Camden

The Evening Standard reports that Plans for the new Euston HS2 station has been revealed. The station will be transformed by the £2.6billion HS2 station and new Tube station. Declan McCafferty, partner at Grimshaw architects, said: “People will be blown away by the grandeur of what we are proposing. What we have got is a really fantastic public space design.”

City of London

Bisnow reports that a private Hong Kong property company, Chinachem, are in talks to buy the £350m office block 1 New Street Square from Landsec. Deloitte has a lease on the 275,000 sq ft office until 2036. This is the second deal by Chinachem in the space of three months. In September, they purchased the 89,000 sq ft Kaleidoscope office building in Farringdon from Helical for £159m.

Property Week reports that British Land have let its entire Storey space at 155 Bishopsgate to tech recruitment group Levin. Levin has taken 23,000 sq ft – all of the space at the address under the developer’s workspace brand – for its new London headquarters, in its third move into a larger space at the scheme.The development recently underwent a refurbishment, including expansion to double level receptions with a new lounge and an upgrade of the 160,000 sq ft of workspace. Levin will join Maven Securities, Marex and Sumitomo Mitsui in the building.

City of Westminster

Property Reporter reports that research from the House Buyer Bureau looked at house price growth since last December. The average UK house price remains 9.6% higher when compared to last December, while London sees growth of just 6.6%. Within London, the City of Westminster has seen the worst growth, with a 11.8% decline, with both the London Borough of Camden and the City of London also declining by 4.3% and 2.4% respectively.

Property Week reports that the Maida Vale site, which is formed of seven BBC sound studios, is one of the earliest recording studios to be established in Britain. The site is being marketed for sale by Lambert Smith Hampton for offers in excess of £10.5m. The site includes 83,447 sq ft of office and studio accommodation and recording studios over ground and lower ground floors.

Property Week reports that Global services marketplace Bark has taken 12,000 sq ft at Landsec’s 30 Eastbourne Terrace opposite Paddington station in London. The deal takes Eastbourne Terrace to full occupancy. Oliver Knight, head of offices at Landsec, said: “Despite a challenging landscape, today’s news demonstrates the continued demand for high quality office space in London.”

EG reports that the Howard de Walden Estate is mapping out a new occupier strategy targeting businesses supporting the life sciences industry in London. The estate, which includes Harley Street, W1, has recently seen an increase in lettings to science and technology businesses. “We have discerned there is an increased interest around the enablement or support functions for life sciences in and around Marylebone” said chief executive Mark Kildea.

EG reports that Shaftesbury’s outgoing chief executive Brian Bickell has said he is “remarkably optimistic” about London’s West End. “The West End has a unique mix. It is more than a shopping destination. It has global appeal.” Shaftesbury recoded profit after tax of £119.1m for the year to the end of September. Shaftesbury are due to complete a £3.5bn merger with Capco effective in Q1 2023.

Westminster City Council has unveiled a major new public space at Strand Aldwych, transforming one of London’s most congested and polluted streets. Over the past two years, busy roadways have been converted into a welcoming public space measuring more than 7000m2 – the size of a football pitch – along the Strand, complemented by a vastly improved experience for pedestrians across Aldwych. Westminster City Council has invested £22m in the project which links together some of the capital’s most important cultural and educational centres.

Property Week reports that Fenwick has entered into an agreement to sell its New Bond Street store in the West End for £430m. The central London store, as well as its adjoining property, will be sold to Lazari Investments, with the deal expected to be completed early next year. The new owner is planning a mixed-use development at the site. The proceeds of the sale will be used to pay off debt and contribute to Fenwick’s pension fund, with a portion to be shared with colleagues across the business. The surplus will be returned to shareholders.

New London Awards reports that the Bafta Headquarters at 195 has won the NLA Conservation Award for the comprehensive expansion and re-design of the Grade II listed building. This project undertook a collaboratively bold/sensitive heritage approach creating new top floor by raising/restoring two huge Victorian rooflight structures & decorative plaster lost 40+ years from original 1883 Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, built ‘opposing’ the Royal Academy.

Islington

Property Week reports that Spacemade have signed its 12th location after securing an agreement with Whittington Investments to operate a new 20,000 sq ft flexible workspace in Clerkenwell. A planning application will be submitted to repurpose the building, which was historically occupied by the Italia Conti School of Dance, and the new space will be turned into a workplace with capacity for up to 340 members. Spacemade, which acts as an operating partner for landlords looking to provide bespoke flexible workspace, said the building, located at 23 Goswell Road in Clerkenwell, between Barbican and Farringdon, has easy access to the tube, rail network and the Elizabeth line, and is only minutes away from the City of London.

