Lloyds is considering exiting its current commercial finance operation building in the centre of Cardiff for a new location, it is understood. It currently employs hundreds of people as the sole occupier of the near 140,000 sq ft St William House building.
With its current lease on the building, the freehold interest in which is owned by Schroders, expiring next year the close to completion John Street office scheme has emerged as a potential new location frontrunner.
The speculative grade A office scheme from Cardiff-based property development firm JR Smart, will provide around 110,000 sq ft of new office space. The project is just yards away from St William House.
Property advisors to Lloyds, CBRE, declined to comment when asked if Lloyds is reviewing its occupancy of St William House.
Marketing agents for JR Smart’s John Street scheme, Knight Frank also declined to comment.
Shroders acquired the building in a 2010 in a £34.46m deal back in 2010.
It comes as Motonovo has confirmed it is reviewing it property requirements at another Cardiff city centre building. The firm, which employs around 800, currently occupies 71,000 sq ft of space across five floors at the 1 Central Square office building at the wider Central Square development.
With the pandemic having accelerated the move to hybrid working, Motonovo, like many other firms and organisations, is reviewing its workplace needs, which could see it leaving the building for a smaller new office in the city.
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Professional advisory firm PwC is currently significantly increasing its presence in the city having recently launched a recruitment drive for a further 300 staff with the prospect of further job creation. The firm recently took on an additional 10,000 sq ft space at its current home at the city’s 1 Kingsway office building to accommodation its job creation investment.
The firm’s lease at the building runs till 2026, but with a break option a year earlier.
While market speculation, PwC is being linked to taking on space currently occupied by Motonovo at 1 Central Square, where the vehicle leasing firm has more than 10 years remaining on its lease.
While PwC could remain long-term at the multi-let 1 Kingsway building - which extends to more than 68,000 sq ft and for which the freehold interest is currently up for sale with a £17m-plus price tag - a new HQ could be the Central Quay development at the site of former Brains brewery.
The scheme, overlooking the River Taff from property development firm Rightacres, has planning consent for its first office development in the 150,000 sq ft 1 Central Quay building. Despite spiralling construction inflation, signing up PwC in a pre-let deal could unlock the financing required to deliver the proposed office scheme.
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