Lloyd’s of London and its landlord Ping An have agreed to remain at their One Lime St headquarters until 2035 at least, as a sign of commitment to the in-person trading in the City’s Insurance District.
The Friday deal gives Lloyd’s – an insurance marketplace for brokers to get coverage from individual syndicates on a variety commercial risks – the option to stay in the Richard Rogers designed building until 2040. The agreement also includes an investment to reduce the Grade I listed building’s carbon footprint.
Lloyd’s chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown stated that the deal highlighted the importance of face to face trading for the market. He said the underwriting rooms — a web-like arrangement of underwriters’ tables around the Lutine Bell, where brokers gather to negotiate policies — held a “special place in the collective consciousness of our market”.
The Marketplace was originally a coffee shop in London from the seventeenth century, but it has been residing in this distinctive building since 1986.
Senior executives backed retaining a physical presence and preferred staying in the building, it was reported last year. Last year, reported that senior executives supported retaining a presence in the building and preferred staying there.
Carnegie-Brown, the company that runs the market, said it would redesign other areas within the building in order to “support the collaboration and innovation of our market”.
Lloyd’s stated that the agreement with Chinese insurer Ping An which owns the building since a decade will allow them to continue their renovations of the workspaces, and to make further refurbishments including improvements in energy efficiency. The building currently has an E energy rating, which is the lowest of all official ratings.
The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Ping An didn’t respond to a request for immediate comment.
One Lime Street, dubbed “the inside-out” building because of its water pipes and lifts that run along the exterior, has been compared to a motorcycle and an oil rig.
The refurbishments carried out earlier this year on the ground floor trading area were aimed at modernising the fittings, and giving more space to different insurers. Carnegie-Brown spoke at the time about the challenge to restore the room’s hum of activity before the pandemic by “making a compelling case for the handshake over an e-mail, a Room over Zoom”.
Many companies are rethinking the future of their flagship offices as they shift staff to hybrid work and reduce their real estate footprint. City of London office vacancy rate has risen to 11 percent — the highest level since 2009 and above the UK capital’s average of 9 percent.
The City got a boost in early 2018 when HSBC said it would move from its tower at Canary Wharf in 2027 after the lease expired, to a new HQ near St Paul’s.
West End, London, is also seeing a higher demand for companies. The vacancy rate in the area is only 6 percent. Many companies are looking for convenient locations that have a buzzing retail and food option nearby to attract workers back to their office.