BNP Paribas Real Estate has won a significant contract to manage the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) move and fit out of its new 360,000 sq ft HQ in Canary Wharf.
EBRD announced earlier this year that it is moving its HQ from the City to Canary Wharf, where the Bank will occupy the top 12 floors of the 24-storey building at 1-5 Bank Street. The BNP Paribas Real Estate office leasing team led on the letting deal on behalf of EBRD, which is the biggest leasing deal in London in H1 2019 and the biggest new letting in Canary Wharf since 2016.
A team of consultants from the Project Management and Building Consultancy department will be fully dedicated to the delivery of the Bank’s new home. The work includes managing the whole process of the move from consultant procurement, design, construction and migration, through to handover and tenant occupation at the end of 2022.
The new EBRD workplace design aims to create a sense of community that enhances staff wellbeing and productivity and fosters a culture of choice, collaboration and innovation. The focus will also be on providing an office environment that is functional, flexible and encourages full mobility to support the business needs in a fair and transparent manner and reflects the bank’s cultural diversity.
The Bank’s ambition is also to achieve BREEAM Outstanding and WELL Gold certification for the fit out, demonstrating its corporate commitment to sustainability and wellbeing.
Tim Edmunds BNP Paribas Real Estate, Director, Project Management says:
“We are delighted to have been trusted with this significant instruction and to be able to play a leading role in assisting EBRD in shaping a new and welcoming HQ for its staff.
Working closely with our colleagues in the leasing team has really put us one step ahead and allowed us to better understand what the Bank wants to achieve with its new home. It’s an incredibly exciting journey to be part of, from finding the Bank’s HQ to continuing this relationship and completing the project with them.”
The project management team forms part of the wider national Building Consultancy business line, with circa 30 staff in London. Along with the full range of building consultancy services we undertake project management and monitoring instructions for corporate occupiers, investors and government departments in the major property sectors. This is the latest of a number of significant fit out instructions for the project team, which over the last ten years has included projects for Man Group, European Medicines Agency, the Government Property Agency, Transport for London, Bloomberg, Cleary Gottleib Steen & Hamilton and Cinven.
The team continues to diversify its offer and has recently developed a cost consultancy business.