Noho Square picks team and targets Google as tenant

Google is on a hit-list of potential tenants for a £200m development on the long-delayed Noho Square site in the West End of London.

The news comes as Building understands that deals with consultants on the former Candy & Candy site have been agreed. Although nothing has been signed, Aecom has been lined up for the M&E contract, Ramboll will act as structural engineer, EC Harris will be cost consultant and Sheppard Robson will be the architect.

A source close to the development said that although individual contract values were not yet known because the mixed-use project is in its design phase, the fees would be “significant”.

Designs for the 900,000ft2 site of the former Middlesex Hospital in Fitzrovia are being tailored to attract a “big media tenant” and insiders say Google is one of a number of media firms being targeted.

Campbell McDougal, a construction partner in Exemplar, the developer of the scheme, said: “As a large West End occupier, Google would be a potential client in the way that every West End client would be.”

A source close to the development said the internet company “would be part of any list” of media firms drawn up as potential clients.

Google has been reported to be on the hunt for new offices since the beginning of the year. One insider said the Noho site was in line with its desire to move from its offices near Victoria station to a more fashionable part of the capital. However, the source added that a stumbling block could be that the site would only open in about four years.

The site was transferred from the Candys to now collapsed Icelandic bank Kaupthing in 2008. In July last year Building revealed that the London College of Fashion had been lined up as a tenant by one bidder.

The land was bought by Exemplar and insurance firm Aviva for a reported £150m in July.