Legacy Barlow Lyde & Gilbert staff could be forced to remain in the firm's Beaufort House offices until 2019, scuppering plans to integrate the London team with merger partner Clyde & Co's City workforce.

Talks between the merged firm and insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) to take over the Beaufort lease broke down around a month ago, leaving Clydes potentially tied to the deal until it expires in seven years' time.

In the wake of last year's merger between Barlows and Clydes, the firms said their respective London teams would be integrated with the intention to end Barlows' Beaufort lease to free up cashflow to allow the combined firm to take extra space in Clydes' London premises.

Clydes moved into the new St Botolph Building next door to legacy Barlows immediately prior to last November's tie-up.

The firm has since based its combined marine practice in St Botolph and its employment practice in Beaufort, with the remaining legacy staff at each firm continuing in their previous office locations.

Barlows and Clydes both sent a representative to Libya last October in a bid to extricate Barlows from its lease with Beaufort's owner, Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company. The company, which was set up by former Libya ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi in the 1980s, purchased Beaufort in 1993.

Following the collapse of the Beaufort discussions, which have been ongoing since last autumn, JLT is now in talks to take space in St Botolph.