Lloyds opens 10-storey Cardiff office for 2,500 staff 2026

Key Points

• New office for Lloyds Banking Group at Cardiff city centre has been unveiled. It is a 10-storey building which can accommodate over 2,500 employees.
• The banking group has leased the entire Grade-A office building of 114,000 sq ft from JR Smart for ten years for a total of £15 million, which was raised by the strategic premises fund of the Cardiff Capital Region.
• The employees who were working in the Newport office and St William House at Cardiff will now be relocated to the new office.
• The office consists of fully-electric air source heat pumps and solar energy panels among other measures that are aimed at saving up to 422 tonnes of CO₂ emissions every year, earning BREEAM ‘Excellent’ accreditation in the process.
• The facilities located inside the office include flexible workspaces, meeting and collaboration rooms, a work café, events space, rooftop terrace, wheelchair accessible kitchen, changing places toilet, returning parents room, spaces for contemplation and Wudu facilities.
• According to Sharon Doherty, chief people and places officer of Lloyds Banking Group, the new workplace was “modern, inclusive and had a reduced carbon footprint.”
• Knight Frank has been engaged by JR Smart for the sale of the office building with the asking price being £38.4m. The development is said to be the last speculative grade A office development constructed in Cardiff after the construction of Capital Square.

Cardiff (Cardiff Daily) September 28, 2026 – Lloyds Banking Group has officially opened a new 10-storey, all-electric office at John Street in Cardiff city centre, creating a consolidated workplace for more than 2,500 colleagues. The bank has taken the entire 114,000 sq ft grade A building on a 10-year lease from developer JR Smart, bringing together staff previously based at its former Newport office and at St William House in Cardiff. The scheme, which uses all-electric air-source heat pumps and solar panels, is designed to save around 422 tonnes of CO₂ annually and has achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating. Internal amenities include flexible working areas, collaboration spaces, a work café, an events space and a roof terrace, alongside inclusivity features such as wheelchair-accessible kitchens, a Changing Places toilet, a returning parents’ room and Wudu facilities.

What has opened in Cardiff’s city centre and who will work there?

Cardiff has seen the opening of a major new workplace as Lloyds Banking Group moved into its new 10-storey office on John Street, in the heart of the city. As reported by business correspondents at WalesOnline, the banking group has taken the entirety of the 114,000 sq ft grade A building, which was speculatively developed by JR Smart and is now being marketed for sale by Knight Frank at an asking price of £38.4m.

According to a press release issued by Lloyds Banking Group on 28 September 2026, the new site will provide a city-centre workplace for more than 2,500 colleagues, consolidating operations that were previously split between the bank’s former Newport office and its St William House premises in Cardiff. Lloyds said staff assigned to the new Cardiff office will be expected to spend around 40% of their working time in the building as part of hybrid working arrangements, with roles spanning consumer lending, customer service, insurance and pensions teams.

How sustainable and inclusive is the new Lloyds office?

The John Street building has been designed with a strong emphasis on sustainability and inclusivity. As outlined in Lloyds Banking Group’s press release, the office uses all-electric air-source heat pumps instead of traditional heating methods and incorporates solar panels and demand-controlled ventilation. The group said these measures are designed to save around 422 tonnes of CO₂ annually, a reduction it equated to growing 7,000 seedling trees for 10 years.

The scheme has achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating, a recognised standard for environmental performance in buildings, and includes planted and living walls throughout the interior. In terms of inclusivity, a Changing Places toilet has been installed close to the main entrance for use by colleagues and members of the public, while all kitchens in office areas have been adapted to be wheelchair accessible. Additional facilities include a dedicated returning parents’ room, separate contemplation spaces and Wudu facilities to support colleagues’ religious practices.

Sharon Doherty, chief people and places officer at Lloyds Banking Group, said:

“When colleagues say, ‘this is where I work’, I want them to say it with real pride. John Street gives our teams in south Wales a brilliant new home that is modern, inclusive and designed to reduce its environmental impact.”

