Why Derwent London’s White Collar Factory keeps drawing tech tenants

Reviewed: ad hoc news B2B & Pro desk. Edited and checked on 2026-06-20, 10:21. Details in the imprint.

White Collar Factory is the kind of office building you remember the moment you step out of the lift - concrete ceilings, big opening windows, a view over Old Street and, above it all, a running track curled around the roof.

What makes the building stand out

On paper, White Collar Factory sounds almost modest: around 293,000 square feet of offices and restaurants wrapped around Old Street Yard, right on London’s Silicon Roundabout. But the concept is deliberately uncompromising.

Derwent London and architect AHMM went for high ceilings, exposed structure and flexible 3,500 to 12,500 square foot floorplates designed for open layouts rather than cubicle farms. Large windows that can actually be opened bring in daylight and air instead of sealed-glass fatigue.

Rooftop track and courtyard life

Walk up to the roof and the tone changes again. A 150-metre running track loops around the edge, a quiet bright-red ribbon above the traffic where office workers jog at lunchtime or clear their heads after a late pitch.

Down at ground level, the development spills into a new courtyard called Old Street Yard with restaurants, cafés and smaller workspaces. It feels more like a small city block than a single office scheme, which helps tenants with younger teams.

How it is built for flexibility

Under the bare concrete look sits a practical idea: long-life, loose-fit office space. Floor-to-ceiling heights reach up to 3.5 metres with a 150-millimetre raised floor, so layouts and cabling can be changed without heroic construction work.

Derwent London highlights high thermal mass and natural ventilation options that can reduce cooling loads compared with sealed-glass towers. For occupiers, that means lower energy use and less reliance on intense mechanical air conditioning when London heats up.

Tenants and target audience

It is no coincidence that White Collar Factory has drawn tech and creative occupiers. Adobe, Capital One and cloud communications group Nexmo have all been named among tenants attracted by the building’s spec and location at the heart of the Tech City cluster.

The scheme is pitched squarely at companies who want an edgy, central London office but are wary of overly polished corporate towers. Young teams see polished concrete and a rooftop track as a signal that this is somewhere they can work late without feeling trapped.

Location and connectivity in London

Geography does a lot of heavy lifting here. The building sits on the north-east corner of Old Street roundabout, with the Northern line and National Rail links feeding in from just below. For employees coming from across London, the commute is straightforward.

Cyclists roll in from Shoreditch, Islington or the City within minutes. Secure bike storage and showers - now near-standard in high-end London offices - become more valuable when staff really do pedal in, especially at tech companies where car commutes are the exception.

Sustainability and technical credentials

Beyond aesthetics, White Collar Factory was designed to hit demanding environmental standards, including a BREEAM Excellent rating according to Derwent London’s project information. That matters for corporates facing their own net-zero commitments.

The combination of exposed soffits, chilled beams and operable windows is not just a visual choice. It is aimed at cutting operational energy use and extending the building’s useful life, a theme that runs through Derwent London’s broader portfolio strategy.

Where it sits in Derwent London’s portfolio

For Derwent London, White Collar Factory is more than a one-off statement. It anchors the group’s holdings around Old Street and showcases the “village” style campus approach the landlord has pushed in Fitzrovia, Clerkenwell and the West End.

Investors often point to the scheme as an example of how thoughtful refurbishments and new-build hybrids can outperform generic offices in a hybrid-working era, with tenants still paying for quality locations and distinctive architecture.

Context and stock reference

Derwent London focuses almost exclusively on central London offices with a bias towards design-led space like White Collar Factory, which helps it compete against more conventional landlords even as occupiers shrink their footprints.

Shares of Derwent London plc (GB0002652740) trade on the London Stock Exchange in pounds sterling.

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