Scalpel tower in the City appoints CBRE as leasing agents as search for tenants kicks off
CBRE has been hired as leasing agents on the Scalpel skyscraper in the City, as the search to find tenants for the 35-storey development in London’s insurance district gets underway.
The property advisory firm will partner with Cushman & Wakefield, filling the gap left by the latter’s merger with DTZ, the previous joint agent.
The 190m-tall tower – which has been given the rather chilling nickname The Scalpel thanks to its razor-thin edge design – is being built as new London headquarters for US insurance company WR Berkley Corporation.
WR Berkeley will take up around 20 per cent if the tower, which will sit right next to the Lloyd's Building at 52 Lime Street, with the rest of the 400,000 square feet of office space still available to let.
Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) – the same architects behind the Heron Tower – the Scalpel will be taller than its skyscraper neighbour The Gherkin, which stands at 180m, but still dwarfed by British Land and Oxford Properties' Cheesegrater tower at 122 Leadenhall Street (224m).
Work has already got underway on the scheme, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Andrew Reynolds, managing director, WRBC Development, said: “We welcome CBRE to the 52 Lime Street team. This is an especially interesting time to join, as the building will begin emerging from the ground early next year to take its place as part of the City tower cluster.”