CII to relocate to 'Walkie Talkie' building

Following a review of their property footprint in light of the pandemic, a decision has been made for professional body Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) to sub-let part of the office space of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), situated at 20 Fenchurch Street (also known as the ‘Walkie Talkie' building) from early 2021.

This brings the two not-for-profit Chartered bodies, both members of the Chartered Body Alliance, under one roof.

The arrangement will see the CISI remodelling their existing space in the building to create a new physically separate office for the CII (for a lease of five years) and will form the main headquarters for both international organisations.

The CII and CISI will remain legally separate.

The CII currently has offices in South Woodford and Lombard Street in central London. Both premises will be vacated by the end of December 2020.

The CISI has decided to embrace a new way of working with a split of remote and office working for their London-based staff, while the CII had already established an ‘anytime anywhere' approach to working.

Simon Culhane Chartered FCSI, CEO of CISI, said: "This is collaboration and cooperation in action and a great opportunity for both organisations. During 2020 we have learnt the benefits of our staff being able to work remotely and how this positively contributes to productivity and well-being. Therefore we have taken a decision to remodel our existing property footprint by creating two separate offices on our floor. We are delighted that this change has offered us a positive new opportunity."

Sian Fisher, CEO of CII, said: "The Walkie Talkie will be a modern and dynamic business hub for us, which meets the evolving needs of our organisation with community space for staff and visitors, both on our floor and from other features of the building like the Mezzanine and Sky Garden. We look forward to being neighbours of our sister professional body CISI from 2021."