The Ministry of Justice has put up for sale two office properties in London’s Victoria.

The government department is to appoint agents to sell the 126,000 sq ft Abell House and 114,000 sq ft Cleland House, which are both on John Islip Street, by spring 2011.

West End agents believe the properties could raise £60m and could be worth more with planning consents.

The sale, which is part of a £1bn cost-saving strategy that was announced in last month’s Budget, will help to reduce the ministry’s estate in the capital from 18 buildings to four by moving 1,000 staff outside central London by 2015.

The National Offender Management Service staff who work at the two properties for sale will be moved to 102 Petty France (pictured), which is one of four properties in the Victoria area that the ministry wants to retain.

It has invited tenders from eight agents through the Buying Solutions framework, asking them to value each of the properties. An appointment is expected by the end of the month.

In former chancellor Alistair Darling’s 2010 Budget, former Reed Elsevier chief executive Ian Smith recommended the government relocate 15,000 posts outside Whitehall over the next five years. He suggested departments be clustered into small hubs for staff that need to be near Westminster.

The sale of the properties would be the first in a series of anticipated disposals from Whitehall by the Ministry of Justice, which has been hailed an early mover in civil service relocations. It has so far announced more detailed plans than any other government department.

Smith told Property Week: “I’m very supportive of the Ministry of Justice moves. It is not only looking at relocation as a way of saving money, but rather as an opportunity to look more radically at how it can transform its operations, including getting closer to the ‘people’ by moving away from Whitehall.”

The department is understood to be in talks with developers about a regional hub of up to 250,000 sq ft, which it wants to be fully operational by 2013. The property will initially be for 1,000 staff, but could eventually house more than 5,000 by 2017.

A spokesman said: “We are unable to confirm which buildings are part of our rationalisation plans.”

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