Major firms launch London office search-Cushman

LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Major companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and Google have started searches for large-scale office space in London, bringing hope to a sector hit by falling rents and rising vacancies, a report said on Thursday. Oil major Shell is seeking 220,000 square feet in the UK capital, equivalent to about three soccer fields, while Internet giant Google restarted its previously shelved search for 150,000 sq ft, property agency Cushman & Wakefield said. "At the beginning of the year there were many more 'tyre kickers' in the market; occupiers with theoretical requirements for new office space but who were doing little to progress them," Guy Taylor, Cushman's head of West End agency, said. "This has now changed ... as they look to realise value in what could be a relatively short window of opportunity in which they hold the negotiating balance of power," he said. The take-up of office space in Central London rose 64 percent in the third quarter of 2009 from the previous quarter, while rents may have hit a bottom after plunging to their lowest in a decade, the agency said in late September. The uptick in demand will benefit major UK office landlords such as Land Securities, British Land, and Hammerson. Other companies that have started to search for office space include the world's largest insurance brokerage, Aon Corp , and UK business publisher Centaur Media, Cushman said. These new requirements have helped boost the current demand for central London office space to 9.35 million sq ft, up 20 percent from the low point in January, it said. (Reporting by Daryl Loo; editing by Simon Jessop) (See www.reutersrealestate.com for the global service for real estate professionals from Reuters) Keywords: LONDON OFFICE/ Keywords: LONDON OFFICE/ =2 ([e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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