Derwent London’s iconic White Collar Factory EC1, overlooking Silicon Roundabout, is on course for completion in the last quarter of 2016. The Group is pleased to announce that Capital One has signed to take two floors. Its decision has been driven by business expansion and the depth of the local talent pool. This scheme and location has attracted a broad range of expanding businesses and Capital One will be joining Adobe, AKT II, BGL and The Office Group in the property.
Capital One, the major credit card company, has pre-let 29,500 sq ft on the ninth and tenth floors on an eleven year lease in order to accommodate 200 new staff as well as its existing 50 London-based employees.
The White Collar Factory development comprises a 237,000 sq ft 16-storey tower with 56,000 sq ft of additional office campus, restaurants, and residential surrounding a new public square to be called “Old Street Yard”. It incorporates a number of original “long life: loose fit” architectural features to provide the most suitable space for modern occupiers.
The Group has now pre-let 60% of the tower, equating to 142,100 sq ft, achieving £8.6m pa of net rental income. The total scheme is 48% pre-let, with only the premium upper five floors of the tower and the additional lower rise campus space still to be let.
John Burns, Chief Executive Officer of Derwent London, commented:
“We are very pleased to welcome Capital One to our portfolio, and that the White Collar Factory’s innovative design continues to attract a wide range of top quality businesses.”
Chris Newkirk, Capital One UK’s CEO, said:
“We are on a bold quest at Capital One to bring ingenuity, simplicity and humanity to an industry ripe for change. Still founder-led today, we have stayed true to our founding imperative to hire great people and enable them to do amazing things – it’s therefore fit to provide a superb environment for them to work in at a perfect location. These new offices will provide a superb working environment as well as an ideal location to host meet-ups and events for the technology sector. This will help us become an integral part of the tech community in London and will play a pivotal role in our future success in the UK.”
Derwent London’s letting agents on White Collar Factory are Cushman & Wakefield and Pilcher Hershman. Capital One was represented by CBRE.
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