Weekly planning news from the central London boroughs

A weekly round up of the latest planning and property news from the central London boroughs


Camden

Property Week reports that Landsec has submitted a planning application to the London Borough of Camden for the O2 Centre Masterplan site in the north London borough, as it looks to expand its mixed-use urban neighbourhood portfolio.  Landsec has been working with the local community and council to work up plans to transform the site into a landscape-led development that will “connect the communities of Finchley Road and West End Lane”. The scheme would include 1,800 new homes, 35% of them affordable, plus amenities and leisure facilities including a town square, shops, restaurants, a supermarket, gym, and cinema.

City of London

Property Week reports that Orchard Street Investment Management has let the fourth floor of its Old Jewry offices in the City of London to index and analytics firm Qontigo, bringing the building to full occupancy. Qontigo has taken 6,830 sq ft on a five-year lease at a headline rent of £64/sq ft. The letting follows a category A and B refurbishment of the Old Jewry offices, which now include open-plan desks, agile working areas and meeting rooms. Orchard Street asset manager Sarah O’Connell said: “We have seen an increased desire from occupiers to sign up to bespoke and ready-to-occupy space, reflecting new ways of working. “Old Jewry is a good example of the high-quality, intelligently designed and strategically located buildings we believe will remain among the most sought-after assets as occupiers re-evaluate their use of office space post-pandemic.”

Property Week reports that AXA IM Alts has taken the space let at its flagship 22 Bishopsgate to 75% following two new leases. The new leases, totalling 89,000 sq ft, have been signed with US global investment bank William Blair & Company and RSA Insurance Group. The 950,000 sq ft of committed space to date means that 22 Bishopsgate has already let out more office space than any other building in the City of London. William Blair has agreed to a 15-year lease across two and a half floors on the forty-seventh, forty-eighth and forty-ninth levels of the building, signing up to c. 64,000 sq ft in total. RSA has agreed to take 25,000 sq ft across the entire eighth floor, on a 15-year lease, with its employees joining the building from the second half of this year.

Estates Gazette reports that the saga around a development which objectors claimed could have overshadowed Britain’s oldest synagogue has taken a fresh turn, after developers behind the original scheme bought the adjoining block in a £40m deal. Last year, campaigners for the 321-year old Bevis Marks Synagogue in the Square Mile persuaded the City of London Corporation to reject US developer BentallGreenOak’s proposals for a 48-storey tower at the nearby Bury House, EC3 on conservation grounds. The opposition campaign led to more than 1,700 letters of objection. However, BentallGreenOak has now bought neighbouring Grade II listed Holland House for around £40m via its UK fund, Welput. Stena UK appointed JLL to sell the freehold to the 49,000 sq ft building last year.

Hackney

PBC Today reported that Notting Hill Genesis have submitted planning applications to transform London Legacy Development Corporation sites around Hackney Wick station into a new neighbourhood centre. Chosen as a development partner in March 2021, and will provide 190 new homes, 50% of which will be affordable, and which will be five per cent larger than national standards. Across four buildings, there will be a mix of London Affordable Rent, shared ownership and private sale housing. The development will also provide more than 4,000sqm of commercial space, which creatives and small businesses will be able to benefit from.

Hammersmith and Fulham

The UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum reports that Royal London Asset Management (RLAM), on behalf of the Royal London UK Real Estate Fund (RLUKREF), have sold Hurlingham Retail Park to a joint venture between Rockwell and Cerberus. The acquisition was completed today (7 February 2022) byRockwell, a leading London-based property developer, in partnership with Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. (“Cerberus”), a global leader in alternative investing, with CBRE acting as the selling agent. The landmark waterfront site, 362-364 Wandsworth Bridge Road is situated adjacent to Wandsworth Bridge on the North Bank of the River Thames, and at the heart of the South Fulham regeneration area, the site has the benefit of a mixed-use planning consent granted in 2020.

Southwark

London News Online reports that more than 1,000 council homes have been lying empty for over a year in a South London borough – even though 16,000 people are waiting for a home. A Freedom of Information request revealed 1,005 properties owned by Southwark Council have been without tenants for more than 12 months. The borough currently has more than 16,000 people on the housing waiting list and 3,300 families living in temporary accommodation. Most of the empty properties vacant for more than a year are on the Aylesbury Estate in Walworth, a total of 667 houses. They are all due to be demolished as part of an on-going regeneration scheme. Southwark Council agreed to spend an additional £29 million on its redevelopment at a meeting earlier this year.

