French bank takes-up central London office space

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The French banking group BNP Paribas has agreed a deal that will see dozens of its employees occupy an area of office space on Marlyebone Road in central London.

A leasing arrangement that could last up to 12 years has been agreed between the relevant parties but BNP could still break away from the deal if its new headquarters are successfully established at King’s Cross Central.

Development is underway on the King’s Cross site and the French bank is expected to shift the core of its London operations to the location when all work has been completed and the office space is ready for business.

In the meantime, BNP has taken close to 60,000 sq ft of overflow office space in central London across three floors of 242 Marlyebone Road at a price of £26.50 per sq ft, according to Property Week.

The bank’s current headquarters in the UK are on Harewood Avenue, virtually a stone’s throw from the space it set to take-up, which had been the operating base of the retail group Woolworth’s until its high-profile collapse in 2008.

With operations in 84 countries and more than 200,000 employees globally, BNP is rated as being among the strongest banks and leading companies to be found anywhere in the world.

Last month, the commercial property company British Land expressed its optimism about the state of British office space markets and singled out central London developments as being particularly in demand.