CAPITAL ONE UK has today announced a major expansion in London.
The organisation is to relocate its City offices and has signed an 11-year lease for two floors at the White Collar Factory EC1, overlooking Silicon Roundabout, in order to accommodate 200 new staff as well as its existing 50 London-based employees.
Chris Newkirk, Capital One UK’s CEO, said: “Capital One UK was founded on the belief that technology, data and great talent could revolutionize consumer finance. Two decades later, those convictions continue to fuel our success. We live in a world where the pace of innovation has never been faster and the power of technology to help customers succeed financially has never been greater. To continue to win as digital redefines our industry, we are building the talent and capabilities of a leading information-based technology company. We are rapidly growing our software engineering, design, data science and product management teams. This involves the recruitment of hundreds of specialists – we felt The White Collar Factory was the perfect solution to our future accommodation needs. Being based at Silicon Roundabout will enable us to draw upon the wealth of technological expertise the City has to offer, enabling us to attract and retain premium talent.”
The White Collar Factory development comprises a 237,000-square-foot 16-storey tower with 56,000-square-foot of additional office campus, restaurants and residential, surrounding a new public square to be called “Old Street Yard”. It incorporates a number of original “long life: loose fit” architectural features to provide the most suitable space for modern occupiers.
Capital One has pre-let 29,500-square-foot on the ninth and tenth floors of Derwent London’s iconic building, which is on course for completion in the last quarter of 2016. The company has also engaged a design firm to produce an exceptional interior for the office space which will include flexible work spaces as well as inspiring meeting areas.
Newkirk said: “We are on a bold quest at Capital One to bring ingenuity, simplicity and humanity to an industry ripe for change. Still founder-led today, we have stayed true to our founding imperative to hire great people and enable them to do amazing things – it’s therefore fit to provide a superb environment for them to work in at a perfect location.
“These new offices will provide a superb working environment as well as an ideal location to host meet-ups and events for the technology sector. This will help us become an integral part of the tech community in London and will play a pivotal role in our future success in the UK.”
Capital One UK, which employs 1,000 at its Nottingham headquarters and around 50 at its current London offices at Regent’s Place, intends to take up residence at the White Collar Factory from February next year. It will join the likes of Adobe, AKT II, BGL and The Office Group in the property.
John Burns, CEO of Derwent London, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Capital One to our portfolio, and that the White Collar Factory’s innovative design continues to attract a wide range of top quality businesses.”