Reports that the Stock Exchange was planning to leave its Throgmorton Street tower for Docklands have been denied by the SE, which is, however, looking around for new premises to house its computer systems.
“Docklands is not the only area where we are looking,” says a Stock Exchange spokesman. The SE already has a computer facility on the Isle of Dogs, in Greenwich view, but needs more space, especially for back-office operations. Since Big Bang the staff has increased from 2,000 to 3,000.
The SE also has a committee considering the future of the trading floor, now effectively redundant since firms switched to electronic dealing with Big Bang. Development is a possible option. The Stock Exchange Tower, a 1960s building of 24 storeys and including the trading floor, was independently valued at £96.3m in 1986, but could be worth more now.
In addition to the Throgmorton Street premises, the Stock Exchange occupies 11 other buildings in London. As we reported last week, the Stock Exchange is taking the Randsworth Centre at 70 Wilson Street, and at the end of 1986 it took a five-year lease on 50 Finsbury Square, a 61,000-sq ft building owned by Standard Life Assurance.
