Silicon Valley cloud computing specialist Snowflake is set to double its central London office space, in a move which would see it abandon its current Old Street site on the back of a year of dramatic growth for the company.
The US-listed firm, which provides data storage and analytics services, is looking for new offices containing up to 40,000 sq ft of space, EG can reveal.
Snowflake’s current UK office is at Helical’s office scheme, the Tower, EC1. It signed a five-year lease for 9,568 sq ft on the 14th floor of the scheme, which is part of Helical’s Bower development, in 2019.
However, it has appointed agents to find it a new space across the City fringe and northern edge of the City after a period of sharp revenue and headcount growth during the pandemic.
Last year it more than doubled its annual revenue to $1.2bn (£920m), as global demand for online data storage continued to grow apace.
Global headcount has soared by more than 60% in the past year to 3,950 employees across 26 offices worldwide, including in New York, Paris, Singapore and Tokyo.
A spokesperson said 766 of Snowflake’s employees are based in the EMEA region. An office of 40,000 sq ft could accommodate roughly 400 workers.
Three offices shortlisted
Snowflake has narrowed its shortlist of potential new offices down to three, one of which is Hylo (pictured), a scheme on Bunhill Row, EC1, developed by CIT Real Estate which completed last year.
The 29-storey building, near Old Street roundabout, contains 285,000 sq ft of offices over 28 storeys, and 17,000 sq ft of retail space.
Should Snowflake settle on Hylo it would join fellow tech company Marshmallow, which remains under offer on around 30,000 sq ft at the site, in a deal revealed by EG last year.
However, it is also considering two other options, one of which is the office building DS7 on Nuveen’s Devonshire Square scheme near Liverpool Street, EC2. That contains around 94,000 sq ft of available office space as part of the broader 620,000 sq ft estate.
The other potential site is in Shoreditch, EC2, at the Stage, developed by a consortium between Cain International, McCourt Global Investors, Vanke and Galliard Homes.
CBRE is representing Snowflake. Both parties declined to comment.
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