JPMorgan Plans to Build London's Largest Office Building

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00:00that would serve as its principal UK headquarters and could contribute nearly 10 billion pounds

00:04to the local economy over six years. Now, the bank says the new site would accommodate up to

00:0912,000 people and become its most significant presence in the region. Let's bring in Jack

00:15Sitters, our team leader for real estate and European investment. Jack, I mean, this is a

00:19surprise announcement from JP Morgan. How big of a vote of confidence is it in Canary Wharf

00:24and the UK just one day after the budget? Yeah, I mean, absolutely. It's huge. And I guess

00:30if we take a step back here and, you know, if you'd asked me or indeed if you'd asked

00:33Sir George Jacobescu, the architect of Canary Wharf, the former chairman and chief executive

00:36of Canary Wharf, who's advising JP Morgan personally on this, if you'd asked him best part of 10

00:41years ago when the UK voted for Brexit, would JP Morgan be building what is undoubtedly going

00:46to be London's biggest office building, one of the biggest office buildings in Europe

00:48in Canary Wharf? I suspect he would have probably said maybe not. There's a decent risk that

00:52they don't. But, you know, we had a story of the day. It's become clear since COVID and

00:58since Jamie Dimon, you know, really leading the charge to get people back to their desks.

01:02They've been short on space. We knew that. We knew they were looking at options. You know,

01:05we'd reported that they'd drafted in Foster and Partners to look at new plans. But yeah,

01:11and for Canary, it's huge. They could have left. They could have gone back to the city.

01:15I think one of the things it shows us is just how few options there are for big organizations

01:20who want a huge new office tower. They just really aren't any being built. Developers have

01:25had to put up with Brexit. They've had to put up with COVID. They've had to put up with higher

01:28interest rates. They just aren't, you know, those buildings available. And so JP Morgan has really

01:33kind of gone down the maximalist option. They've owned this site for a very long time. They're now

01:38going to dust it off and they're going to build an absolutely enormous new HQ there, which, you know,

01:42will be great for Canary Wharf because that's 12,000 workers who are going to be using the

01:46restaurants, the bars, the shopping centers there. Yeah. So Jack, what does it also say

01:50about Jamie Dimon's legacy? He's put his stamp on Manhattan and it does feel like he's now doing

01:55the same in London. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Well, we've got Dimontown in Midtown Manhattan now,

02:00the big new office headquarters and, you know, a couple of other buildings around it.

02:04You know, and we often, when speculating about his legacy, we talk about, you know, five years,

02:10five years. Well, this building is going to take six years to deliver. Yeah. You'd be a brave

02:14person to bet that he's not there to cut the ribbon when it's time to open it. And,

02:17you know, having fully put his imprint on London as well as on New York.