Teach First had been occupying a number of buildings in and around the Canary Wharf area. The charity had become increasingly successful and needed to establish a single central London operational base. Whilst faced with a charity’s inevitable budgetary constraints, it was essential that the new building was easy to get to for staff and potential teaching recruits. An extensive and thorough search was undertaken throughout central London and over 40 properties were inspected. These ranged from buildings in the West End to the City Fringe and the South Bank. A detailed shortlist was compiled and costs analysed and compared. Initial negotiations were undertaken on a number of properties, but the deal being offered at the highly acclaimed newly built development on the South Bank was the most attractive. The award winning scheme, that overlooks the Thames, had recently become home to significant occupiers such as Price Waterhouse Coopers, Norton Rose and the London Assembly.
4 More London was mostly occupied by legal heavyweights Lawrence Graham, but the 1st and 2nd floors were available and provided approx 24,000 sq ft of Grade A accommodation.
Paul Dart of Monmouth Dean negotiated hard and was able to agree a highly competitive rental terms. The deal was completed in November 2009 and Teach First are due to finalise their bespoke fit out and take occupation Q1 2010. This is a long term move for Teach First and the deal Paul structured enabled them to take an element of additional space to allow for future growth.
Monmouth Dean have subsequently been instructed to sublet the surplus 3,800 sq ft on part of the 1st floor in this landmark scheme.
Teach First are large established charity funded by the likes of Credit Suisse, Deloitte and Proctor & Gamble. Their primary role is to encourage high level graduates, who would not normally enter teaching, to teach for at least two years in challenging secondary schools in London, North West, the East and West Midlands and Yorkshire.
Estates Gazette 30/10/09