Property Week reports that law firm Lewis Silkin has taken two floors of workspace in the £2.5bn Bankside Yards scheme on the South Bank in London. The media, tech and employment specialist has exchanged contracts to occupy 28,000 sq ft of office space on a 15-year lease at Arbor, the first building to be completed at Native Land’s development. The legal firm is moving from the City to the 19-storey, all-electric building. Native Land has said the building will be powered by renewable energy and will be net zero carbon in operation. The 5.5-acre, mixed-use scheme comprises eight new buildings and 14 Victorian railway arches, which are being restored by Native Land and made publicly accessible.

Tower Hamlets

Tower Hamlets Council has announced the launch of a new housing report reveals the extensive work carried out across the borough to tackle this crisis, deliver new homes, and support residents. It shows that Tower Hamlets Council has delivered the following over the last 18 months: 827 new homes – completed and occupied. These are a combination of new build and purchases, 224 new build homes are on site and under construction, 184 new build homes awaiting contractor appointment, finances approved and planning secured. Additionally, work has commenced on the next phase of new council homes, including: 42 homes with planning permission secured and funding being finalised. 451 mainly new build homes have been allocated funding and are moving towards planning permission, 318 further homes are in the pipeline or in appraisal. In total, this means the council is delivering and has delivered 2,046 additional homes.

Westminster

The Times reports that the Fenwick family are courting buyers for their £500 million Bond Street department store after a plan to sell the entire chain was scuppered by the pandemic. The retailer’s former chairman Mark Fenwick is marketing the Bond Street store, which is in a prominent position on London’s most exclusive shopping street, as a redevelopment opportunity. Potential buyers are understood to include Sir Stuart Lipton, the developer behind Broadgate in the City, and the luxury group LVMH, which acquired and refurbished the Paris department store La Samaritaine.

Property Week reports that Apparel brand NICCE will open its flagship store on Carnaby Street. The 1,400 sq ft store spans two floors and opens in spring 2022. It will be located on the corner of Carnaby Street and Beak Street at 57 Carnaby Street. The store will be the first physical flagship store for the London-based brand. NICCE said the flagship store opening was set against a backdrop of “strong, double-digit growth over the past few years” and continued global reach through the brand’s retail partners and online store. Samantha Bain-Mollison, retail director for Shaftesbury, said: “We are happy to announce that NICCE will open its first physical flagship store on Carnaby Street in such a prime location under the iconic ‘Welcome to Carnaby Street’ arch. We are looking forward to being a part of NICCE’s new direction and are excited about the future of the brand.”

General

Property Week reports that the central London office markets are showing strong signs of recovery as the volume of space returned to the market and the length of rent-free periods finally start to fall, reveals Savills data shared exclusively with Property Week. The data shows that the volume of available space peaked in both the West End and the City in mid-to-late 2021. The pandemic saw available space in the West End rise from 1.2m sq ft in March 2020 to a peak of 3.03m sq ft in April 2021. By December 2021, this figure had fallen to 2.11m sq ft. The City of London also started to recover, albeit more slowly, with available space peaking in October 2021 at 3.62m sq ft and falling to 3.47m sq ft in December 2021.

Property Week reports that Great Portland Estates (GPE) has completed a record period of leasing activity despite interruption from Covid-19 restrictions. Since the beginning of the current financial year on 1 April last year, GPE has signed 460,900 sq ft of new lettings, generating a combined annual rent of £32.5m, surpassing the group’s previous record leasing high of £31.8m in 2016 with two months of the financial year still remaining. The group added that it continues to see a “strong demand for our prime Grade A and Flex office products” and has a further 94,500 sq ft under offer for a combined rent of £6.2m. Toby Courtauld, chief executive at GPE, said: “It is a significant achievement to deliver record leasing in a period marked by such economic and social disruption, which is a testament to both the quality of the spaces we have been delivering and the dedication and hard work of the GPE team.