German energy company RWE has gone under offer for around 60,000 square feet of offices at DWS's redevelopment of the Daily Mail's former home, CoStar News understands, as a series of new requirements and improving take-up lifts the London market.
Market sources said RX London and JLL are advising landlord DWS, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, on the letting at The Northcliffe at 28 Tudor Street, near Blackfriars. It would follow a letting to New York law firm Debevoise & Plimpton for around 70,000 square feet, from around 54,000 square feet at 65 Gresham Street, and 30,000 square feet to law firm Irwin Mitchell.
DWS has been carrying out a redevelopment of the Grade II-listed building to include 186,700 square feet of offices with terraces totalling 9,800 square feet. It has retained the former Northcliffe House's 1920s art deco style while retrofitting to improve sustainability credentials and modernise the offices.
Elsewhere, specialist law firm Bristows is understood to be under offer to lease around 70,000 square feet of offices at Taiwanese giant Fubon Life Insurance Company's Bow Bells House on Bread Street in the City of London. Bristows, which is being advised by Cushman & Wakefield, would move from the Unilever Building at 100 Victoria Embankment, where it occupies around 60,000 square feet. Fubon is advised by Newmark and Knight Frank.
The lettings add to an improved take-up picture in the capital. London office leasing jumped 40% in the second quarter, pushing the three-quarter trailing average to its highest since before the pandemic, according to CoStar data. That has improved the City's vacancy rate, with 1 million square feet more space being occupied than vacated in the first half. That compares with a 1.7 million square foot loss of occupied space in the same period a year earlier.
A number of new requirements are also launching. Market sources this week said Australian financial services giant Macquarie has now formally begun a search, via CBRE, for a potential 250,000-square-foot office move in the City. It is based in Ropemaker Place at 28 Ropemaker Street.
Law firm Clyde & Co, which is based in around 144,000 square feet in the St Botolph Building, has appointed Newmark to look for options for an up to 150,000-square-foot office, while investment research house Morningstar, advised by CBRE, is understood to be on the hunt for up to 100,000 square feet. It is based at 55-71 Oliver's Yard in the City in around 41,000 square feet.
Finally, US law firm Herbert Smith Freehill, advised by Cushman & Wakefield, is thought to have narrowed its search for an up to 300,000-square-foot headquarters to two buildings: British Land's 1 Appold Street, and Mitsui Fudosan and Dutch developer Edge's Edge Liverpool Street in Shoreditch.
The requirements may not lead to moves, given a trend recently for major office requirements to end up with the occupier staying put, typically on short term leases as they continue to weigh longer-term options. Examples recently are understood to including Bank of America, Accenture, EY, Gallaghers, Mishcon de Reya and Nomura.