Weekly planning news from the Central London boroughs

The latest planning and property news from the Central London boroughs

City of London

PW reports that Mitsubishi Estate London and Stanhope have secured planning permission from The City of London Corporation for its revised plans for a tower in the City of London at 6-8 Bishopsgate and 150 Leadenhall Street. Approval has been secured for a 50-storey office tower on the corner site – with retail units on the ground floor and a viewing gallery at its summit – with a distinctive ‘stacked blocks’ design. The property will provide over 570,000 sq ft of space to let. Mitsubishi Estate London submitted the revised plans in May following the approval of a number of other towers in the eastern cluster that impacted on the original proposals, which were first approved in July 2015. The new design adds a further 10-storeys, totalling 120,000 sq ft of space, to the previously approved plans.

PW reports that Bloomberg’s new European headquarters in the City of London has achieved the highest ever design-stage BREEAM rating of any major office development. The Bloomberg Place building, which opens later this month, has achieved an ‘outstanding’ rating with a 98.5% score – the highest ever achieved. Compared to a typical office building, the new Bloomberg building’s environmental strategies deliver a 73% saving in water consumption and a 35% saving in energy consumption and associated CO2 emissions. Bloomberg said that innovative power, lighting, water and ventilation systems accounted for the majority of energy savings.

PW reports that Landsec has signed four new brands to take space in the City of London at its One New Change retail and office complex. Training-wear boutique Whatever It Takes will open a new lifestyle concept store at One New Change and be joined by coffee specialist retailer Nespresso and beauty stores Molton Brown and The Body Shop. Hermione Mackrill, portfolio director at Landsec, said: “These four additions to One New Change represent Landsec’s focus on getting the right mix of brands to meet the needs of our customers. Landsec has now leased space at One New Change to over 60 stores including headline tenants Topshop, Reiss, Hugo Boss and LK Bennett. Nash Bond and Bruce Gillingham Pollard acted for Landsec.

PW reports that Hermes Investment Management is to move to a new headquarters in the heart of the City of London. The company said it would relocate around 400 members of staff to a 46,000 sq ft space at 150 Cheapside in January next year. The move will see Hermes leave its headquarters of more than 30 years on Portsoken Street close to St Katharine Docks. 150 Cheapside is managed by CBRE.

Camden 

PW reports that British menswear brand Garbstore has opened a new 2,000 sq ft store at Shaftesbury’s 9 Earlham Street in Seven Dials, London. The store, called Garbstore.Ten, will be open for a temporary period of six months. It celebrates a decade of the innovative British menswear brand and will play host to a series of collaborative projects with brands such as Reebok, as well as events and rotating exhibitions. International pop-up retail specialist Storefront advised Garbstore on the deal.

PW reports that Thor Equities and AEW have completed the purchase of 100 New Oxford Street in London’s West End from Tishman Speyer for £180m with £90m of debt funding from Bayerische Landesbank. 100 New Oxford Street is a mixed-use building located just 100 metres from Tottenham Court Road station, which will provide access to the Elizabeth line once it opens in 2018.  Rob Wilkinson, European chief executive at AEW said: “This area of London has a strong and growing momentum behind it and the transaction reflects our ability to identify and secure high profile, core assets in competitive markets.” 100 New Oxford Street has been extensively refurbished and comprises a total of 106,404 sq ft including retail and restaurants on the ground floor and office space on the six upper floors. The property is fully occupied by 16 tenants, including Shake Shack, Jessops, Costa Coffee and All Bar One on the ground floor, as well as Shisheido, WME Entertainment and Stanhope on the upper floors.

Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea 

PW reports Cadogan Estates has signed up Caprice Holdings’ new restaurant concept, Harry’s Dolci at 27-31 Basil Street in Knightsbridge. The new all-day dining restaurant has taken a 10-year lease on the 2,850 sq ft space, which will comprise a 64-cover dining area with an additional bar section and 46-cover terrace. The concept is a nod to Harry’s Bar in Mayfair – also run by Caprice – and the iconic Venice original where the Bellini cocktail was invented, and will be themed around post-war 1950s and 1960s Italy. It is set to open in December 2017.

