Sainsbury’s has confirmed that it will relocate its London Holborn headquarters to premises in King’s Cross, as revealed by propertyweek.com at 7am this morning.

The supermarket giant announced that it has agreed terms with developer Argent to take a pre-let at the £2bn King’s Cross scheme.

Sainsbury’s plans to work with Argent to develop the building to the highest environmental specifications, including adding roof-mounted wind turbines and solar cell technology to the building. It will also develop a supermarket on the site.

Sainsbury’s current HQ, at 33 Holborn, houses around 2,000 staff who will move over to the new premises by 2011. The retailer has a lease until 2025 on the Union Investment Real Estate-owned building, and will now look for tenants to sub-let the space, at rents of around £53-55 per sq ft.

Justin King, chief executive at Sainsburys, said: ‘We have been looking at the possibility of finding alternative premises for around 18 months and have considered a wide range of locations. Taking all aspects of the relocation into account, King’s Cross Central provides a great solution.

‘In addition to its energy efficiency, the new premises will deliver cost savings to the business while allowing us to remain within our traditional heartland, and thereby minimise any potential disruption.’

Cushman & Wakefield were advising Sainsburys.