200 & 214 Gray's Inn Road

A destination building in the heart of London

200gir.com

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Designed by world renowned architects Foster and Partners, this iconic 387,000 sq ft building provides high quality offices and TV studio accommodation, set around a full ten-storey atrium that floods the building with light.

Home to a broad range of occupiers, we are continuing to transform the 28,000 sq ft floor plates through refurbishment and the creation of innovative office accommodation within a timeless envelope.

Conveniently located in the heart of London between the City and the West End, the building is within a five minute walk of Chancery Lane underground station and the new Crossrail links that will be provided at Farringdon station. Kings Cross St Pancras, with its significant regeneration and international connectivity, is also within easy reach.

1990s

Build

Midtown

Location

387,000

sq ft

Office

Building type

At Warner Bros, we are experienced at dealing with Landlords around the world. We were very impressed with GPE’s structured, pragmatic and detailed approach to all aspects of our negotiations. We enjoyed working with their team to deliver modern, characterful office space that works for our business.

Valerie Valdez VP International Operations, Corporate Real Estate, Warner Bros.

Standout features

Proactive asset repositioning to grow rents

In September 2011, we purchased 200 Gray’s Inn Road with our joint venture partner, the BP Pension Fund. With three quarters of the 291,600 sq ft building let to ITV and ITN at low rents and other leases expiring in the near to medium term, we realised that pro-active asset management of the building would provide a perfect opportunity to increase rents.

Starting with a comprehensive refurbishment of 20,000 sq ft on the first floor we also negotiated the surrender of further space in the building from ITV and ITN to create a critical mass of new space to offer to the market.

Our multi-phase refurbishment of 200 Gray’s Inn Road, WC1 continues to create high quality floorplates that have redefined the building and significantly increased rents since purchase.

Creating innovative office space

200 Gray’s Inn Road is a high quality building benefiting from large floorplates around a galleried atrium with generous floor to ceiling heights, however the internal office space was tired, inefficient and lacked character.

We, therefore, adapted and enhanced the strong design quality of the original building removing the suspended ceilings, exposing the concrete soffits which in turn increased the volume of the space. By taking a contemporary approach to the aesthetics, we broadened the appeal of the space and differentiated it from the competition.

Meeting occupier needs

We always aim to create spaces that will provide the greatest appeal. At Gray’s Inn Road, we knew from our research and market knowledge that there was strong demand from the tech and media sector for large floorplates with a difference.

We also knew that in order to sufficiently rejuvenate the building, we needed to diversify the occupier base from ITN and ITV. We, therefore, created space that was in tune with the requirements of our target market – efficient, light, high volume, characterful offices and subsequently let over 30,000 sq ft to Warner Bros.

It was a special privilege to work with this Sir Norman Foster design: to celebrate the great strengths the building possesses; to uncover opportunities to improve it; and create the perfect space for the dynamic modern office occupier.

Ian McArdle Founder – IMA.