The owner of a City of London office block once home to insurer Aon wants to let the building to educational occupiers after trying and failing to find a new office tenant.
Change-of-use plans lodged with the City of London Corporation by asset manager Alfred Equities propose turning some 175,378 sq ft across six floors of 1 Portsoken Street in Aldgate, E1, which are currently vacant, into classroom and learning space.
The fourth to ninth floors of the former Lloyds Chambers building are set to be repositioned from existing Class E offices to flexible office and education (F1) use, of which 67,000 sq ft will be occupied by educational organisation BPP.
BPP, which already occupies close to 85,000 sq ft on the first to third floors of the building, plans to expand and take space on the fourth and fifth floors, where it will provide additional classrooms, offices and breakout spaces for students and faculty.
In planning documents, Cushman & Wakefield said it had been marketing the building since 2019, before refurbishment work began. However, the agency said that since BPP’s letting was agreed at the end of 2021, its effort “has not yet yielded any lettings”.
“While targeting a vast number of occupier requirements, only a small percentage of occupiers have chosen to view the office space, and fewer have shown a genuine interest in the vacant space and discussed terms with us at 1 Portsoken Street,” Cushman said.
The agency added that it had found greater demand from educational parties: “All negotiations that are currently being undertaken within the building are with educational users, as traditional office occupiers have discounted 1 Portsoken Street due to the location.”
The remaining 108,000 sq ft across the top floors of the building will remain available for another institution to occupy.
Located on the boundary of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the site is closest to Tower Gateway, Tower Hill and Aldgate stations. It is also within walking distance of Fenchurch Street rail station.
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