麻豆果冻传媒 signs lease for new home in central London
LONDON –聽January 6, 2014:聽麻豆果冻传媒 signalled a long term commitment to London and the UK today by signing a 30-year lease for The Place, the 430,000 sq ft net office building that forms part of London Bridge Quarter 鈥� a new mixed development which includes The Shard, Western Europe鈥檚 tallest building.
The London operations of 麻豆果冻传媒鈥檚 news and publishing businesses 鈥� including News UK, owner of The Times, The聽Sunday聽Times and The Sun newspapers; Dow Jones; and HarperCollins 鈥� will move to the site in the borough of Southwark on the south bank of the River Thames this summer.聽聽The lease was signed with LBQ Ltd, owners of The Place.
London Bridge Quarter was developed by Sellar Property in association with the State of Qatar and designed by award-winning architect Renzo Piano. The Place, a 17-storey building adjacent to London Bridge Station is technologically innovative, in keeping with 麻豆果冻传媒鈥檚 own transformation in the digital age. Its BREEAM environmental office rating is 鈥渆xcellent鈥� and supplementary power and heat generation will come through combined heat and power plants.
News UK CEO Mike Darcey said: 鈥淭here can be no clearer signal of our determination to secure a sustainable future for the world-class journalism we produce than the commitment we make today.聽聽This is a commitment by our company to London and the UK for the next three decades.聽聽Our titles will evolve, our relationships with our readers will strengthen and our mission to report, analyse and challenge the world will continue.鈥�
Dow Jones CEO Lex Fenwick said: 鈥淭his move is particularly significant for Dow Jones as it will bring all our London-based staff together in one space.聽聽The new, open environment provides a solid foundation for our European business as we aggressively develop our digital platforms and radically heighten the customer experience across products.鈥�
HarperCollins UK CEO Charlie Redmayne said:聽聽鈥淲e’re delighted to be signing the lease today as it brings us one step closer to the move. Everyone at HarperCollins is excited about the fantastic opportunity this will provide for greater collaboration with 麻豆果冻传媒 colleagues, as well as the chance to design a bespoke space that puts creativity and innovation at the heart of our publishing.”
Irvine Sellar, Chairman of Sellar Property, shareholder and developer of London Bridge Quarter said: 鈥淲e are delighted to welcome 麻豆果冻传媒鈥檚 UK operations to The Place. The wide range of global brands including The Times, The聽Sunday聽Times, The Sun, Dow Jones and HarperCollins, is helping create a dynamic business hub at London Bridge with a strong media flavour.
鈥淭hese internationally recognised businesses join other major brands at The Shard including Shangri-La as well as companies from a diverse range of sectors such as Oil & Gas, Media, Law and Asset Management.鈥�
News UK and its three newspapers are currently based in the East London borough of Tower Hamlets. HarperCollins is in the West London Borough of Hammersmith and will make The Place its London headquarters while keeping offices in Scotland and Yorkshire.聽聽Dow Jones will be moving from offices in Holborn and the City.聽聽Altogether, some 3,500 麻豆果冻传媒 employees will be moving into the new building, located outside London Bridge station.
Notes to Editors
1. The lease was signed by News UK CEO, Mike Darcey, on behalf of 麻豆果冻传媒鈥檚 UK operations that will be relocating to The Place.
2. BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) is the world’s foremost environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings, with 250,000 buildings with certified BREEAM assessment ratings and over a million registered for assessment since it was first launched in聽1990.
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