New Scotland Yard to be sold by Met

The Metropolitan Police is set to sell off its New Scotland Yard headquarters in a strategy to make £500m in savings.

The New Scotland Yard building is said to cost £11m a year to run and needed £50m in maintenance for the next few years. The force is eyeing up a new HQ in the Curtis Green building on the Embankment.

The sale of the block, home to the Met since 1967, could potentially raise £150m for the force.

The new site on the Embankment is the former HQ of Territorial Policing and located yards away from the Ministry of Defence and Downing Street. It was nearly sold off for £30m but the Met pulled out of the deal at the last minute due to security concerns.

The new HQ can house around 600 or so people, a significant reduction to the 3,000 who work in New Scotland Yard.

Deputy Commissioner Craig Mackey told the Evening Standard:

“We want to have a greater presence in London’s communities and re-locate our officers in popular locations.

 “We want to end up in places that are most accessible to Londoners.”