British Land and Blackstone Group have been given permission to knock the building down in order to make way for a new headquarters for Swiss banking giant UBS.
It was a highly unusual move for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to ignore the advice of English Heritage.
In a letter to English Heritage, Secretary of State Jeremy Hunt admitted that the building was “impressive” but added that it failed to meet “the high bar of outstanding quality”.
The Chief Executive of British Land, Chris Grigg, welcomed the move, saying that it “allows Broadgate to continue to evolve as a sustainable and flexible office location that will meet the future needs of occupiers whilst maintaining the sense of space and place for which it is rightly renowned around the globe.”
He added that the move was a message to the rest of the world that the UK was “open for business.”
British Land, one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the UK, along with Blackstone Group, intend to build a GBP 850 million 700,000 square foot building to replace the one that will be knocked down.
The new building will be the biggest in the City.
When complete, the building will allow UBS to bring all its staff under one roof. Currently, they are located in different office spaces around the Broadgate area.
The Broadgate building was opened in 1985 and, according to English Heritage, was symbolic of Thatcherite Britain, when the financial services industry took a prime place in the UK’s economic landscape.
English Heritage stated: “Broadgate Square may not be everyone’s idea of heritage, but every decade has its architectural high points, and the 1980s are no different.”
Editor’s notes: Whilst UBS committed to leasing the 700,000 square feet of office space until 2035, there are flexible workspace and office space solutions available at The Broadgate Tower operated by flex space provider Regus.
The Regus space at Broadgate Tower includes private furnished and serviced office suites, coworking desks in shared offices and meeting rooms.
All options are available on short, flexible terms; occupiers have the option to expand or contract within the space, and the monthly rental fee is inclusive of overheads such as utilities, cleaning, buildings insurance, reception services and so on.
In January 2025, it was reported that British Land and Singaporean wealth fund GIC had sold half of their flagship Broadgate office development to Abu Dhabi-based Modon Holding.
Broadgate REIT, owned equally by British Land and GIC, announced the formation of a new joint venture with Abu Dhabi-based holding company Modon Holding to deliver 2 Finsbury Avenue (2FA), a 750,000 sq ft world-class development at Broadgate. British Land and GIC will each retain 25 per cent ownership in 2 Finsbury Avenue through their ownership of Broadgate REIT, while Modon will own a 50 per cent stake in the asset.
The 2 Finsbury Avenue development is located within the Broadgate Estate and is planned as a vibrant office-led campus in the heart of the City. Uniquely for London, it would comprise dual high-rise towers – the 36-storey East Tower and the 21-storey West Tower and a 12-storey podium linking the towers via a 7,000-square-foot winter garden and including green spaces, leisure and a range of publicly accessible areas.
Construction of the building was already underway at the time of reporting and would be delivered into a supply-constrained market in 2027.
In 2024, hedge fund firm Citadel and leading global market maker Citadel Securities signed a 261,000-square-foot pre-let of workspace in the building, with options to lease up to another 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 is taken,
It is understood that the deal set a record rent for the City of London. However, the details remained confidential at the time of reporting.