The Swiss banking group UBS told the government that it would abandon plans to build a new London headquarters in Broadgate – costing 5,000 construction jobs, and raising questions over the future of 7,000 employees – if listed status was granted to the site’s existing 1980s development.
A confidential letter has revealed how UBS threatened to “fundamentally reconsider [its] occupation strategy in London” had the Broadgate building been listed, a move that would have prevented the planned redevelopment of numbers 4 and 6 Broadgate by British Land and Blackstone.
The plans to spend £850m demolishing the building and developing a new headquarters for UBS ran into problems on 2 June, when the government’s conservation adviser, English Heritage, urged the government to list the complex, designed by Peter Foggo of Arup, as a site of special architectural interest, saying it was “a triumph of urbanism, a special place in the financial heart of the capital”.
On 14 June, however, the government decided to go against this recommendation, saying that the buildings were not of “sufficient architectural or historical interest” to warrant listing.
However, it has emerged from a freedom of information request by the Financial Times that a letter sent from UBS’s chief executive, Carsten Kengeter, to Jeremy Hunt, the secretary of state for culture, on 3 June set out the “serious consequences” for UBS and the City were the building to be listed.
Kengeter wrote that UBS would “have to find alternative future accommodation that [it] could occupy by 2016”, adding that “we do not consider this feasible given the scale and nature of the space required”.
This is likely to anger conservation groups who supported plans to protect the building and previously criticised the government for letting “factors other than those that should be considered in the listing process… [decide] the fate of an important historical building.”
English Heritage described the development, which is noted for its outdoor ice rink, as “one of the most important and successful developments of its period and type, possessing special architectural and historic interest, and therefore should be listed at Grade II*”.
It added: “Rare for commercial developments, people enjoy Broadgate Square.”
However, a spokeswoman for Hunt said that no wider economic consequences had been considered and that he stood by his decision that the building did not possess the outstanding quality needed to list a site under 30 years old. UBS declined to comment.
The news came as British Land reported a rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £65m from £64m a year ago.
“We’ve had an active and positive start to the year. Our focus on high-quality retail and London offices continues to drive strong valuation and improvement in rental values,” said chief executive Chris Grigg.
Occupancy across the company’s portfolio of offices, predominantly located in the capital, was 97.8%, while retail premises occupancy was 98.7%.