![The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is after a new home. Picture by Keegan Carroll The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is after a new home. Picture by Keegan Carroll](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/106459643/29dc9c52-a5ce-4e3b-baea-111aac0f0797.jpg/r0_267_5000_3078_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is on the hunt for a new office near Parliament House, marking another key agency looking to relocate its operations south of the lake.
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The central department said it was looking to establish a precinct in the Parliamentary zone before mid-2026, documents published on the federal government's tenders site revealed.
Three of its property leases, including two located in Canberra's city centre, will expire between May 2026 and September 2027.
The lease for DFAT's main office on John McEwen Crescent, the RG Casey building, will expire in 2031.
Documents show the Foreign Affairs Department is looking for a single site within 3km of Parliament House but would consider "multiple buildings if required".
A 3km radius around Capital Hill would include coveted Parliamentary Triangle suburbs Barton, Parkes and Forrest, as well as parts of Manuka, Kingston, Deakin and southern sections of the city centre.
The department said it was looking for an initial term of at least a decade, with the option to extend the lease further beyond that.
Across its four locations, the department has around 3700 full-time equivalent staff covering 65,421 square metres of office space.
DFAT said it would be consider sharing with other tenants in the building but said it could not share office space due to "operational requirements".
Leases for the department's city offices on Allara Street and London Circuit will expire in June 2026 and September 2027, respectively.
Its Sydney Avenue lease will expire in May 2026.
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The department's planned move across Lake Burley Griffin follows a series of similar announcements by other federal government agencies.
The Australian Taxation Office last year announced it would move its staff to Barton, leaving behind two city offices housing more than 2000 staff.
A top secret spy building is also pencilled in for the late 2020s and will house staff from a number of agencies, including DFAT and the Office of National Intelligence.
Dubbed the National Security Office Precinct, the building located on State Circle, next to York Park, will house around 5000 staff once built.
Construction is expected to begin in 2025 after the completion of an 1100-space carpark next to the John Gorton Building in Parkes.
Industry experts and community leaders have raised concerns about the exodus of agencies from the city centre, warning it could have a detrimental impact on small businesses.
It comes as proposed routes for the light rail network to travel through the Parliamentary Triangle are in doubt.
National Capital Authority chief executive Sally Barnes on Thursday told a Parliamentary committee the publicly-released proposal is "proving technically difficult" and might have to be altered.
"We've had initial indications that may be proving technically difficult," Ms Barnes said.
"It's not off the cards yet, but we're expecting to have discussions with the ACT government fairly soon about - would there be another way to traverse the national triangle?
"We're more than open to have a look at those other ways because if it's difficult, it's difficult."