In an age of remote working, it makes little economic sense for government employees to occupy prime downtown locations. Those ageing, inefficient buildings represent a burden to the taxpayer and advances in technology allow governments to reduce property costs by embracing flexible working and relocating staff to cheaper regions.

Relocating government is hardly a new trend. In the 1930s, Spain’s short-lived Republican government uprooted and moved its army of civil servants to Nuevos Ministerios, on the (then) outskirts of Madrid.