She added that the workplace had been “thought through properly”, citing the all-electric heating, solar panels and spaces designed around different colleague needs.

What facilities and working spaces does the building offer?

Beyond its sustainability and accessibility features, the new office is intended to support modern, flexible working patterns. As reported by WalesOnline, the building includes flexible working areas, meeting and collaboration spaces, a work café, an events space and a roof terrace overlooking Cardiff city centre. Lloyds Banking Group said the mix of spaces was intended to give colleagues more choice in where they focus, meet and work together.

The development forms part of Lloyds’ wider investment in its UK property estate, which aims to create fewer, better-equipped offices in key locations. Similar new or refurbished workplaces have already been delivered in Leeds, London and Halifax as part of this programme.

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How was the John Street office funded and what is its market context?

The John Street scheme is the last speculative grade A office project to be completed in Cardiff since the office element of the interchange scheme at Capital Square, which now serves as the Welsh headquarters of financial services firm L&G, according to reporting by WalesOnline. To complete the office scheme, JR Smart secured a £15m repayable loan from the Cardiff Capital Region’s Strategic Premises Fund, as previously announced by the regional body.

Property advisory firm Knight Frank has been appointed by JR Smart to sell its investment in the building, with an asking price of £38.4m, WalesOnline reported. The city currently does not have a pipeline of new grade A office buildings required to attract new investment or to provide space for indigenous firms to grow, with high interest rates and construction costs meaning any new development would need to secure tenants willing to pay rents potentially well above £40 per sq ft to be commercially viable, against a current headline rent of £33.50 per sq ft.

Background to the John Street office development

The John Street office block was initially conceived as a speculative grade A development by JR Smart, with construction beginning in late 2019. Early reports described the project as a 10-storey, 114,000 sq ft building targeting a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating, an EPC ‘A’ energy performance rating and WELL ‘Silver’ accreditation, with features including all-electric services and a rooftop terrace with views across the city and Cardiff Bay.

In December 2024, Lloyds Banking Group confirmed it would take the entire John Street office block on a 10-year lease, relocating staff from Newport and from St William House to the new premises in 2026. At that stage, the bank indicated the hub would house more than 3,000 staff, though later reporting and the group’s September 2026 press release referred to more than 2,500 colleagues being based at the site.

Cardiff Capital Region’s £15m loan to JR Smart, announced in April 2025, was intended to assist funding of the new build, with Lloyds named as the pre-let tenant for over 3,000 employees. The landlord’s works were scheduled for completion in December 2025, with Lloyds occupying the premises from summer 2026, in line with the opening reported in September 2026.

Prediction: how might this development affect Cardiff’s office market and workforce?

The opening of the John Street office is likely to reinforce Cardiff’s position as a regional hub for financial services employment while highlighting constraints in the city’s grade A office supply. By consolidating more than 2,500 roles in a single, high-specification building, Lloyds Banking Group is effectively anchoring a significant portion of its south Wales workforce in the city centre, which could stabilise demand for related services such as transport, retail and hospitality in the immediate area.

For the local office market, the transaction underlines the difficulty of delivering new speculative grade A schemes in the current economic environment. As noted in reporting by WalesOnline, the lack of a pipeline of new grade A buildings may limit Cardiff’s ability to attract additional large-scale investment or to accommodate fast-growing indigenous firms, particularly if prospective tenants are unwilling or unable to meet the higher rents that new developments would require. The John Street project, backed by public finance through Cardiff Capital Region, may therefore be cited as a model for how strategic public loans can help unlock high-quality office capacity where purely private development is constrained.

For the workforce, the emphasis on hybrid working, with an expectation that staff spend around 40% of their time in the office, could shape commuting patterns and demand for flexible transport options. The building’s inclusivity features, such as wheelchair-accessible kitchens, a Changing Places toilet and dedicated spaces for returning parents and religious observance, may also set a benchmark for future office developments in Wales, potentially influencing how employers and developers approach workplace design in the region.