Camden

The Times reports that Rishi Sunak has announced plans to bring in private sector developers to Euston Station to create a Canary Whard style development in Camden. On Wednesday Sunak confirmed that the line would run to the station and revealed a major overhaul of how Euston would be rebuilt to accommodate HS2, including a reduction in the number of platforms. He said the Euston Development Corporation will be set up along the lines of the London Docklands Development Corporation established by Margaret Thatcher’s government in the 1980s.

City of London

Property Week reported that the Law firm King & Spalding has signed for 41,000 sq ft at Mitsubishi Estate London and Stanhope’s 8 Bishopsgate office scheme in the City of London for its new UK headquarters. The international firm has signed a 10-year lease for levels 27-31 of the building after deciding to move from its current London base at 125 Broad Street.

Property Week reports that PineBridge Benson Elliot has secured planning permission for The Mark, a 215,000 sq ft sustainable office scheme in the City of London. The scheme at 47 & 50 Mark Lane will also contain 14,000 sq ft of cultural, food and beverage, and retail space alongside the prime workspace. Hobart Partners is the project’s development manager and it was designed by Danish architect 3XN. Work is due to start next year for completion late 2026.

Property Week reported WeWork is closing down its 133 Houndsditch site in the City of London and evicting its tenants. WeWork tenants will have to vacate the site, although the firm is understood to be helping members move to nearby WeWork locations. The news comes after the struggling flexible office space giant, the future of which is doubt due to a looming debt crisis, announced it would be renegotiating “nearly all” of its leases with its landlords around the world in a bid to make itself sustainable in the face of its debt crisis.

City of Westminster

Property Week reports that Felberg Capital has reached the first closing of ReForm, a new £500m, central London brown-to-green workplace fund, via its recently acquired real estate investment business, formerly known as Brunswick Property Partners.The ReForm fund will target amenity-rich zone 1 London locations with excellent connectivity and strong growth characteristics such as Soho, Fitzrovia and Marylebone. The fund has received significant backing from an unnamed cornerstone UK institutional investor and has a fundraising target of £300m, providing firepower of around £500m including leverage.

Building Design reports that the Orms-designed proposals to redevelop an inter-war office building that fronts both Soho Square and Dean Street are being recommended for approval by Westminster City Council planning officers. The practice’s designs would deliver a new building with 8,269sq m of floorspace, a boost of around 15% on the current structure. It would also deliver three levels of roof terraces and a new pedestrian route between Dean Street and Soho Square. The scheme is targeting a BREEAM “outstanding” rating.

Hackney 

Hackney Council has chosen Ardmore to oversee the final phase of the Britannia project, a residential-focused redevelopment in Shoreditch Park. The Britannia project contract is valued at £154m, and Ardmore will build 371 new housing units in four newly constructed residential buildings, some of which will be 25 stories. The development will feature 81 affordable homes for social rent and shared ownership, supported by the sale of 290 private homes.

Islington 

Land earmarked for the HS2 routes now scrapped will not be protected for potential future expansion of the high-speed railway, the Department for Transport has confirmed. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday that he has axed plans to extend HS2 beyond the West Midlands – to Crewe, Manchester and the East Midlands – to save money. Under a process known as safeguarding, land on those routes was protected to stop conflicting developments taking place.

Kensington & Chelsea

According to Kensington and Chelsea Council, Londinium Barkston has applied to turn a 429-bed tourist hostel in Earl’s Court into a hotel. The 1-1A Barkston Gardens and 22 Courtfield Gardens properties are slated to undergo a refurbishment and minor rear extension to fit 94 ensuite rooms.

Another application has been submitted to turn the old Flaxman Telephone Exchange behind King’s Road into a health club. The site consists of a five-storey brick-built structure and a rear courtyard and will be refurbished by The Third Space Group. It was once used by British Telecommunications but was decommissioned by the company in September 2018.

Lambeth

Labour have won a Lambeth council by-election which was called after the previous councillor died. The party’s candidate for Vauxhall, Tom Swaine-Jameson, finished in first place with 595 votes and a 42 per cent vote share. The by-election, which took place yesterday, was called after former Vauxhall Labour councillor Liam Jarnecki died of cancer in August. Mr Swaine-Jameson, who is a university lecturer and trustee of a local arts equalities charity, joins two other Labour councillors, Isla Wrathmell and Martin Bailey, in representing the area. The local Labour Party promised to help residents with housing repairs, antisocial behaviour and overcrowded accommodation in a leaflet distributed during the campaign.

Southwark

Architects’ Journal reported Maccreanor Lavington has won detailed planning permission for a mixed-use development which forms part of Allies and Morrison’s wider Canada Water masterplan. The Zone G development includes five residential buildings, a superstore and a car park, creating the next stage in the major south-east London masterplan, which is backed by British Land and Australian pension fund AustralianSuper. The 6,880m² scheme, just off Redriff Road and across a portion of the Surrey Quays Leisure Park, was given the go-ahead by Southwark Council’s planning committee.

Tower Hamlets 

Tower Hamlets Council rejected the plans to build four new homes on top of an existing tower block in East London after residents said they would be unable to access a rooftop garden which kept them “sane” during the pandemic. Edgewater Group wanted to build the flats with a single storey extension on top of Tria Apartments, Durant Street in Tower Hamlets and had sought planning permission with the council.

Wandsworth

Wandsworth Council is proposing a policy change to require at least 50per cent of homes on all new developments to be affordable in a bid to tackle its housing waiting list. Wandsworth Council will carry out a partial review of its Local Plan for 2023 to 2038, which is the main document used to make decisions on planning applications in the borough. The council said the proposals would respond to the shortage of genuinely affordable homes in the borough by driving up the number of those provided at social rent on future developments.

General      

Evening Standard reported that investor spend on central London offices has crashed by almost two thirds, as rising interest rates and the post-pandemic changes to traditional working patterns take their toll. Provisional data from real estate consultancy JLL for the Evening Standard shows investment volumes in the three months to September 30 were £1.2 billion in the City and West End. The company said that was 63% below the £3.2 billion transacted in the third quarter in 2022 and brings year to date sales to £4.98 billion.

Property Week reported Great Portland Estates has told investors leasing deals in the six months to the end of September were struck at 13.4% ahead of estimated rental values. In its latest trading update, the London-focused group said it had agreed 37 lettings that generated annual rent of £11.2m. During the half year period, the group also committed to a 66,600 sq ft, office-led redevelopment at Jermyn Street in London’s West End, and planning permission was obtained for the redevelopment of Minerva House in south London.