// Ted Baker is moving to a new London HQ in Fitzrovia
// The retailer expects to move into the space during Summer 2022
Ted Baker has announced plans to move to headquarters in central London.
The retailer will be based in the heart of Fitzrovia, with the new property costing significantly less than its current head office, the Ugly Brown Building, that it has operated from for over 20 years.
In a statement, Ted Baker said the new headquarters, which will be called the Gorgeous Brown Building, would inspire “creativity in a flexible workspace configured for collaboration in a beautiful new working environment for the team”.
Under the new 10-year lease agreement with the landlord, Westminster City Council, the fashion retailer has secured 30,000sq ft of net space at a cost of £30.33 per sq ft and expects to move during summer 2022.
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That means it will pay £900,000 in annual rent at its new site compared to the current £3.25 million, and up to £4.2 million in relation to the option of renting a space in Block A of the Tribeca development in Kings Cross.
These savings are separate to the fixed rent cost saving target of 15 per cent for financial year 2022 that Ted Baker announced at its preliminary results on June 14.
The retailer said that “the commercial property market landscape has changed dramatically” since it struck the original sale-and-leaseback deal and that “the group has taken advantage of this and agreed a more commercially attractive deal for a prime central London office, allowing the option on Block A to lapse”.
Ted Baker chief executive Rachel Osborne said: “We are delighted to have secured a gorgeous 30,000sq ft building as our new global HQ in Fitzrovia.”
“It will enable us to work more efficiently and collaboratively, and most importantly to express our unique brand personality.
“We look forward to making our team members comfortable and hosting our global partners in our new showrooms from summer 2022. Having spent more than 20 years in the Ugly Brown Building, it will be invigorating to be in our new site in Fitzrovia.
“Times have changed, as have our ways of working, and our brand has a refreshed personality and energy, which will be perfectly reflected in the Gorgeous Brown Building.”
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