London’s Fleet Street and the surrounding area is steeped in history. Over the last 100 years the address has been synonymous with the newspaper industry and, more recently, with accountancy practices, law firms and investment banks.

In 2000 Goldman Sachs chose to create its European headquarters on Fleet Street, with a giant campus across four buildings (River Court, Peterborough Court and Daniel House, Christ Church Court and Warwick Court) that amounted to roughly 1.3 million sq ft, making the investment bank one of London’s largest occupiers.

Goldman’s influence in terms of shaping the area has been dramatic and its continued commitment to the central London sub-market is evident in the development of a new 840,000 sq ft headquarters at Shoe Lane, where it has signed a 25-year lease. Staff are expected to move in later this year.

Nearby, Deloitte, one of the biggest names in global accounting and financial services, will relocate from offices at Athene Place and Stonecutter Court to a new 600,000 sq ft campus at One New Street Square in the next 18 months.

The corporate real estate consolidations and relocations by Goldman Sachs and Deloitte on Fleet Street sees big swathes of real estate becoming vacant and, in addition to law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer announcing it will leave its HQ in Whitefriars in 2021, opens up the area to redevelopment and regeneration for the first time in 20 years.

What we now have is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reposition and improve the area’s streetscape, amenity offer and public realm to transform this micro-location of London into a major business hub in its own right. The long awaited opening of the Elizabeth Line at Farringdon will only serve to elevate the area further with significantly improved connectivity which, in turn, is attracting an ever great mix of occupiers and property uses.

At a time when development sites in central London are generating significant interest, Fleet Street offers a sizeable footprint for repurposing, albeit under different ownership, and the potential to transform one of the city’s most iconic addresses.

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