Lambeth

Building reports that the public inquiry int Make’s ITV studios redevelopment has begun. The scheme was sent to the planning inspectorate following then-communities secretary Greg Clark’s decision in September to call it in, a week after London mayor Sadiq Khan had approved the plans. The size of the riverfront scheme had been contested because of its proximity to the grade II*-listed National Theatre and the grade II-listed IBM Building. The inquiry started at 10am on Wednesday and is expected to run for 12 days, although this duration is not fixed and could extend if new evidence emerges.

Architects Journal reports that Allies and Morrison have completed their mixed-use scheme in Vauxhall. The housing-led development comprises three towers, two mansion blocks and maisonettes as well as shops and cafés, small business units and a school. The new development integrates a Victorian pub and St Anne and All Saints Church as part of its design. In total, there are 598 new homes, with a density of 505 dwellings/ha. Units range from studios to three-bed apartments, all with private amenity spaces including balconies, terraces and roof and winter gardens.

The Evening Standard reports that the London Eye is bidding to become a permanent feature of the London landscape. The Millennium Wheel, as it was first known, was officially opened by Tony Blair on 31 December 1999 with a five year lease, which was later extended. The wheel’s operator, leisure group Merlin Entertainments, revealed on Wednesday it is to apply to Lambeth council for an amendment of its planning permission to allow it to stay in place beyond the current 2028 limit of its consent.

Property Week reports that Lambeth Council has launched a blueprint for what it describes as London’s biggest increase in office space over the next decade. An estimated 6 m sq ft of extra office space is planned in the borough. Councillor Danny Adilypour, cabinet member for sustainable growth and new homes, said: “Lambeth is set to unlock its potential over the next decade. As a council, we will continue to work together with developers, occupiers and key stakeholders to deliver offices that meet our net zero ambitions as well as to make Lambeth the destination for businesses whose mission and values centre on sustainability and delivering benefits for our communities.”

Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

The Evening Standard reports that one in eight homes in Kensington & Chelsea are empty, with thousands more vacant homes spread across London. Planning for new homes isn’t exactly welcomed by neighbours, regardless of whether they’re in the Green Belt or the inner city. Council tax figures show England has 257,000 homes more or less stashed down the back of the sofa, a 20 per cent increase in six years.

BBC reports that Robbie Williams has applied to raise walls around his Grade II listed home in Holland Park. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the singer’s builders, Barton Engineers, wrote in a heritage statement: “As part of a proposed landscaping scheme, the designer has proposed the use of trellis panels as a low-impact way of increasing the privacy within the garden.”

Southwark

Building reports that Native Land’s scheme will be the UKs first major mixed-use net zero development. Bankside Yards, a £2.5bn project under construction in London’s Southwark, will be linked by a low temperature network of pipes enabling waste heat from one building to be used to heat another. This will slash energy use to much lower levels than heating and cooling individual buildings.

Southwark News reports that a ‘landmark’ application to build a four-bedroom house on Metropolitan Open Land (MOL) was rejected. Campaigners had feared plans to build a four-bedroom house on Somerford Way by Russia Dock Woodland would pave the way for more developments on nature conservation sites. At a planning committee meeting on Monday, December 5, councillors unanimously refused the application.

Tower Hamlets

BisNow reports that HSBC will take a smaller London HQ, significantly reducing its property costs. HSBC Managing Director Esra Fanoscu, said “Our occupancy rate is around 40 to 50%. In future, we don’t think that this will significantly change, because we were already embracing hybrid work. So we’re looking for something much smaller.”

General

The BBC reports that the government has agreed to water down housing targets for local councils, in order to put down a rebellion from Conservative MPs. Housing Secretary Michael Gove has now offered councils more flexibility over meeting the government-set targets. Rebels had argued they are excessive and undermine local councils. The public accounts committee has said the government is unlikely to meet its housebuilding targets and not enough socially rented homes are being built. Committee chair Dame Meg Hillier said local authorities know where and what type of homes need to be built “to address the national housing crisis but don’t have the power to act. The human cost of inaction is already affecting thousands of households and now the building programme is hitting the challenges of increased building costs”.

Bisnow reports that TfL is looking at the possibility of bringing forward new residential development on top of its network of bus garages as the growth of electric vehicles opens up new sites for urban development. TfL Head of Property Development, Peter Elliot, revealed at a Bisnow event that “it gives us the opportunity to build above places that are now going to be quiet and clean”. The total number of homes that could be built on TfL Land is estimated to be as high as 46,000.

Property Week reports that UK house price fell by -2.3% in November, the largest monthly drop since 2008. Marking the third consecutive fall, the drop came as the rate of annual growth slowed further to +4.7%, from +8.2%, with the typical UK property price now sitting at £285,579. According to Kim Kinnaird, director at Halifax Mortgages, some potential home moves have been paused as homebuyers feel increased pressure on affordability and industry data continues to suggest that many buyers and sellers are taking stock while the market continues to stabilise.