City firm Herbert Smith Freehills is to move around 500 members of staff across town to a new office in Canary Wharf to encourage 'agile working’.

The move will see around 495 people relocate to the new office, on Bank Street, in September. The firm’s Finsbury Square office, near Moorgate, will close but its London Headquarters, in Exchange House, will remain open.

Staff who will be required to move will be from the firm’s business services and alternative legal services team. The Gazette understands the firm looked at options including Stratford, White City and Croydon but that Canary Wharf provided the best journey for most staff.

Herbert Smith Freehills chief executive Mark Rigotti said the new office would ‘empower people to move away from traditional office-based ways of working, shaping the business for the future.’

He added: ‘We are committed to creating a workplace – and a workforce – for the future, empowering our staff to work how they want to work. The choice of Canary Wharf was also heavily influenced by our desire to be close to our clients, with many of our major clients based in Canary Wharf.’