Land Securities will enlist Songbird subsidiary Canary Wharf Group (CWG) as a partner on a City of London office space development, reports suggest.

According to sources cited by Reuters news agency, CWG are being brought onboard to undertake the construction of the skyscraper at 20 Fenchurch Street.

The company will also shoulder some of the investment for the development, which has been colloquially dubbed the Walkie Talkie, and help spread the financial risk for Land Securities.

Harm Meijer said: “It looks to be a winning combination … for CWG they can diversify from the Canary Wharf district, and for Land Secs they will be working with a developer that has one of the best construction records.”

Plans for the Walkie Talkie reveal it is a mixed use development with floor space of 660,000 square feet earmarked for offices and the remaining 23,000 for retailers. It is expected to be complete by 2014.

Asset manager Real IS has completed a deal to buy 80,000 sq ft of London office space.

The company will pay £52 million for 21 Bloomsbury Street in the West End, according to Property Week.

Real IS, a division of BayernLB, inherits the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions as a tenant until 2022.

Andreas Heibrock of Real IS said: “We are pursuing the fund’s underlying strategy by selecting a property in a prime location and a tenant with an excellent credit standing.”

News of the deal comes days after Evans Randall acquired Drapers Gardens in the City of London for £242.5 million.

The investment banking and private equity firm bought the building from a joint venture which comprised Real Estate Funds and the Canary Wharf Group.

An unspecified proportion of the financing for the deal was provided by Eurohyop - a German real estate loans company.

The owners of Tower 42, which encompasses 342,000 sq ft of office space, have taken the building off the market.

According to the funds which own the 600 ft skyscraper – the tallest in the City of London – the move was taken to capitalise on soaring rents for office space across London’s main financial district.

The group claims that a number of bids had been tabled for Tower 42, which was originally known as the NatWest Tower and has been on the market since April 2010.

A statement from the owners, including investment vehicles under the control of La Salle Investment Management and BlackRock, alluded to plans to pursue “a number of initiatives across the estate”.

Prior to withdrawing it from sale, a price of around £300 million was being sought for Tower 42.

News of developments comes amid a surge in rental values in the City over the last year, as scrapped developments contribute a shortfall in supply for prime office space.

The Swiss banking giant’s new European headquarters will be on the site it currently occupies on the Broadgate estate and will incorporate some 70,000 sq ft of office space.

Two buildings on the site now are to be demolished to make way for the development, which will be the City’s largest office building.

British Land stated: “The new building represents a significant commitment by UBS to the City and Broadgate in particular.

“The development marks another important stage in the ongoing investment programme at Broadgate, which will ensure that it remains the premier City of London office estate, providing modern world-class accommodation for its office, retail and leisure occupiers.”

It is not yet clear what shape the UBS building will take, but it is expected that local planning restrictions will rule out a tower.

Prior to deciding to remain in The City, UBS, which currently occupies around a quarter of the available office space at Broadgate, had reportedly been considering a move to Canary Wharf.

The company’s new head office will be located in the Peninsula Building near Cheetham Hill, where it will take up 36,000 sq ft of office space over three floors from the third quarter of 2010.

Its subsidiaries AsiaRooms.com and Hotels-London.co.uk will also be housed in the city centre development.

According to Chris Morris of LateRooms.com parent company TUI Travel, the relocation affirms its commitment to Manchester while allowing the firm to push ahead with plans to grow its business.

He said: “LateRooms.com has been one of Manchester’s success stories over the past ten years, and we’re committed to keeping the business in the city where it all began.

“From small beginnings of just six people, LateRooms.com now has over 350 staff working in Manchester and we’re delighted to be moving into The Peninsula, a fantastic new office that will give us the space we need to develop and grow.”

Work on fitting out the offices will be undertaken by TSK, which will begin the project in August.

Cushman & Wakefield undertook an advisory role in the deal.

According to a report from the Telegraph, the US banking giant is mulling leaving premises in Bournemouth and Glasgow, where its back office operations are currently based.

The decision to relocate is thought to have been fuelled by higher taxes on banks and on bank employees, as part of the government drive to cut the Budget deficit.

Should JP Morgan opt to move, it is likely to choose Asia as a new location for its premises.

News of developments comes as the bank is also believed to be considering scrapping plans for a new headquarters in London’s Canary Wharf.

Prior to the introduction of tougher operating conditions for investment banks, JP Morgan harboured plans for a new £1.5 billion development to serve as a base of operations in Europe.

Hays has signed up to lease 7,500sq ft office space in Cardiff’s Callaghan Square development.

The recruitment giant has agreed a deal with MEPC for 5 Callaghan Square, which is to be the company’s new head office in Wales.

In so doing it joins the likes of Centrica, Network Rail and Deloitte in the office development that totals some 165,000sq ft over three buildings.

Mark Seymour, Hays country director of Wales, told the Western Mail: “Moving to such a prestigious new Welsh head office is a clear commitment to give our staff a better working environment.

“This is also an investment in Wales because we foresee long term growth in jobs and business here.”

Gary Carver, director at Savills, said: “The location is obviously appealing to Hays and it will enable them to improve the quality of the office they have in Cardiff, thus further enhancing their image and profile.”

The 5 Callaghan Square building comprises 54,000 sq ft of grade A office space and is one of eight business estates in prime locations currently managed by MEPC.

MEPC’s portfolio includes Elmwood in Chineham Business Park, Basingstoke, Building 100 at Oxfordshire’s Milton Business Park and Kelvin Gate and the Hillington Business Park in Glasgow.

According to a report from a Bloomberg news agency, the company is shifting its focus away from the City of London in a bid to maximise rental returns.

Currently, over 60 per cent of its office portfolio is in the capital’s main financial district.

The move comes amid a decline in rental values in the City as the downturn of the last few years continues to impact on demand.

Chief Executive Officer Chris Grigg said: “We would be perfectly comfortable with 50 percent or more of our offices in the West End.

“If you look at the rental performance of the West End over the City, you see better long-term growth.”

Over 2008 and 2009, British Land’s commercial property holdings slumped in value by £4.8 billion.

Last year, the firm offloaded a 50 per cent stake in the Broadgate complex to US private equity company Blackstone Group in a deal worth £1 billion.

Unveiled last week, Chancellor George Osborne’s emergency Budget introduced a series of cost-cutting measures as the government embarks on the deepest cuts to public spending since the end of the second World War.

Among these is a plan to reduce staffing levels at select government departments by 25 per cent, spelling a massive reduction in office space occupied by the public sector.

Currently some 83 million sq ft of office space across the UK is occupied by the civil service. This equates to around 150 office blocks.

Jonathan Thompson, global head of real estate at KPMG, told the Telegraph: “The major impact of the Budget for the property industry will be the cuts in Government spending and the consequential reduction in the Government occupied estate.

“It has already been announced that 150 magistrates’ courts are to close and North Dorset is ceasing to fund sports and arts with the closure of its leisure centre.”