Speechly Bircham has announced that it has acted for Derwent London on the pre-let agreements for two of its current central London office developments to leading communications group, Publicis Groupe.
The developments at 40 Chancery Lane WC2 and Turnmills, 63 Clerkenwell Road EC1, total 155,600 sq ft and the pre-lets of both buildings is expected to bring Derwent a combined annual rent of £8.8m. It is understood that parts of Publicis Groupe's business will move to Turnmills EC1 and its Saatchi & Saatchi agency to Chancery Lane following completion and fit-out of both sites in 2014.
This latest deal means that Derwent will have pre-let 74% of its current on-site projects.
Speechly Bircham's Head of Real Estate and Construction, Tim Raper, and Senior Associate Fiona Edmond took the lead on the pre-let agreements, while Real Estate Partner Robert Kilgour and Senior Associate Sarah Morley acted on the real estate aspects for the Chancery Lane development.
Tim Raper commented:
"The agreement of these two pre-let deals is extremely significant for Derwent London, both in terms of the combined annual rent figure and the increase in levels of their current on-site pre-lets. We are very pleased to have been able to support Derwent throughout this deal and look forward to working with them on future projects."
Other law firms involved in the transaction were Real Estate Partner Alan Evans and Associate Lyndsay Aitken of Taylor Wessing who acted on the real estate aspects of Turnmills.
International law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner advised Derwent London with regards to the continued occupancy by Publicis Group of their Charlotte Street premises. Real Estate Partner Claire Milton led the BLP team, which included Senior Associate Ruth Miller and Partner Roger Cohen.
Also, The Publicis Group was represented by Nabarro, with Real Estate Partner Nicholas Vergette taking the lead alongside fellow Real Estate partners Andrew Banton and Rhodri Pazzi-Axworthy supported by Construction Partner Matthew Jones.
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