News International, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch owned publishing house, News Corporation, is in advanced talks of shifting its U.K. office space to a 17-story building, The Place. It is located just besides the Shard building near the river Thames.
According to The Financial Times, News International is looking to lease around 428,000 square feet of commercial space in the building to house its 1800 employees that work for The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times, respectively. However, no deal has been struck yet and a number of other companies are also vying to occupy the building.
The Shard is a 1016 feet tower that opened in July 2012. It is the tallest building in Western Europe. The tower is funded and managed by the Qatari government. Since its opening, it has had trouble finding tenants. The Place, also called the "baby shard" has found three tenants who are working on their leases and two more are said to be in the pipeline, reports Estate Gazette.
Currently, News International leases an office in Thomas More Square on St. Katherine's Dock in Wapping. The company moved into the office two years ago, after it sold off its former printing plant and a complex of warehouses, which served as its office for around 27 years. The Wapping Site is set to be redeveloped into a residential housing project.
The lease on the Thomas More Square office is set to expire in 2015, reports The Guardian.
"Our lease is due for renewal next year and as a responsible employer we will be exploring all options to ensure our accommodation continues to meet the needs of our staff and the business as it develops in the future," a spokesperson for News International said in a statement.
Moving to London would sever all ties of the company to Wapping. Murdoch had moved all operations to the Wapping site after slamming major print unions that protested against his new stringent terms and laws in the late eighties. Around 5,500 print production employees were sacked for objecting to the laws then.
Read more on the Wapping controversy, here.
While the company plans to shift base, shareholders are pressing for Murdoch to step down as chairman of News Corporation and elect an independent chairman for the company.
