Swatch moves London headquarters to new Canary Wharf office space
Swatch has signed a five-year lease for 9,500 sq ft of office space in a multi-purpose office building in Canary Wharf.
The watches and jewellery manufacturer will move its London headquarters from Dockside Road to Docklands site Sierra Quebec Bravo (SQB).
Swatch did not respond to a request for comment and did not disclose the rental figure.
It’s a rare example of companies moving into Canary Wharf rather than out of it, with vacancies hitting a new record earlier this year as firms move into the City and the West End.
The east London financial district is struggling to recover from a pandemic-induced drop in demand after years of booming business with major tenants like HSBC.
Rise of multi-use, amenity-rich offices
The multi-use building, which taps into the growing trend of amenity-rich office spaces in the capital, is a ‘re-think’ of the old South Quay building.
The office space comes equipped with “hospitality-driven service”, as well as “wellbeing and lifestyle amenities”.
Connor Brazendale, senior investment manager at General Projects, said that workers have increasingly demanded a move “away from corporate desks towards hospitality-driven community-led workspaces.”
“Offer a space that people want to use, and the occupiers will come,” Brazendale said.
“We’re seeing a great deal of demand for our space at SQB and it’s a testament to the product we’ve created that such an iconic brand as Swatch has become part of the community we’re building,” Brazendale added.
General Projects will conduct a fit-out of the space ahead of Swatch’s move into the building.
Pre-tax UK profit at Swatch totalled £23.6m in 2022, with Swatch struggling amid “[low] levels of employment, interest rates, tax rates, inflation, government policies, increasing National Insurance contributions [and] political factors.”
The wider Swiss watch industry has been under pressure from the promise of steep tariffs cutting into US sales.