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Midtown - WC1 & WC2

Two large transactions set the seal on the midtown market in the fourth quarter of 2006. One was for lawyers Taylor Wessing who took a pre-let of 163,000 sq. ft. at Land Securities’ 5 New Street Square development on Fetter Lane. The other was for the Royal Courts of Justice who took a pre-let of 146,000 sq. ft. at the nearby Delancey's Rolls Building for occupation in 2009.

Elsewhere Thomson Scientific took 49,000 sq. ft. at Derwent Valley's Johnson building in Hatton Garden.

FOCUS records 1.4 million sq. ft. of space available in the WC postcodes, well down on the cyclical peak of 3.1 million sq. ft. seen in early 2005. Arlington's Midtown 322 on High Holborn is amongst the largest new spaces available with 54,000 sq. ft. on the market, Elsewhere, 53,000 sq. ft. is available at 26 Red Lion Square and 35,000 sq. ft. at 1 Strand.

The largest secondhand space is available at 222 Grays Inn Road where 100,000 sq. ft. is on the market. Other large space includes 85,000 sq. ft. at 278 High Holborn and 52,000 sq. ft. at 22 Chancery Lane.

Prime rents in Midtown stand at around £47.50 per sq. ft. up from £40 per sq. ft. at the end of 2005. Average rents for new or refurbished space stand at £34 per sq. ft. with secondhand space available on average at £28.75 per sq. ft.

• West End (W1 & SW1)
• The City (EC1 - EC4)