See an example of office space in Broadgate – The Broadgate Tower
The owners of Broadgate Square, British Land and the Blackstone Group, had been planning to demolish the two buildings to free up space to build a new headquarters for Swiss banking giant UBS AG.
State conservation outfit English Heritage recently recommended that Broadgate Square be given the second highest level of protection from demolition available.
The government’s decision on whether to accept English Heritage’s advice will be made within the next five weeks.
British Land commented that were the buildings to be listed, the move would “raise the question of where to locate 7,000 permanent banking jobs and put at risk more than 5,000 construction jobs.”
City planners had already approved the £850 million plan to redevelop Broadgate Square. The proposed new building would include 700,000 square feet of office space.
A recent poll of architects conducted by Architects’ Journal found that 68 per cent of those surveyed were against designating Broadgate Square as a listed development. Were it to become listed, the development would be only the second-ever post-war London building to be given this status.
London publication City AM is currently pursuing a campaign to prevent Broadgate from becoming listed. So far those behind the campaign are the Lord Mayor of the City of London Michael Bear, Patrick Claridge, chief of Merchant Securities Group, and chairman of London Bridge Capital Adam Hart.
Currently, the capital is in desperate need of more office space as the financial services industry rebounds from the financial crisis and more jobs are created.
Editor’s notes: The planning permission for 5 Broadgate, which, as of June 2023, was UBS’s London headquarters office, was upheld.
The landlords went ahead and demolished two properties to create a 700,000 square foot ‘Ground-scraper’, which was so nicknamed as it was just 12 storeys tall – 5 Broadgate completed in 2015.
In June 2013, it was announced that Broadgate was ‘immune from listing’ as not of special historic interest beyond that of other commercial buildings of the 1980s.
Since 2024, several large deals with occupiers at the Broadgate Estate have been announced, including hedge fund firm Citadel and leading global market maker Citadel Securities, which signed a 261,000-square-foot pre-let deal at the 2 Finsbury Avenue scheme, with options to lease up to an additional 121,000 square feet. The deal meant the building was already 33 per cent pre-let at a minimum, and circa 50 per cent pre-let if the option space was taken up.
The development was due to complete in 2027.
In February 2026, it was reported that law firm Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer (HSFK) had signed a pre-let agreement at 1 Appold Street within the estate.
The law firm signed a 21-year lease for 238,000 square feet, with an option to expand to up to 360,000 square feet.