KKR and Fore Partnership have secured what its understood to be the highest office rent ever paid in the SE1 area of London in further evidence of prime rents soaring for the best space.
The duo has signed global wealthtech company Allfunds for a prelet of the sixth and seventh floors at TBC.London, Tower Bridge Road, next to Tower Bridge. According to a Savills report, the blended rent of £98.75 per square foot for the 16,530 square foot is the highest paid in SE1, adding to the adviser's confidence that there will be prime rental growth of 4.5% for this year in London's central markets. The SE1 London postcode covers Bankside, South Bank, Southwark, and parts of Lambeth, Bermondsey, Vauxhall and Peckham. The figure agreed is comparable with the upper-floor rent paid at The Shard in London Bridge in SE1, the tallest office in the UK.
Patrick Scanlon, senior director of market analytics, CoStar said: “Leasing activity in the Southbank has recovered well over the last few years, with annual take-up almost matching pre-pandemic levels. It is also one of only a handful of London office submarkets to experience a fall in its office inventory over the last year. This combination will continue to create pressure on rents for the best space as demand strengthens."
The rent paid underscores a continued theme of a flight to quality driving prime rental growth. Cushman & Wakefield recorded strong rental growth across central London in 2024, particularly in central locations, reaching 12% in the City Core and 9% in Mayfair and St James’s. Comparing headline rents at the start of the new lease with that of the start of the former lease, across the top 10 largest office transactions in 2024, it reports an average increase of 73% in total rent liabilities on an annualised basis, excluding rent reviews.
In December of last year Fore Partnership agreed a prelet with The Sage Group for a first 30,800-square-foot letting over two floors at the 110,000-square-foot development. Sage is set to move into the low carbon office development in November.
The building combines the mix of leading sustainable features and amenity that occupiers for prime space are increasingly demanding.
TBC.London has preserved the embodied carbon in its foundations and structure and uses 100% electric heating and cooling systems. It is targeting EPC A, a NABERS Design for Performance score of 5.0 stars, and BREEAM Outstanding, the highest possible environmental assessments. The building, designed by Stiff + Trevillion, is also targeting WELL Platinum and has achieved a Platinum ActiveScore rating.
Fore says it has created an "urban village hall" on the ground floor, a flexible 3,500 square feet social and cultural space set up for social enterprises, community groups and schools that will be available for the local community to use.
Global investment firm KKR announced a majority investment in the development via its fund KKR Real Estate Partners Europe II in 2022.
CBRE and RX London are the office leasing agents for TBC.London.