New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, has been put on the market with a guide price of £250 mln (€315 mln) in the biggest shake-up of the Met police estate for over 50 years.

New Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, has been put on the market with a guide price of £250 mln (€315 mln) in the biggest shake-up of the Met police estate for over 50 years.

The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime has brought the 1960s office block in Victoria to market via agent JLL as part of the Greater London Authority's strategy to cut spending.

The building, home to the Met Police HQ since 1967, will be marketed as ‘Ten Broadway’ and has the potential for a 600,000 sq ft (55,750 m2) residential-led development. Proceeds will be reinvested in mobile technology for frontline staff, modern buildings and more officers on the street.

The move is estimated to save the Met over £6 mln a year in running costs. In total, the Greater London Authority is raising £125 mln through the sale of 32 buildings as part of plans to reduce the Met estate by a third.

The operational HQ of the Met will relocate to the Curtis Green building on Victoria Embankment, which received planning permission from Westminster Council last month for a slimmed down HQ. The building will be home to up to 1,000 officers and staff as compared to the 2,500 working out of the current HQ.

London mayor Boris Johnson said: 'Londoners have backed our drive to put bobbies before buildings and the long-awaited sale of the New Scotland Yard building will allow us to boost front-line policing and keep officer numbers high.'

Jane Bond, director of property services at the Metropolitan Police Service, said: 'The launch of Ten Broadway on the open market will release substantial capital to reinvest in front-line policing. The building is surplus to operational policing requirements and its disposal offers a great development opportunity for London, right in the heart of a new residential district undergoing an exciting transformation.'

Charles Pinchbeck, director West End Investment at JLL who is handling the sale, said: 'Central London is continuing to attract demand from investors around the world. Ten Broadway has tremendous residential and commercial potential and represents an exceptional opportunity for one of the world’s leading developers to deliver a world class scheme and as such is bound to attract strong levels of interest.'

The sale price of over £250 mln compares to a purchase price of £123.5 mln in 2008 when the previous authority purchased the freehold.