Meta – or the equivalent of seven years rent – for space it had leased but never moved into at 1 Triton Square, London.
British Land subsequently said it will receive gross proceeds of £192.5 million from the sale of a 50% share in that building to Royal London Asset Management, with the duo repurposing it into a science and innovation building on its Regent’s Place campus in Euston.
Speaking to CoStar News, Mike Wiseman, head of office leasing at British Land, explained: "We only take surrenders if it makes economic sense to do so. Here we had started talking to Akin on other buildings and we had this opportunity to back-to-back these two deals and accelerate to getting a premium rent in this building. The rents are among the best in Broadgate, and for refurbished space. We are constantly looking at those sorts of things, and it is part of our campus proposition."
CBRE said in a release that with the Akin Gump deal that the transaction represents the latest addition to a "vast amount of office leasing activity in the London legal sector, with nine of the top 20 law firms by UK revenue currently in the midst of a relocation project".
“We’re looking forward to moving into 155 Bishopsgate,” said Brian Sprague, chief operating officer at Akin in a statement. “With its modern amenities and prime location, the building will be an ideal environment for our team and clients.”
Alex Colvin, head of development Leasing at British Land, said: “We welcome Akin to Broadgate as the very latest addition to our roster of market leading occupiers from the financial, professional and creative sectors. We have made huge investments in the infrastructure, leisure and retail offering to ensure Broadgate remains the location of choice in London, underlined by other recent pre-leasing success to anchor tenants such as Citadel and A&O Shearman.”
Jack Tomlin, head of City tenant advisory at CBRE, said: “An increasingly constrained development pipeline of new and refurbished office stock calls for a greater level of lateral thinking to unearth genuine off-market opportunities such as this. We have worked tirelessly with both Akin and British Land to dissolve existing lease interests, whilst simultaneously agreeing a refurbishment specification to unlock a fantastic new workspace with a strong embodied carbon narrative.”
CBRE represented Akin, and British Land and GIC were advised by joint agents, CBRE and JLL.