NEXT plans high street domination, tapping new London office

As NEXT plots growth, it is expanding its office space, signing a five-year lease in London's Fitzrovia. The new four-storey office adds to the high street retailer's existing headquarters in the capital city.

Great Portland Estates (GPE) today announced the five-year deal, revealing that NEXT is taking on 11,500 sq ft of fully managed space in the newly refurbished 31 Alfred Place, WC1.

NEXT will be moving into the building at the end of March to occupy a total of four floors. Employees will be situated across the lower ground, duplex, third and fourth floors. They'll have access to a communal roof terrace, private terraces on selected floors, a spacious shared lounge and a meeting room suite as well as a flexible wellness space.

David Korman, Senior Leasing Manager at GPE, said: "We are delighted to have completed our largest ever Fully Managed deal with Next and look forward to welcoming them to the building later this month.

"The rapid and positive leasing at Alfred Place highlights the strong demand for our well-located, amenity-rich, premium Fully Managed spaces while also demonstrating the expanding appeal to larger corporates that may have initially sought a more traditional arrangement."

This announcement comes as NEXT prepares for National Insurance hikes. In January, NEXT boss Lord Simon Wolfson utilised his position in the House of Lords to table amendments aimed at phasing in changes to the NI hikes.

In the Autumn Budget, the Government increased the rate of National Insurance paid by employers from April and also reduced the threshold that employers start paying from £9,100 to £5,000. This is set to hit the retail sector particularly hard. NEXT said it would raise prices by 1% after revealing its wage costs would increase by £70 million.