British Land is confident of leasing the remaining office space in the Leadenhall Building when it goes onto the open market next week.
The joint developers of the £268m City tower, popularly known as the Cheesegrater, have spoken of the ‘incredible’ interest in the property, which was over 50 per cent pre-let before its recent completion.
The Leadenhall Building is the tallest skyscraper in the City of London, with its distinctive wedge shape tapering 736 ft above the recently unveiled public space at its base. It was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, and neatly complements Rogers’ Grade I listed Lloyd’s Building which it faces.
The property has been in the pipeline since the initial planning application was submitted in 2004. Design issues and then the recession delayed the project, which was finally restarted in 2011. In total 2,669,586 man hours have been worked on the construction of the building which required 18,000 tonnes of steel.
Insurance firms Aon and Amlin were among the first companies to pre-let space in the Leadenhall Building. Aon took ten floors, while Amlin agreed terms on seven floors. Both are believed to have signed 20-year leases.
To have pre-let 53 per cent of the available space is unusual, and British Land is confident it can now fill the majority of the 610,000 sq ft by next year – including the 12,000 sq ft third-storey restaurant.
“We are exactly where we want to be now with the take-up of the office space,” said British Land’s Victoria Kinnard.
“To have more than half the space leased before we have even gone out to letting agents is a real indicator of the City’s return to strength. There has been incredible interest in the building.”
She continued to say that the remaining space is on the higher floors, which offer spectacular views over London, and that British Land anticipates ‘great interest’.
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