The publisher of Marie Claire and NME is set to announce a major restructure of its UK business that will see 30 titles and brands and 300 staff relocated outside London.
Time Inc UK owns more than 60 brands and magazines – from Woman’s Weekly and Country Life to Homes & Gardens and Horse & Hound – mostly based out of the Blue Fin building in central London.
The company, which last month secured a £415m deal to sell its UK HQ while continuing as a tenant, is set to move about half of its portfolio to new offices in Farnborough, Hampshire.
Titles which are heavily dependent on being based in London due to media agency and advertiser relationships, such as fashion, beauty and entertainment magazines, are not thought to be affected.
It is thought to be specialist titles, such as in the sports and fitness portfolio at Time Inc, which face being moved.
The titles to be moved range from Country Life and Horse & Hound to Golf Monthly, Cycling Weekly and Yachting World.
The move, set for February next year, will affect 300 staff or about 18% of the publisher’s total UK employees.
Time Inc employs about 1,700 people in the UK – taking up almost half of the Blue Fin building, and also has offices in Croydon.
“Our specialist portfolio has an extraordinary heritage and this move is an exciting new chapter for the group and its staff,” said Oswin Grady, managing director of Time Inc UK’s specialist brands. “Bringing the majority of these brands together in a high-quality new working space will enable us to accelerate our growth ambitions in a first class environment for specialist publishing.”
The move will see TIme Inc reduce the amount of office space it uses in the Blue Fin building by 30%, from 228,000 square feet to 160,000 square feet.
Amateur Gardening and Practical Boat Owner, both based in Poole, Dorset, will not be affected by the Farnborough move.
The move is in line with other publishers such as Bauer which has its specialist portfolio, titles such as Trail and MCN, based out of Peterborough.
Similarly, business magazine publisher Haymarket has made several moves in recent years from Hammersmith out to Twickenham.
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