Sidley Austin is to move into its new larger Singapore premises as a handful of other firms in the city-state are downsizing.

The US firm, which told Legal Week in August it planned to triple the size of its Singapore base from 12 to 50 lawyers in the next three years, will move into new premises on Level 31, Six Battery Road before Christmas, with a recently expanded team of 20 lawyers, eight of whom are partners.

The news comes as a small group of firms in the city-state are downsizing in space.

Herbert Smith Freehills, which has seen a string of exits in the past 12 months, shrunk by 8,000sqft last October when the two legacy offices combined as part of the merger, whilst Eversheds is currently mulling plans to move out of its 7,000sqft offices in 1 Finlayson Green to another space sized 4000sqft.

Olswang meanwhile has moved from serviced offices where it had 20 workstations to permanent offices where it has 60, but is looking to sublet 20 of these stations for the coming two years.

Norton Rose Fulbright has also considered plans to shed approximately 3,500sqft of the firm's current 30,000sqft space in Raffles Place.

But in spite of some consolidation, firms stress they are continuing to grow in the region.

Norton Rose Fulbright said the firm had for the time being abandoned any downsizing plans to ensure room for future expansion.

"We were thinking of trying to reconfigure so that everyone would be on the same floor and just have reception upstairs, but we looked at it and decided we couldn't do it as we're going to need all the space that we've got," said Jeff Smith, managing partner for South East Asia.

Meanwhile Rob Bratby, managing partner of Olswang in Singapore, said his firm was only looking to sublet some of its new space temporarily until it reached full capacity.

"It's just a way of making sure that as we take big offices for growth, which is a long term proposition. We're subletting in the short term," he said.

"The decision to move from services offices to permanent space was a significant investment in terms of capital for fit out, entering into the long term lease. And we're really pleased with the way it's going."

Eversheds Asia managing partner Stephen Kitts added that any move by the firm would not result in a reduction in headcount, and that the firm still anticipated making new hires.

"We regularly review our real estate portfolio to ensure that we are working efficiently and effectively: this is especially the case in Asia where the property market is fast moving and leases tend to be for relatively short durations," he said.

"Our review in Singapore follows our usual business cycle, where we will consider all property options available to us, including remaining in situ.

"Singapore is important in the development of our business in SE Asia…. we expect to make further recruitment into the office in the coming months."

Michael Walter, the South East Asia managing partner from HSF, said also that the firm's Singapore office would continue to be one of its largest offices globally.

"We have of course had a number of changes in headcount in Singapore following our merger of our two legacy offices, as is only to be expected… [but] we are continuing to make substantial investment in our fee-earner and support complement," he said.

"Total headcount in Singapore is now larger than it was a year ago… and our Singapore presence is and will continue to grow as one of our largest offices globally."

Singapore's legal market has come under some pressure in recent years amid a continued flow of competition from newcomers, low fee quotes and a limited amount of deals.

However, partners and real estate agents on the ground say there has been no clear trend of upsizing or downsizing by firms.

Other firms to have increased in space include Jones Day, which has grown its footprint by about one third of a floor since receiving its QFLP licence.

Related: Sidley to triple size of Singapore base as firm eyes 50 lawyers in three years