PW reports that Genting has appointed CBRE to sell the renowned Maxims Casino Club in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The only dedicated “high end” casino outside of Mayfair’s Golden Triangle is expected to sell for £40m after Genting recently carried out a multi-million pound refurbishment of the grade II-listed club. The Genting brand owns more than 40 casino licenses across the UK incorporating nationwide Genting Casinos  as well as its flagship Crockfords Club, The Colony Club and The Palm Beach Casino in London. CBRE said it expects “strong worldwide interest” for the “exceptionally rare opportunity to gain a foothold in the exclusive London casino market”.

Southwark 

PW reports that The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has exchanged contracts to buy its new headquarters, 10-18 Union Street, in London’s South Bank. The 55,924 sq ft building, which is being purchased from PwC for around £35m, will eventually house its 180 staff who will move from its existing Regent’s Park premises, 27 Sussex Place, in late 2019. RCOG is an international community of 16,000 obstetricians and gynaecologists in over 100 countries dedicated to improving women’s health. Professor Lesley Regan, president of the RCOG, said: “We are delighted to have found a home which will safeguard and enhance the college for future generations and we look forward to completing the sale by the end of the year.” CBRE advised RCOG. PwC was advised by Cushman & Wakefield.

PW reports that the office space in The Shard is now fully let, after Warwick Business School (WBS) took an additional 6,342 sq ft on level 13. The business school has increased its footprint in the building by more than 50% with the deal, and now occupies a total of 18,500 sq ft. WBS’s ‘campus in the sky‘ opened in September 2014 and initially comprised 12,150 sq ft of office space on Level 17 which was used as a lecture theatre, seminar rooms and an information technology laboratory. It will use the newly-let space as a second lecture theatre.

Westminster

PW reports that British Land has signed two new lease agreements to take its newly developed 4 Kingdom Street office at Paddington Central to fully let or under offer. Confectionery giant Mars has agreed a 10-year lease to occupy 30,300 sq ft on the sixth and seventh floors while international integrated chemicals and energy company Sasol has signed a ten year lease for 15,150 sq ft on the eighth floor of the London office building. The two new occupiers join Finastra, the computer software firm, who recently signed a ten year lease for 42,400 sq ft over three floors. The three occupiers have signed for 89% of the office space at an average rent of £71/sq ft.

PW reports that Landsec has signed two new tenants to take The Zig Zag Building to 96% let. Shipping management services firm Navig8 is taking 10,900 sq ft on the sixth floor while premium juice brand Joe & The Juice is taking food and beverage space on the ground floor next to steak eatery. They will join lead tenant Deutsche Bank, which pre-let 92,000 sq ft at the building at the end of 2015. Other tenants at the 187,000 sq ft office building include Jupiter Asset Management and Moneycorp. Joe & The Juice will also join existing F&B offerings from tapas bar Iberia and Jamies Italian all on the ground floor.

PW reports that Polish fashion brand Reserved is seeking large stores across the UK to expand its brand nationally, following its debut on London’s Oxford Street. The retailer, which is owned by LPP Group, has appointed agents at Harper Dennis Hobbs (HDH) to find large format stores in key UK retail locations in order to further build its presence outside Eastern Europe. Reserved made its UK debut in September when it opened a 32,000 sq ft flagship in the former BHS store at 252/258 Oxford Street, accompanied by an advertising campaign fronted by Kate Moss.

PW reports that The UK affiliate of global private equity firm H.I.G. Capital has signed for new offices at 10 Grosvenor Street in Mayfair, London. H.I.G has taken 17,000 sq ft at the 64,000 sq ft office building developed by Grosvenor and Hammerson in 2003 and now 100% owned by Grosvenor’s London Office Fund. It joins headline tenant Associated British Foods in the building.

EG reports that a Turkish investor has bought the home of Victoria Beckhams flagship store on Dover Street, W1. Aydin Dogan is understood to have paid £42m for 36 Dover Street, a yield of around 3.25%. The 14,648 sq ft block provides an annual rental income of £1.4m and has even years left on its lease. Savils advised