WPP has been moving its agencies into its second London campus, Rose Court, on the South Bank – about half a mile east along the Thames riverbank from the company’s first campus, Sea Containers.
More than a dozen agencies and 2,500 staff will be based at the refurbished Rose Court building by April, when the occupation of the building is due to complete.
Mindshare, which left its Central St Giles home at Christmas, and Grey, which quit Hatton Garden at the start of February, are among the agencies that have already moved into the building by Southwark Bridge.
AxiCom, BCW, Choreograph, Clarion Communications, GCI Health, PSB, SJR and Superunion have also relocated to Rose Court in recent months as coronavirus restrictions in the UK have slowly eased.
Acceleration, Metro Broadcast and Xaxis are scheduled to move in over the next two months.
WPP is midway through a process of moving from about 40 offices across London to three “campus” buildings that are located within half of a mile of each other.
It is part of a global “campus” strategy to increase collaboration, improve efficiency and reduce office costs.
WPP, the world’s biggest agency group, began its London relocation in 2015 when it moved into Sea Containers, which is the home of Ogilvy, Wavemaker and VMLY&R, as well as the global parent company.
The third campus is directly opposite Rose Court at One Southwark Bridge Road, the former headquarters of the Financial Times, which is undergoing refurbishment and is expected to become the HQ of MediaCom.
About 10,000 WPP staff will work across the three London buildings which are all of a similar size. Sea Containers is 20,890 square metres, Rose Court 17,147 square metres and One Southwark Bridge Road 21,575 square metres. BDG, a WPP-owned architecture and design firm, has overseen the refurbishments.
WPP has admitted that the experience of the pandemic and the rise of flexible working will change how it uses its offices.
“It’s going to be much more of a collaborative space, as opposed to people sitting at desks answering emails, which people can do as easily at home as they can at the office,” John Rogers, the chief financial officer of WPP, has told investors, adding that he expects the company will reduce office space by “between 10% and 20%” globally after the pandemic.
South Bank becomes global centre of agency talent
The South Bank has become one of the biggest concentrations of agency talent in London and the world.
Omnicom employs about 5,000 staff at Bankside, which is home to most of its London agencies, including Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, Manning Gottlieb OMD, PHD, OMD and TBWA\London.
The US agency group agreed to lease Bankside in 2014, before buying the freehold at the end of 2021.
The UK is Omnicom’s second largest market after the US, and Bankside is its “largest office building globally”, Phil Angelastro, Omnicom's chief financial officer, said on the company’s recent Q4 earnings call. “We've been consolidating space in London for some time and have exited 31 buildings since 2015. London is a key market for our future.”
Angelastro highlighted how “this building is in the South Bank area, west of London Bridge, near to Tate Modern” and said being in this “culturally vibrant area” is “key to attracting and retaining talent”.
London Bridge is home to several other media and agency businesses, including News UK and Jellyfish.
WPP is set to consolidate its Manchester agencies in a fourth UK campus in St John’s Place in the coming year.
.jpg)
.jpg)