(Bloomberg) -- Helical Plc said the prime office letting market in the British capital is “trending positively,” a sign that demand is picking up in the City after the pandemic shifted working patterns. 

The London property developer is looking at the year ahead with “cautious optimism” following the signing of new leases and encouraging market data, it said in a statement.  

The company signed new leases at The JJ Mack Building in Farringdon and The Bower in Old Street, at estimated rental values above March 2023 levels, with further space under offer.

Other companies have been betting on a post-Covid office revival. Land Securities Group Plc acquired a 1.4 million-square-foot (130,000 square-meter) development site in Bankside, while Ken Griffin’s Citadel and Citadel Securities signed a lease for 250,000-square-foot-plus headquarters at British Land Co Plc’s 2 Finsbury Avenue, a major expansion of their presence in the capital. 

About 9.6 million square feet of office space was leased in central London last year, down 8% on a year earlier, according to broker Cushman & Wakefield Plc. Still, the City of London market recorded its highest quarterly total since 2006 in the three months through December. 

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