Lloyd’s invests in Lime Street future

Lloyd’s has decisively put to bed the speculation that has been running since the Covid pandemic lockdowns that it might leave its present Lime Street HQ. Earlier this year it finally stopped the persistent rumours that it might exercise the 2026 break clause in its lease. Now, the market authorities have said they are looking to extend the lease beyond its current end in 2031. This is not just talk. They have backed their words with investment in the main underwriting floor which re-opened recently after a major summer re-fit.

This should be welcomed by everyone who cares about ensuring London maintains its key position in the global insurance market.

Some people forget that Lloyd’s is merely a tenant in its own building. Although it commissioned the building on the site of an older Lloyd’s building from the 1920s, it no longer owns it. It was first sold to Commerzbank for £231m in 2005 before Chinese insurer Ping An paid £260m for it in 2013. The current lease extends to 2031, with that now dismissed break clause in 2026.

It is an iconic building, designed by Richard Rogers and once damned with faint praise to me by Alan Lord, the market’s chief executive when the building opened in the mid-1980s: “If you look around London at the buildings constructed since the war it makes every other office look as about as innovative as an igloo. You might love it or loathe it but you cannot be neutral about it.”

Over the subsequent decades most people have at least come to appreciate it, if not love it. It is seen the world over as the Lloyd’s building, the only truly distinctive building associated with the insurance industry in the City of London. Although people may argue that a physical presence in the City is less important in this digital age, it still sends out a clear message about the importance of the insurance industry to the fortunes of the City and, in turn, the UK economy.

The faith being shown in the building is more than affection for an important architectural feature of the City of London. It says Lloyd’s believes it has an important part to play in the market’s future – a future that also includes significant investment in a wide range of digital initiatives. It is now up to insurers, underwriters, brokers and everyone who does business through London to show they, too, are committed to that vision of a varied future.