Camden

Building Magazine reports that Michael Gove has announced new funding for work around the delayed HS2 Euston site. The housing secretary has also launched a new group to explore the housing opportunity around Euston station, with an initial £4 million investment to establish a Euston Housing Delivery Group. The news comes after Gove pledged to commit  more than £175m to increase housing delivery in London.

City of London

The Financial Times reports that the City of London’s political head has said there are no “deal breakers” for the financial district as it seeks to entice big companies to relocate their headquarters from other parts of the capital or overseas. Chris Hayward, policy chair at the City of London Corporation, said the authority was “hungry for growth” and would adopt a “flexible” approach in negotiations with developers in an effort to attract companies to the Square Mile. “I have a policy: there is no such thing as deal breakers,” Hayward told the Financial Times in an interview. “We sit down with the investors, the developers with the potential tenants, and we make things work.”

Building Magazine reports that contractor Keltbury has secured a £30 million deal to deliver a new skyscraper at 50 Fenchurch Street. The Eric Parry Architects designed 35-storey tower was given planning more than three years ago, and is set to feature a distinctive green wall alongside 650,000 sqft of new office space and a new livery hall.

City of Westminster

Property Week reports that McLaren Construction has been appointed to carry out a £132m repurposing of the House of Fraser department store at 318 Oxford Street into a 366,000 sq ft mixed-use development.Developer Publica Properties Establishment is aiming to restore the art deco landmark, which was built in 1937 and occupied originally by DH Evans and then by House of Fraser until it went into administration in August 2018. The developer says it will use a “truly retro-first approach”, reusing a large proportion of the façade and structure. The announcement comes in the same week as the judicial review into Micheal Gove’s decision to block Marks & Spencer’s redevelopment of its Oxford Street store.

Property Week reports that LBS Properties and Baumont Real Estate have placed a Marylebone office and redevelopment opportunity up for sale for £24 million. The pair have appointed RX London and Savills to launch 95 New Cavendish Street in London’s Fitzrovia to the market. The agents say the property presents a rare opportunity to acquire a consented freehold development opportunity in the heart of Fitzrovia.Offers are invited in excess of £24m, the agents said, allowing the buyer to purchase the Jersey Property Unit Trust in which the freehold interest is held.

The Architects’ Journal reports that Marks & Spencer will be at the High Court tomorrow to argue against community secretary Michael Gove’s rejection of its Pilbrow & Partners-designed demolition and rebuild of its Marble Arch store. In November Marks & Spencer (M&S) received permission to proceed with a legal challenge against Gove’s decision to block the controversial demolition of its flagship Oxford Street store, which dates back to 1929.  The communities secretary refused the plan last July, citing both heritage and design concerns over Pilbrow & Partners’ 10-storey replacement scheme – as well as its embodied carbon impact.

The Times reports that Blackstone, the world’s largest private capital firm, has started work on its 226,000 sq ft European headquarters in London. Rishi Sunak, who attended the ground-breaking ceremony alongside Stephen Schwarzman, Blackstone’s co-founder, and Jane Hartley, the US ambassador to the UK, claimed the decision to build the Berkeley Square headquarters in London was “a vote of confidence in the British economy”. Blackstone, which manages more than $1 trillion of assets globally, is one of Britain’s biggest foreign investors. The firm’s investments include Bourne Leisure, the owner of Haven Holidays and Warner Leisure, Merlin Entertainments, the theme park group, and Sage Homes, the affordable homes provider.

Property Week reports that LBS Properties and Baumont Real Estate have placed a Marylebone office and redevelopment opportunity up for sale for £24 million. The pair have appointed RX London and Savills to launch 95 New Cavendish Street in London’s Fitzrovia to the market. The agents say the property presents a rare opportunity to acquire a consented freehold development opportunity in the heart of Fitzrovia.Offers are invited in excess of £24m, the agents said, allowing the buyer to purchase the Jersey Property Unit Trust in which the freehold interest is held.

Hammersmith and Fulham

Property Week reports that Henley Investment Management has won approval for a 276-apartment scheme and new last-mile logistics wharf on the River Thames. The redevelopment of Albert and Swedish Wharf in Fulham will see the two-acre site on the north bank by Wandsworth Bridge transformed to provide a 55,000 sq ft last-mile logistics facility, a new wharf and ancillary office space. Alongside the operational wharf, the site will be transformed into a cluster of six- to 17-storey residential buildings with 276 apartments. The apartments will range in size from studios to four-beds and 35% of the new homes will be affordable, a mix of social rent and intermediate rent.

Islington

Building Magazine reports that architects AHMM have been sent back to the drawing board to amend Peabody’s 1,000-home redevelopment at former Holloway Prison site. AHMM has been sent back to the drawing board to add second staircases to a project in London for the third time. The practice has revised internal layouts of two blocks in the first phase of its 1,000-home redevelopment of the former Holloway Prison site in Islington.

Kensington and Chelsea

MyLondon reports that Kensington and Chelsea council have announced further delays to the delivery of new social housing due to spiralling costs associated with the programme. The Council’s housing lead Sof McVeigh said the timeframe for completing the New Homes Programme, which includes 300 social rent properties, had to be “stretched” and hinted at working with developers to see the scheme through.

Southwark

EG reports that British Land and AustralianSuper have submitted a reserved matters planning application to reinstate a permanent cultural venue at the Printworks Building within their Canada Water development SE16. Through a six-year temporary consent, Printworks London evolved into a major cultural venue before closing its doors to the public last summer. BL and AustralianSuper are now in talks with operator Broadwick to run the new venue. It will occupy one half of the existing building, while the other half will deliver sustainable workspace and retail.

Tower Hamlets

City A.M. reports that private equity firm Blackstone has abandoned plans to sell a 15-storey building in Canary Wharf in the latest signal that confidence in the east London financial district is dwindling. The world’s largest asset management firm was supposed to sell Cargio at 25 North Colonnadeo an Asian investor late last year but the deal has since collapsed, Bloomberg reported. It is now understood the American giant will hold onto the 15 floor building, which is principally leased to BP, until sentiment in the market improves. Blackstone bought the tower, located one minute away from the Wharf’s DLR stop, ten years ago from Evan Holdings and Lone Star for £162m.