Defra to move in with Home Office as savings bite

Defra is moving. The Department's staff will move into premises occupied by the Home Office in early 2018, saving an estimated £2m a year.

Defra and agency staff currently located in three offices in London will move to 2 Marsham Street in Westminster, where Home Office and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) are already based.

The move comes as leases on nearby Ergon House and 9 Millbank end in June. Both buildings are to be redeveloped into residential property.

Staff presently based at Nobel House in Smith Square will also relocate to Marsham Street as part of a move that will reduce Defra’s London property costs by around £2 million a year.

Defra Permanent Secretary Clare Moriarty said: “The expiry of leases at two of our properties has made it possible to take this opportunity to bring Defra group people in London together into one purpose-built office.

“We are now busy drawing up a detailed relocation schedule with the current occupants of 2 Marsham Street with my aim for Defra group to complete the move by early 2018.”

Under the Whitehall Campus Strategy, the Government’s Property Unit has reduced the government’s central London estate from 181 properties in 2010 to 54.

By 2025 this figure is expected to fall to some 20 efficient, fit-for-purpose buildings.

The Government is striving to save £100 million by 2030 as it further streamlines its London estate as part of its ongoing reform programme.