Godwin relocates London HQ to St James’s Square

UK property business Godwin Developments has chosen 26 St James’s Square as its new London headquarters.

In a move that reflects the growing team and ambitions of the business, Godwin has recently moved into a large grade A office at St James’s – nearly doubling its footprint in the capital.

The amenity-led building, located at the heart of central London, has been fully refurbished into a high-end contemporary workspace, with corporate tenants benefitting from views across the square as well as dual aspect access from St James’s Square and Pall Mall. Other global names located nearby include Blackstone, Clayton Dubilier Rice, Rio Tinto, British Aerospace, Cinven Partners LLP, Waverton Investment Management, and many others.

The move follows on from Godwin’s recent announcement of a joint venture partnership with a leading institutional real estate partner, aimed at creating a £1 billion national build-to-rent platform. It will also further support the company’s plans to establish itself as a leading developer of best-in-class commercial, industrial, and residential as well as strategic land schemes.

Matt Chandler, Managing Director of Godwin Developments said: “Our investment into these larger state-of-the-art facilities at St James’s Square demonstrates our continued commitment to the capital and our increased focus on key stakeholders located here – including investors, property agents and end occupiers. The move also underpins our commitment to growing all our business divisions as we consolidate our expansion into these priority asset classes, as well as strengthen our in-house capabilities at such an important stage in our journey.”

Agents on the lease were BNP Paribas, with the fit-out delivered by Interiora Projects.

Godwin has seen a spate of activity over the course of this year, including the recent promotion of Marcus Phayer to Development Director of the business’ expanding Industrial & Logistics division, as well as the appointment of leading industry figure Lesley Roberts, as Director of BTR Operations. The commercial part of the business also continues to grow at pace as Godwin consolidates relationships with leading consumer brands including Lidl, McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Greggs, Loungers, Starbucks, and Costa Coffee, to name a few, as well as a range of EV charging providers.

With Godwin’s operations increasingly gravitating towards its expanding Birmingham and London hubs, the business also has decided to discontinue its lease at its Nottingham office and move the functions provided by this site to Birmingham. The business remains committed to existing projects in Nottingham and the wider East Midlands as well as pursuing additional opportunities in the area that fit with its business and divisional goals.