Amazon ups sticks – and ups its game?

Amazon is set to make the news once again – but this time for its decision to relocate a great proportion of its staff from the current offices in Slough to a new central London offices. It is understood that Amazon’s intention is to provide more space for their current requirements as well as looking to the future. The new space, with capacity for 1,600 staff, will enable the internet giant to recruit more staff as its plans for expansion are realised. 

The new offices are in Holborn, and several hundred of the Slough-based staff will move to the new 12-storey building. 

Eugene O’Sullivan, of Morgan Pryce, comments, “This is an interesting move and one that will be watched by many other TMT companies both small and large. It would have been easy for Amazon to keep their offices outside central London which would have inevitably been cheaper. To make the bold choice to expand into central London shows the company’s confidence in the city’s property market and may well encourage other companies to do the same.”

It is believed that by the end of this year the move will have been well under way, with employees already transferred to the new space by then. 

Despite the controversial tax situation of Amazon, Boris Johnson has praised the company’s move, believing that this can only mean positive things for the capital. 

Ahmed Al-Ansari, of Morgan Pryce, adds, “This may well be one of the turning points of 2013 in terms of the London property market – in the TMT sector – but perhaps in terms of Amazon itself, now that that it has the most British presence of all – in the middle of London.”

Morgan Pryce is a specialist tenant acquisition agent with offices in Oxford Circus and the City. Morgan Pryce specialises in search, negotiation and project management and works exclusively for tenants.