London HQ is the Smart choice

• As many firms discuss the future of the office, global retirement technology provider, Smart, signs 15 year lease for London based 6-floor global HQ
• One of the first all-electric office buildings in the West End, operationally carbon zero from day one, with electricity from renewable sources
• News comes just eight days after Smart announced £165million Series D funding round, led by Chrysalis
• Smart has created more than 200 jobs during the pandemic and seen 160% growth in assets under management in 2020
  

Global retirement technology provider, Smart, has signed a 15 year lease for the company’s new London-based international headquarters, in one of the largest West End lettings since the start of the pandemic, ensuring its 340 strong London based workforce remains in the capital. 

The building (OneThreeSix, 136 George Street, to be known as 'The Smart Building') is one of the first all-electric powered office buildings in central London, which will be operationally carbon zero from day one of occupation, with electricity from renewable sources. The six storey building is WiredScore 'Gold' Certified, targeting BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and WELL ready status. Smart relocates from its current offices in Paddington. 

The news follows Smart’s announcement just eight days ago of a £165million Series D funding round, with Chrysalis Investments leading the round. 

The £75million lead investment from Chrysalis, whose portfolio includes Klarna, Wise (formerly TransferWise), Starling Bank, The Hut Group and Graphcore, as well as wefox, the insurtech unicorn from Germany, will see Smart further grow its retirement technology platform offering in the UK, the US, Australia and the Middle East, with additional territories to follow.

The co-founders of Smart, Andrew Evans and Will Wynne, said: 

“London has been our home since Smart’s launch in 2015 and we’re thrilled that, despite the pandemic, we’ve added hundreds of colleagues to the team, expanded rapidly internationally, and are now able to further reinvest in London, and to make The Smart Building our global HQ.

We’ve experienced enormous growth over the last 18 months. Sustainability is hugely important to us, our colleagues’ working lives are hugely important to us, and it’s for these reasons we’ve chosen to commit to this state of the art, all renewable electric building and we know it's a place our teams across the globe will be proud of. We have ensured there’s plenty of space to accommodate the huge number of hires in the pipeline, as well as social spaces including outdoor space on five of the six floors and a top floor wraparound terrace.

This building is designed to inspire our colleagues in the UK and internationally to achieve the growth we forecast over the next 15 years of Smart’s life and we’re really excited to present The Smart Building to all who work with us.”  

Despite the pandemic, in 2020 Smart opened offices in the US and Dubai, growing its global team to more than 550.