News Corp move marks largest Central London office letting agreement in 8 years

In the largest letting in Central London to be agreed in the last eight years, News Corp is to move its entire operation to all 17 floors of the Place, next door to the Shard at London Bridge Quarter. The Place, like The Shard, is designed by Renzo Piano and comprises 430,000 sq ft of high quality offices, much of which utilises natural light. The move will see staff of News UK, Dow Jones and HarperCollins housed together for the first time once relocation to the new site begins in the summer of 2014.

The building has been designed as one of London’s most sustainable new buildings, with direct access to Underground, bus, rail and taxi network from the concourse and public realm, carbon emissions around 60 per cent less than most standard offices, a BREEAM 2008 excellent rating and supplementary power and heat generation through combined heat and power.

News UK, which publishes The Times, The Sunday Times, Times Literary Supplement and The Sun, is currently based in Thomas More Square in Tower Hamlets. HarperCollins is currently in Hammersmith and will use The Place as its London headquarters while keeping offices in Glasgow and Yorkshire. Dow Jones currently has offices in Holborn and the City.

“Our new London location in the vibrant borough of Southwark will allow us to realize one core objective as the new News – to work more closely and creatively, and leverage our collective resources,” said Robert Thomson, Chief Executive of News Corp.

The London Bridge Quarter is a major redevelopment surrounding one of the best-connected travel hubs in the UK and the project is seen as an important part of the redevelopment of south London, contributing to the further regeneration of the local area.