Mayor and London Assembly set for City Hall move

City Hall was designed by Sir Norman Foster

The Mayor of London and assembly members are all set to pack up and move out of City Hall.

The Greater London Authority (GLA) will host its last meeting at the Sir Norman Foster designed building on 2 December before relocating to the Crystal at the Royal Docks in Newham.

The move to the new eco-building should save the authority more than £60m over the next five years.

But some worry it could be seen as de-prioritising the centre of London.

The Crystal was opened in 2012, having been commissioned by Siemens as an exemplar of sustainable design.

City Hall has been the official home of the GLA since it was opened by the Queen in 2002 and occupies a prominent position on the south bank of the Thames.

Moving GLA to the Crystal has been criticised as likely to diminish its role and status, but others believe it will spur the regeneration of one of the poorest parts of the capital.

The mayor told the London Assembly the move was necessary because of government under-funding and his priority of protecting jobs.

A seamless move from City Hall to the Crystal had been planned for the end of November, but delays in preparing the new headquarters mean GLA meetings will be held at the London Fire Brigade (LFB) headquarters for the remainder of the year.

Will moving the GLA base save money?

The GLA has been leasing City Hall, at a cost of more than £11m a year, from a private landlord - the Kuwaiti-owned St Martin's Property Group

The terms of the 25-year-old lease allow for a break in the contract at the end of 2021.

Although it's understood a substantial discount was offered at this point, the Mayor and the property group failed to reach an agreement.

The GLA bought the Crystal in 2019 from electronics giant Siemens, which cited it as an exemplar of sustainable design.

That means no rent will need to be paid on the building - but millions of pounds will still have to be spent to upgrade security for the mayor and members of the London Assembly.

Last year, the Conservative group on the London Assembly claimed Mr Khan had exaggerated the potential savings from the move.

A subsequent review of the options by the GLA found the savings would actually be greater than first thought.

Green AM Caroline Russell said she was looking forward to moving into a building that was "purpose-built" for meetings and exhibitions.

She said: "The old City Hall is in a really amazing location and it's an iconic building but it's really not very practical to work in.

"The floors all change shape as you move up the building, there's lots of wasted space in our offices and it's also leaking a bit and just a bit worn out."

Prof Tony Travers said the move risked downgrading the GLA in voters' minds

But Professor Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, described the move as "a bit of a gamble".

He said: "The risk is that somehow, by moving from the centre of the city, it somehow connects in people's minds with moving from the centre of their attention when it comes to the delivery of services."

The glass building also has less capacity than City Hall and some GLA staff will instead be relocated to the LFB's headquarters in Union Street, Southwark.

David Simmonds, Conservative MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, said his constituents in the north-west suburbs were looking forward to the GLA paying them more attention.

He said: "London isn't just about the iconic skyline... It's also about the vast majority of Londoners living across our suburbs.

"It would be good to see that perhaps the people who work in policy, who help develop things at the GLA having more of a focus on that."

Hina Bokhari, Lib Dem assembly member, said the move had been hit by multiple delays

Lib Dem assembly member (AM) Hina Bokhari said the move had been hit by multiple delays and the new location would be more of a "challenge" for people to get to.

City Hall is in the centre of London, next to London Bridge, with overground and underground links as well as bus routes nearby.

The Crystal is on the outskirts of central London, close to the City of London airport, although it will link into the new Crossrail Elizabeth line when it opens in 2022.

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